sometimes i wonder if i just go around asking for it! it was a delayed decision to make a weekend trip to b'lore. after much dilly-dallying about taking the following monday off and make it a real nice vacation :) but decided against it and stuck to the plain-vanilla weekend trip.
i certainly seem to be in a minority 'cos there was no dearth of tickets to get back here on a monday morning. the problem however lay in reaching b'lore. for someone like me, who is always quite kicked about online bookings, it was overwhelming to find a private tour operator offer such an option!
now this travel operator's site gives you a lot of options... but considering my timing, wasnt left with much. so here i was, looking at a volvo service with just 1 seat to go. gleefuly i decide to go ahead with the booking only to be shown a message that i wasnt eligible for the said seat. the reason? the seat adjacent to the lone one i chose was taken by a female passenger!! wow!
frankly, am at a loss for words here... not that i was overly joyous with the thought of having female company for the trip... it is imperative that i must remind the reader here that i do not abhor female company. not the least! but its the other way round that disturbs me. then again, my past observations of female transit on the b'lore-chennai route certainly makes me not look forward to such company. takes me to the one-liner "99% of the women in this world are beautiful, the rest travel b'lore-chennai"...!! grrr..
but i am deviating from the point here. my angst was about not being given that ticket... it merely reflects the kind of "culture" found in this part of the country. custodians of culture and tradition is what they like to think of themselves. somehow they need to convince me of the culture they are protecting when their very backyard is one overworked sleaze factory.... does it unsettle them that this little secret of theirs is out in the open?
oh btw, they allow a female to sit next to a seat occupied by a male... funny.
This is interesting... didn't know about these rules earlier. I've had to put up with snoring strangers of the male variety despite being a lone female traveler!!
ReplyDeleteI don't have your number... would you be so kind as to send me an email?? :-)
It IS interesting. Mebbe some lady enforced the idea :P
ReplyDeleteNo seriously, I think it's a good one, hypocrisy or not. Anything to avoid the **** touchy-feely types who invariably end up beside you if you're single and female. ESP Chennai-Blore. My worst trips ever.
As for the lady choosing the empty seat, my best wishes to whoever does that, evn if she's just trying to prove a point.
@raaga & @tg: now that downgrades my clan doesnt it!!
ReplyDeletewell sir, the next time u want tickets u better get urself upto koyambedu. u'll certainly get them there n generally no questions are asked. these online bookings sometimes don't work the way we want them to.
ReplyDeleteas for the custodians of culture, i have written quite a lot about them and have a lot more to say too!
well i dont see anything wrong with having seats reserved for women for overnight travel
ReplyDeleteAs far as women taking up seats next to male passengers goes..well its a choice they make...
We women experience an eeky feeling each time a hairy hand brushes against ours on purpose while on such trips..
such attitude of "some of your clan" make it mandatory for culture polices to exist...
( mind u i havent generalized:P)
interesting...
ReplyDeletewas the lady nice, the one you sat next to?
thats how they give tickets man...even when you take it from their booth..just that they dont pick up a board with error message displayed "lady sitting in next seat - u need to be another to take this seat"...
ReplyDeletehow many times since then have u travelled by volvo to Blore buddy?????;)
ReplyDeletehmm,thats wat i thot..hehehehe...