Who will hear Our Voice?

Priyanka Chatterjee
Digital Study Hall

I would like to share an experience from my work life, an experience which countless working women face every day when they leave their houses. I was visiting District Institute of Educational Training (DIET) Chitrakoot and Kaushambi, I got late and boarded a bus at Allahabad for Lucknow. It was 4 in the afternoon, I was certain that I would reach home in four hours. As luck would have it engine of the bus broke down, we got delayed by more than 3 hours. When I boarded the bus there were 25 men and 3 women onboard. As as time went by I was the only women left on the bus. It was then that I started feeling scared. I could feel many men staring at me; I could smell the drunken men at the back of the bus. Though I consider myself to be a strong and independent woman that night I felt very vulnerable. As I arrived at Lucknow I called my husband with a breath of sigh and he picked me up at half past midnight from the deserted bus station.

I still asked myself – I am an educated & independent woman and ironically working for empowerment of women, so why was I scared? I remember a little girl from KGBV Ghorawal at Sonbhadra district who said “We are scared, and we do not raise our voice” but that day in the bus I understood what she meant. It was not just about raising her voice. It is the fact that there is no one that will hear and understand. That day even if I had raised my voice, there was no one who I could expect to respond. This is where I feel that no matter how brave we are, we still need the a lawful state, We need government to take hold of administration and make our railways, our buses, roads and public places safe for women.