[Reader-list] Fith Independent Research Posting - Women in Trains

[Zainab Bawa]

Fifth Independent Research Posting

Dear All,

I will begin by sharing an interesting episode which occurred in the train 
yesterday. I was traveling from Dadar to Bandra and was standing by the 
door. A woman was selling mogra gajras (little white flower hair braids). A 
blind woman was standing by the door, accompanied by a strong (both 
physically and mentally) woman. Another woman inquired into the price of the 
gajras and decided to purchase four pieces. The seller packed three pieces 
instead of four. The seller had packed three instead of four and so, the 
buyer asked to insert the fourth piece in the same packet. The blind woman 
was asked to pass the packet to the seller to re-pack.
The blind woman asked her companion, “Why don’t you buy a few as well?” The 
companion laughed and said, “You want me to put gajras in my hair at this 
age? Won’t I look funny? (She meant to say that this would be an 
embarrassing thing at her old age).” “Oh come on”, said the old woman, “they 
are sweet smelling and you will quite a cheez (sexy thing). Take them.” The 
companion laughed again and said, “Do you want someone to abduct me?” Both 
of them laughed.
I wondered about the attitude which both the women held. The strong woman 
was not beautiful, but she had some charisma. Both women were dark and bulky 
and the strong woman was holding fort at the door by hanging onto the pole. 
She would constantly ask around as to who wanted to get off at the next 
station and would then carefully get the respective woman to come over to 
the pole while she would move back.
In retrospect, I liked this strong, bulky, dark, stark woman. She was sexy!

The research process has become interesting. I have been interviewing 
commuters often. These are mainly people who I know and who, in turn, put me 
on to talk to their acquaintances and circles. What is curiously interesting 
about the interview process is that in the beginning, each one of 
interviewees starts laughing, wondering what I have to investigate into 
mundane, boring, train journeys and rushed commuting. But as the interview 
proceeds, I find that they start giving insights and raise questions and by 
the end, the standard line is, “This was funny, but it was interesting.” 
Interviews with the commuters raise several questions and point out to some 
very pertinent aspects of traveling, some of which I outline below:

à	There is an obvious difference in terms of crowd and commuting between 
Central Railway and Western Railway. Commuters on both lines have their own 
images and stereotypes about the other. The classic one is that Central 
Railway is predominantly ‘Maharashtrian’ (and cooperative) while Western 
Railway is primarily ‘Gujarati’ (and not cooperative).
Both groups believe that their line is better than ‘the other’. When I was 
traveling from Govandi to Kurla recently, I overheard two girls talking on 
the train about molestation and rape episodes on the train. One girl was 
saying to the other, “Didn’t you see this film featuring Raveena Tandon. 
What was it called? Jaago isn’t it? Something, check it out! You see, most 
of these incidents take place in Western Railway line, not in Central. In 
Central, the havaldar (constable) is always present in the ladies 
compartment and the rules are followed strictly in terms of exactly what 
time the ladies compartment becomes general. This is not so in the case of 
Western. Moreover, Western trains follow a very set route.” How far this is 
true is something worth investigating.

à	The manner in which territoriality is expressed is very explicit in 
Western Railway. Women traveling on Virar fast will not allow women 
traveling to Borivali to enter their train. If the Borivali commuters do get 
on the Virar fast, they will face a hellish time getting off, with the women 
not allowing them to get off. The grouse is that Borivali commuters have 
trains, both fast and slow, every 5 minutes, and therefore, it is not fair 
that Borivali commuters get on the Virar fast. Virar fast women commuters 
also have a very interesting manner in which they let fellow commuters get 
on and get off. Around the pole of the door, on the left side, they will 
make a queue which blocks entry and exit from that side and on the right 
side, they precariously let the women get off and very few to get in. This 
is not the case for Central Railway women commuters because Central Railway 
trains have at least 6 long-distance junctions unlike Western which usually 
has two i.e. Borivali and Virar.

à	I also came to know recently that in Western Railway, if you claim a set 
with a woman sitting at the Window Seat, the moment she gets up, the 
claimant will occupy exactly the window seat. Similarly, if the claimant has 
claimed a second seat, she will occupy the second seat when her predecessor 
has left. This does not seem to be the case in Central Railway where the 
rule designed by commuters is that when you claim a seat, whether window, 
second, third or fourth, when your predecessor has left, the remaining three 
will shift inside and you, the claimant, will get to occupy the fourth seat. 
This logic behind this rule is that the fourth seat woman gets tired sitting 
on the outside and hence, when a seat is vacated, she should be allowed to 
move in and enjoy the comfort of her seat.

à	The (women) crowd traveling along Western Railway is distinctly different 
from that traveling on Central Railway. Central Railway women commuters are 
often government employees (Central and State), working in BMC, LIC, largely 
state owned corporations and they have been in employment for a long while, 
as long as 10-20 years. In contrast, you find that along Western Railway, 
the women commuters are in diverse jobs. You will find advertising 
executives, women holding important portfolios in banks like ICICI, HDFC, 
saleswomen, in summary, mostly in employment in the private sector. Career 
women are more evident in Western Railway line; even those with service 
employment and who are seeking advancement in pay and hence would be open to 
shifting jobs.
Women traveling on Western Line see themselves as more posh than women in 
Central trains. This is true because women along Western line are very 
particular about their appearance and dress quite attractively. To top it, 
private firms are now located mainly along Western Railway Line, including 
advertising agencies, banks, etc.
Women traveling on Western Railway do not like traveling along Central Line 
and the same holds true for Central railway women commuters who detest 
Western Railway.

Harbour Line is usually equated with Central Line, though it is distinctly 
different in some respects.

Currently, I have begun to focus the research along very specific questions 
where I am examining the origin and purpose of the ladies compartment in 
Mumbai Local Trains. I am also trying to compare the experience of the 
ladies compartment vis-à-vis the Ladies Special where the entire train is 
reserved for women. This leads to another interesting question about the 
impact of segregation of compartments into ‘ladies’ and ‘general’ (which is 
usually seen as gents compartment) on women. Interestingly, a friend living 
in Mumbai who has migrated to Shanghai (China) recently said to me that 
there is no reserved compartment for women in Shanghai though the trains can 
be crowded there. Men and women travel together and she said to me, “Z, 
Chinese men are better than Indian men. I wish we did not have a separate 
compartment for men and women in Mumbai. At least we would be able to learn 
how to face the men!”

I have compiled a piece on the advertisements and posters inside the ladies 
compartment which I have posted on my online journal 
www.xanga.com/zainabbawa Have a dekko, and keep the questions, comments, 
suggestions, and references rolling.

On the move,

Zainab

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