[Reader-list] Concretely Abstract - 1st Posting

[Zainab Bawa]

25th January 2004

I have been asked to write an ‘abstract’ of my research fellowship, but I 
guess this is going to be quite concrete:

24th January 2004
Train Journey from Currey Road to Byculla (in the ladies compartment)

I accidentally put my foot on another woman’s foot when I was making way for 
myself to get off at Byculla Station. My foot simply touched a small portion 
of her foot. The lady was standing by the door. There was a little rush by 
the door because the entire crowd wanted to get off at Byculla Station.
The woman had a very stern and angry look on her face (both before and after 
the little accident between us, except that her eyebrows were a bit more 
twitched after the accident occurred). This woman was what I would describe 
as the ‘classic pungent and tight woman’. She wore a large bindi on her 
forehead. Her lips were big and luscious, very kissable. She had smeared a 
heavy layer of dark brown lipstick on her lips. She was perhaps the 
prototype of a Punjabi woman, though very honestly, I don’t know whether she 
was Punjabi or not.
The moment my foot hit her foot, she uttered an irritated squeal, which to 
me signals the initial cry of a big confrontation and conflagration in the 
ladies compartment. (It is quite a normal situation you see). I simply 
gestured a sorry to her foot with my hands pointed to her foot and then 
touching them to my chest (like we Indians normally do when our foot hits 
anything, though I fail to understand what this gesture means) and continued 
to wear the happy and calm look on my face. Perhaps this made her even more 
irritable because I had snatched away an opportunity for a fight (and a 
fight like this is an opportunity for the much needed outburst of ‘displaced 
anger and frustration’). I had made a conscious decision in my mind not to 
retort to her, because during periods of intense crowds, minor accidents and 
incidents are a source of major conflagration and outbursts. Then follows a 
line of communication which is a patterned exchange of reactions and trying 
to emerge victorious (or at least with the feeling of victory) in the 
battle!

We acquire stresses during the course of leading our existence in cities. 
Tensions and stresses are very much part of us. The point in this process is 
where do we find an outlet for release when all of it builds itself up 
inside us? Trains provide that space to simply think and verbalize our 
frustrations to ourselves (and to the ‘imagined’ ‘concerned’ ‘entity’ in our 
heads). They provide a space for what I call ‘self-talk’ and ‘other-talk’ 
(and other-talk is also to ourselves only). What we desperately seek during 
the period of our short and long journeys in the train is enough physical 
space for and to ourselves. During rush hours (also known as peak hours) in 
the train journeys, there is no physical space absolutely. People are 
clamouring all over. People are falling over each other. People are touching 
you here and there, accidentally hitting you here and there producing sparks 
for minor and major fights! (The classic in my personal case is: due to my 
short height, I find people end up hitting their elbows on my neatly tied 
bun and that irritates me most because it puts my bun out of shape!) Each 
one is trying to find space for herself (I have used ‘herself’ because I am 
specifically observing women in trains), or at least create a comfortable 
corner where one can be ‘left alone’. I find this desire most evident when 
trains are empty and women normally rush to the seats in the corners, near 
the windows. They rarely look out of the window; all that they want is that 
precious corner in which they can loosen themselves up and be comfortable, 
oblivious of whatever is happening around them. That corner seat is what is 
call one of few the ‘breathing spaces inside the ladies compartment’. During 
the rush hours, particularly when you are coming back from office/work and 
are ready to go back home to the kitchens to cook and prepare to retire for 
the start of another day, you so strongly wish that life could be easier, 
much easier, with fewer people around!

For women, trains are a space for furthering the sentiment of community 
which is part of life in Mumbai. One of the things that I am trying to 
observe and study is the role of language in deepening this community 
sentiment. I find Christian and Zoroastrian women speak Marathi as fluently 
as the local Maharashtrian women. Gujarati, Sindhi, Bambaiya Hindi, Marathi, 
South Indian and even Punjabi (I am including English of all dialects and 
kinds) are the languages used for communication in trains and these 
languages help to further the community feeling among women. (I am beginning 
to feel that English, by itself, is just not THE language for creating and 
enhancing the community sentiment.)
The ladies compartment is one space where women can articulate and express 
their grievances and sorrows. Often I find bukha clad women who, through 
their subtle eye glances and gestures, communicate their plight and their 
very strong desires for liberty and sexuality. Women try to help each other 
in trains, either emotionally or ‘actually’ (i.e. materially). I will, in 
some of my subsequent postings narrate some incidents that I have come 
across of this type.

For women, the ladies compartment is a space where they can be both 
conscious and not conscious at various times. I find that the women who 
travel to VT and Churchgate in the mornings to start work/office/college, 
take off their sarees and re-do them properly as the train is about to 
approach the final junction. Some of them sit on the floors of the 
compartment just to make themselves comfortable. Sitting on the floors is 
something which normally only vendors do during the odd hours, but in the 
morning peak hours, sophisticated women have no shame or hassles in sitting 
on the floors.
Similarly, some of the buying and selling activity makes most women very 
self-conscious because the hawkers are very direct and straightforward. 
Through the sharpness of their tongues, they can almost instantly reveal you 
in your own eyes and before others, a moment which can be horribly traumatic 
and devastating.
A lot of women spend their time in their journey to make up for sleep. They 
simply sleep and it is beautiful to watch this site sometimes.

There are numerous aspects of the ladies compartment which I wish to bring 
out to myself during the course of this study. The methodology of the study 
is:

·	Observation of women and their behaviour through events and incidents (and 
also accidents)
·	Talking to women and the vendors on random subjects and on focused 
subjects, essentially trying to understand the impact of crowds on their 
behaviour, assessment of consumerism through the advertisement boards and 
through the incessant buying and selling activity in the trains
·	Talking to males as well about their experiences and ideas of space and 
comparing these to women’s experience and idea of space in trains
·	Literature review
·	Photographs
·	Blogging: This will soon be set up for people across the world to share 
their experiences of trains, both in Mumbai and in different parts of the 
world

The final product, I hope will be in the form of a book, which will come out 
some day as an initial step towards creating a vision and an action plan for 
more breathing and meeting spaces for people.

I specifically chose the two themes “women” and “space” for reasons which I 
have outlined in my subsequent posting.

To conclude, laws of physics and momentum are best understood in trains. 
Trains help in developing adjustment and adaptation mechanisms and 
behaviours to lead life in the city. I strongly believe that at the end of 
the day, trains make me realize that I am no more (and no less) than a HUMAN 
ANIMAL.

- Zainab Bawa

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