Women Drivers

Indian men can't stand a woman driving!! There I said it.... and its an Indian truth(coz, I dunno about how it is abroad...) The moment they spot a lady on her vehicle, they have to peer and observe her riding or driving.  For them, its the 8th greatest wonder if a girl rides a bullet or drives a hummer. According to men, women in general just don't have what it takes to be driving a car or riding a bike. No sense of direction, no understanding of the power of the vehicle and no road sense at all. As it is, woman are fighting a war literally everyday to make a place for themselves in all aspects and add to this the woes of travelling on your own vehicle. I thought, it may only happen in smaller cities and towns, till I stayed in Mumbai for some time. The city is the coolest metro with malls, theatres, eateries and good hang-out places in every nook and corner, but finding a woman rider is a rare phenomena there, which is weirdly surprising. And even if a girl does venture out, you won't find her on the main junction roads or flyovers.

One evening, Matt and me were passing the road parallel to Haji Ali. And we saw a girl riding an Activa. All the people turned their heads to watch, and after sometime, some guys on their bikes started honking and hooting. My friend D was also riding along with us, and started honking. It just was so instinctive for them to honk. Like a bunch of monkeys following their chief and  they just kept watching her till she vanished from sight. I was horrified!!  I asked D why he did that. And he said something like 'She shouldn't be riding on a highway, it's not safe with all the big vehicles and traffic', which didn't make sense at all. I mean, who made them the guardians of all the girls on the street.

In Pune, though men are quite tolerant ('coz they don't have a choice), one will usually see them looking at women riders with ridicule and shake their heads as to 'What this world is coming to', when they see a girl speeding through. The comments range from 'see what she is wearing while riding a bike' to 'she can't even balance her handles properly' to 'how can she kick start with those heels'. And then the typical malayali achayans stating, 'pennangal aaittu pogannu pokku kandille'(being girls, see how they are going) or 'Vandi odikyan arriyithille veethil vekaratho?'( If you don't know how to drive, keep your vehicle at home). I know one such achayan who wouldn't buy a 2- wheeler for his daughter. And the reason he cited, 'Oh, girls are always riding so fast now-a-days. Its scary out there.' Yeah rite, boys are the safest and slowest riders ever. Girls are the ones obsessed with speed. 
  
The worst kinds are the truck and lorry-drivers on connecting routes to the highways.  They get specially excited first of all seeing a girl, and then a girl riding a 2-wheeler, its like 'sone pe suhaaga'. They have to overtake or corner or race a girl on a bike. I have personally faced it so many times. And god-forbid, when you overtake them when they are least expecting, you'll hear an array of colorful words and hand gestures.        

Its like, men just can't accept that a woman can drive on her own without making a mistake. Matt or his friend D have to pass a remark or raise their eyebrows if they can sight one woman driving a big vehicle like a bmw or a benz. Its like their head turns to see the vehicle, then it turns to see the driver and then it turns once more if its a girl, this time much faster. D had a time of his life when he came to Pune. He was so irritated because he couldn't see the faces of the women riding their 2-wheelers as they cover their faces with scarves. And the patience level almost hits ceiling, when they see a woman parking or navigating their cars through heavy traffic. Matt, (an ardent believer that women by large don't know how to drive, sparing a few) will wait and stand at times just to watch how a woman parks her car and says 'Oh, I should go and help her.'

He narrated an incident which happened many years before, when one night a lady was riding a chetak. She came in good speed and hit a speed breaker, after which she lost her balance and instead of trying to control, she left her hands to cover her face and screamed. Well, who says, just because we ride, we should lose our feminity? Women will be women and we'll ride just like how a woman is supposed to. And even if we go flying down after a skid, we'll see that our hair is in place and fall in style. You don't like it?? Too bad...as the scooty ad goes "Why should men have all the fun?"