I’ve had my share of creepy strangers staring at me like any other girl in the world but this took it a notch further. Disclaimer- This may turn out to be a long read but stick with me!
The incident dates a couple of months back when I was travelling to my hometown Indore from Pune. As it was an impromptu plan, the flight tickets were extremely high priced and I don’t really prefer train journey on this route as it is too time consuming, I was traveling by bus.
I was no stranger to bus journeys nor was this the first time I was traveling alone. Buses are multiaxled AC sleeper ones so the journey is quite comfortable.
I usually opt for the single lower birth as it provides comfort as well as privacy. This is what the interior of the bus looks like.
The journey time ranges between 12–14 hours and is night travel so you can just sleep it out.
During that fateful journey, I happened to be traveling on a weekday so there was comparitively low rush. The double berth opposite me was occupied by a single man who kept on speaking loudly on his mobile with what I am assuming was his girlfriend. I had my curtains drawn and was watching the movie they had put on but the sound of it was unable to drown out his voice. He was so loud! I tried my best to ignore which was a difficult task given that he was seated right opposite to me.
Anyway, the movie was boring and I was starting to feel drowsy almost an hour into the journey when I got startled feeling something moving near my leg.
My first thought was that it might be a rat but that was a product of the sleepy brain. Common sense took over and I got up to see what was there. Turns out it was the man’s leg poking through my curtain.
Mind you he had to put his legs from his seat, across the narrow corridor in the bus in order to reach my seat.
I pulled back the curtain, interrupted him in his tirade on the phone and politely yet firmly said, “excuse me, can you take your legs away from my seat”
This was the first time I actually even looked at his face and he was a man around 29–30 years of age.
He appeared shocked at his own actions , as if he hadn’t realised where his legs were, withdrew and apologised to me.
He went back to his phone and I drew the curtains back thinking that the ordeal is over. To my horror some 10 minutes later, the incident repeats again.
This time I went on the defensive. I pulled my legs to the other side to avoid contact. Even though it got a little cramped ( I am 5’9” tall). I thought he will eventually just move away and gave him the benefit of doubt.
I could not help being creeped out though and felt that my personal space was violated. Things took a turn for the worse when I felt that his leg moved upwards and touched my knees this time.
Alarmed, I again asked him to withdraw. This time in an angrier tone.
Again he apologised and took his legs away.
15 mins later the bus took a pit stop and maybe by this time I was feeling paranoid, I hurried outside, wedged myself between two aunties who were getting down as well and hoping he would not follow.
I was talking on the phone simultaneously at the same time just to be on the safe side.
When I boarded the bus again, the conductor came to count the people in their seats to ensure that nobody had been left behind.
He asked the man to go back to his seat as the passengers of this seat would be boarding from Shirdi.
I heaved a sigh of relief thinking the ordeal to be over but I was mistaken.
His original seat was the berth above mine.
My mind already was on a high alert mode and panic kept the sleep at bay.
My fears were not unfounded. Half an hour into the journey I saw his hand dangling down to my seat. I asked him to take it away. He complied. 5 minutes later, history repeated itself yet again. Furious, I repeated my words but they fell on deaf ears. He was acting to be asleep.
I pulled the curtains close together so that there was no gap from which his hand could enter, I could feel his fumbling fingers, straining, putting pressure on the curtain, trying to pry a way in.
By this time, I had started panicking a little. Almost all the passengers in the bus were asleep and thousand thoughts were running on my mind.
I took out my phone camera, made a recording of his hand, the quality was pathetic in the dim light!
I yanked the curtains in an attempt to shake his hand off but he continued to fumble for a way inside the curtain, in an attempt to find the partition between the two curtains (not made easy because I had twisted them and was holding them tightly in my hands.)
Something in my brain just snapped. I was frustrated and just had enough.
I got up and marched into the driver’s cabin. Asked the conductor who was a kind man in his fifties to come and help after having explained the entire situation to him.
He duly accompanied me back to my seat, woke up the man in the seat above who was acting to be asleep and gave him a good verbal thrashing! He even threatened to deboard him in the middle of nowhere if he repeats his actions.
I could not contain my anger and shouted at him for his actions. Turns out he was drunk as well.
The commotion in the meanwhile had woken up passengers in the nearby seats who rallied to my support and asked me to wake them up if I felt the need!
Satisfied and somewhat relieved I went to sleep after warily watching the curtains for almost an hour.
The next morning while I was deboarding at my stop, on seeing me getting up, he hastily drew his own curtains in shame. The satisfaction it gave me is something I cannot describe in words!
These incidents are a common occurrence for girls all over but it made me realise, never be afraid to speak out. The world would always try and make you a victim, it is your choice to submit to atrocities or fight back!
I am also thankful to the staff who were so cooperative.
The words of the conductor to me were, “Aap log bharosa karke humare saath travel karte ho. Aapki safety toh humari responsibility hai madam”
“You trust us when you choose to travel with us, your safety is our responsibility madam”
The world is a better place because of people like him.
I was smiling like an idiot when I got off the bus.
Edit: I have seen popular answers on quora with thousands of views and hundreds of upvoters, and hoped one day I would be able to achieve that. Wish fulfilled! I don’t even consider the best answer I’ve written till date but I guess the quora algorithm works in mysterious ways that I’m yet to fathom.
Published this yesterday night and when I woke up today, it already has 15k answer views! Thanks to everyone who has commented and upvoted! The words in the comments were very encouraging and some even gave novel suggestions in such situations! Thankful to all except this one guy, who asked me to get marrried if I wanted to avoid such situations in future! I was flabbergasted at his solution and then he goes on and comments this:
Seriously? Get a life!
Edit 2: To the people who “smell” Zaira Wasim here, I think there’s something wrong with your olfactory receptors. Do visit an ENT. Pointing out major differences. She didn’t lodge a complaint with the airline staff. When asked if something was wrong, she clearly said no. She did not seek help at the time of the incident and then created a hue and cry over instagram. I neither comdemn nor condone her actions. I wasn’t there and I am not the right person to judge but I hope you can make out the differences in both the situations.
I don’t generalise men. For every pervert, there are hundreds of good guys out there. Generalising everyone based on selective incidences is wrong and the same applies to women. I don’t deny the fake dowry and harassment cases that are occurring. But for every fake case, there are a hundred genuine ones as well. So stop this generalisation!
Peace!
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