Women Combatants

After much pushing and shoving I somehow managed to squeeze into the Purple line metro at peak hour.  Next to me in the crowd at the crowded Majestic station was a portly gentleman with a laptop bag in one hand and a tiffin box in the other and who somehow managed to squeeze into the compartment just before the doors shut.

Hardly was he heaving a sigh of relief when a stern looking lady at the top of her voice started shouting at this gentleman.

"How dare you - you pushed me when we were entering the train" she screamed at him.

The portly gentleman did not know what hit him as she was virtually squeezed next to him, and was screaming in his ear.

"I did not push you - somebody was pushing us from behind..." he started to weakly respond.

"You useless man - don't you know how to behave with women? Very uncivilized fellow!"  she screamed.

A gentleman next to me came to his rescue and said : "He is not at all fault.  All of us get pushed, madam - unfortunately this is the plight of all of us traveling on Purple Line at peak time".

At this the stern looking lady screamed :"This is the problem - all you dirty men support each other".

Nobody dared speak up now.  No man wanted to be called "dirty".  The portly gentleman was trying to melt into the floor when sudden help came from behind him.

A thin woman who was squeezed behind the portly gentleman shouted : "Who dares call my husband dirty? You foolish woman - why don't you take an Uber if you don't know how to travel by crowded trains"?

The stern looking school teacher visibly coloured and retorted : "You teach your husband how to board trains in civilized manner instead of lecturing me".

The wife got wild and replied : "What makes you think you are some beautiful woman who any man would even want to look at - let alone touch?"

It was apparent that the formidable stern looking lady had met her match.  There was a sudden parting of the crowd in the compartment - a massive duel was imminent and the crowd made space for the combatants.

But the shouting subsided as quickly as it started.  The metro reached the next station and the stern looking lady suddenly decided she had to get off.

Everybody in the compartment heaved a sigh of relief.  The husband meekly nodded thanks to his wife. His wife triumphantly beamed all around.  The husband retreated to a corner and tried to make himself invisible.  There was no doubt in anybody's mind as to who will be calling the shots in his home that evening.

And me?  Henceforth I take a Purple metro from Majestic station only if I am traveling with my wife. 

Conversations with Generation Z

So there I was having my lunch when a bunch of Generation Z guys and girls joined me at the table of the canteen in the co-working space.

“Hadley D’Souza” said a long haired chap introducing himself to me.

“…..Hadley as in James Hadley Chase?”  I asked him.

“Yes” he said.

“Wow – I have read most of his books. And you are surely a fan of James Hadley Chase too?”  I asked.

“No - my mom was a fan of his and she named me after him.  I have never read him".  And then as a sort of explanation he turned to the others at the table and said "That writer was from the last century." 

I had to quickly regain my leadership around the table so I said : “Names can be such interesting conversation starters” And turning to the girl sitting next to him I asked her .."and what is yours?"

“Ishika - spelt as Eishika” she said.

“Wow – that is a wonderful conversation starter – I am sure everyone asks you why you spell it that way?”  I said.

She made a wry face and said : “No – they only say my name has a spelling mistake in it”. 

Refusing to give up I turned to the girl sitting next to me and said “I am sure your name must be very interesting as a conversation starter?”

“Actually no - my name is boring - it is Nikita” she said.

“I am sure lots of people tell you that your name reminds them of Niki-Tasha TV…” I said with a laugh.

“No – actually most people don’t even know that such a TV existed” she said.

“It was a very popular TV once” I said.

“My grand-mother remembers that TV” she said.

Then she looks at Hadley and pointedly says “Only my grand-mother – not even my mother”

Me? I was missing from the table.