The Hindu Business Line : Dilliwali’s rapid transit

On the go: Casual eve-teasing is rare on the Delhi Metro thanks to the clean stations, absence of hawkers on platforms and the mechanised arrival and departure of trains which leaves no scope for people to hang around aimlessly.

Taru Bahl

For Shahnawaz Bano, 64, it is yesterday once more. Ever since Delhi Metro’s Chandni Chowk station was inaugurated in 2005, she has revisited places she had frequented as a spunky girl on her bicycle 40 years ago. And she’s gone elsewhere on the Metro, too. Window shopping in the inner lanes of Connaught Place, sampling delectable street food in Karol Bagh, taking leisurely strolls in Buddha Jayanti Park and haggling over trinkets at Janpath’s stalls ̵ 2; soaking in all the attending sights, sounds and smells.

The fiery and independent girl had turned into a domesticated wife who, like other women in the house, covered her head and did not step beyond the courtyard until much later, when her kids got married and insisted she start moving about. It was her son who took her on her first Metro ride and acquainted her with what she feels is the “most significant technological marvel to come to India post-Independence.” She says with newfound confidence, “I no longer need to wait for my husband or an obliging relative to take me to the city. The Metro is a perfectly respectable way of moving about.”

Women travel easy

Promising safety, convenience, speed and affordability, the daily commute is no longer a grind. For Padma, 22, a Sri Lankan student staying in Dwarka, South West Delhi, and making the daily commute across town to Delhi University in North Delhi, the Metro is a smooth ride. “Blessed are the girls who are on the Metro route. They are free from the unruly city buses (State-run and private operators) where people are packed liked sardines; drivers and conductors are an unruly lot; and under the guise of pushing and jostling there are strong overtones of sexual abuse,” she says. Even during the Metro’s peak hours, when there is no place to sit and it’s a mass of human bodies there is still a respectable distance.

Now, is this because people who ride the Metro are more decent or that it is a public space that discourages lewd behaviour? According to Rashmi Sadana, 39, an American Institute of Indian Studies senior fellow, who is researching the cultural impact of the Delhi Metro, this mode of transport is perceived by many to be a gender-neutral space, and women seem to be benefiting from that perception.

She feels that the Metro is a new kind of public space that has the potential of creating a subculture of its own. “Like malls, Café Coffee Days and Baristas, this too is a highly managed space, with its air-conditioned comfort and surveillance, and could be mistaken for just another anonymous global space for middle-class consumption. But the Metro is a bit different than corporate cafes and malls since it is open to a much wider spectrum of people. It also offers Dilliwallas new opportunities to negotiate and understand their own city,” she says, adding, “It’s true that the Metro coaxes you to behave in a certain way, with all its announcements and security checks, but it also connects up the city in new ways, allowing for new kinds of experiences.”

Safety on track

Does this also mean that people will socialise on the Metro? Rashmi does not think so, at least not in the way people socialise on the Indian railways where berths are arranged more intimately and people stay on board for hours at a time, making it easier to strike up conversation.

“People get on and off the Metro quickly and new trains come into the stations every few minutes, so there is little chance of running into the same people, even if you board it at the same time every day. Even on longer commutes to Dwarka or Rithala (North West Delhi), people hook up to their music players, or talk on their mobile phones or to the family or friends they are travelling with. It’s not that strangers never talk on the Metro, but it’s usually to ask for directions or some other very brief exchange,” she says.

This, combined with the feeling that one is being watched all the time, makes it difficult for miscreants to do anything. Even if they want to make a pass at someone they may be self-conscious. The spic n’ span station, mechanised arrival and departure of trains, well-dressed gentry, absence of hawkers on platforms and no scope for people to hang around aimlessly suggest that the chances of casual eve-teasing will be rare, explains Padma.

According to Anuj Dayal, Public Relations Officer at the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), a lot of effort has gone into ensuring the Metro is a crime-free zone. “So far no cases of rape or murder have been reported though there have been stray instances of eve teasing, and action was taken immediately. Passenger alarm systems are in place and Metro security police’s helpline is prominently displayed at stations and inside trains. There are closed circuit televisions (CCTV) monitored by Metro staff and the Delhi Police, security checks and ‘flying squads’ carrying out surprise inspections inside trains. And since each station is spaced barely two minutes from the next, offenders can be offloaded faster,” Dayal says.

‘Women only’ seats

In her many hours spent on the Metro, Sadana has found that while the Metro feels gender-neutral, like the buses it too has more male travellers than women. A commuter profile study by a private agency in 2007 found women comprised about 21 per cent of Metro’s travellers. Among the women commuters, about 28 per cent were students and 80 per cent of all commuters were under 35 years of age.

Interestingly, the “ladies only” seating area on the Delhi Metro — something not seen in the Western world — has evoked mixed response from commuters. Parul Baghel, who works with a social development agency called New Concept Information Systems and commutes 25 km on the Metro daily, says, “It’s silly. At a time when women are shattering the glass ceiling and commanding respect on their own merit, insisting on separate seating areas is contradictory. Giving up a seat to a senior citizen or to a lady cradling an infant should be a natural response, not something that stems from a directive.”

Change-maker?

There has so far been no anthropological study on the Delhi Metro. In addition to her observations on the Metro, Sadana will examine public debates about urbanisation. She will analyse how the DMRC works as a corporation; and try to capture what it means for women from different class backgrounds in Delhi to be able to use this new form of transportation.

Undoubtedly the Metro is a symbol of change, reflecting progress and aggressive development, and the DMRC has succeeded in being viewed as a community partner. E. Sreedharan, Managing Director of Delhi Metro, had said at the time of its inauguration in December 2002, “The Metro has changed mobility patterns and aspirations of local citizens. It is much more than a cheap and safer means of transport. It will reduce congestion on roads, making movement easier. It will transform our social culture and give us a sense of discipline, cleanliness and enhance multi-fold development of a cosmopolitan city.”

The Metro is indeed changing the average Dilliwalla. What now needs to be seen is how it manages the larger crowds and if it will continue to be the gender-neutral space it is.

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