In a world where all kinds of relationships come with their terms and conditions, I believe female companionships are free from the shackles especially when they grow inside the train compartments. In the ‘ladies only,’ cubicles of trains, womanhood is my only caste, religion, class and pass to become a silent observer or a gregarious friend of numerous untold stories. It’s often said that women want to be understood more than anything else, therefore these travelling rooms encourage me to go forward with the quiet or noisy presence of women, motivating me to be kinder and unstoppable towards life.
Trains in India have already been identified as a medium to inflame unity among the nation. During the great Indian freedom movement, trains helped to diminish the differences of caste, creed and religion. On the same tracks, the ladies-only coach in Indian trains suits my feminist language as it’s a place where I can be myself with a friendly rhythm to know more about the lives of other women.
A ladies-only coach is a space to loosen ponytails, sit freely, look into a mirror, gobble food and listen to music or talk to each other without stressing over certain etiquettes or the ‘male gaze.’ Women looking timid and alert on jam-packed platforms suddenly feel free and at peace after stepping into these compartments. It rocks as a dais of freedom in public where the womenfolk feel connected and comfortable with unknown fellow travellers, making it a green room or rehearsal stage to run through internal and external liberations.
I came across Sarita*, a Gajrewali and commuter on a fast Mumbai local who travels every day from Virar to Dadar Flower Market for work. Sarita* believes that selling Gajraz in a ladies’ compartment is always hassle-free and rewarding enough to feel cherished, respected and adored.
Another working woman, Nishi* who travels from Navi Mumbai to Mumbai on an everyday basis reads books to utilise time. While chattering about her work-life balance strategies she says, ‘Reading in the ladies’ coach has been like reading in a home-like comfort, the sense of female presence is my comfort zone.’
Pondering over the tenets of a parallel universe, I often meet stories that are left unfinished. Like a teenage girl who described her whole life in 10 minutes and disappeared in the crowd after sharing about the abusive marriage of her parents and her red-flag boyfriend. Sometimes tranquil threads of pain and sometimes tunes of life, these tales unveil the hidden social orderings. They infuse me with an intense sense of solidarity with told-untold, complete, partial or missing parts of stories that co-exist inside a train compartment.
Ayesha*, a student in B.Com. 3rd year discovers, ‘even in the most chaotic situations, what brings comfort in the women’s section of a train is the feeling of being encircled through similar stories that can understand me. Bra straps or period stains are not a debate here.’
Being surrounded by the distinct struggles of women I never met before and will never meet again seems empowering at times. They reveal class differences, analytics of priorities and different cover-ups of patriarchy. The ‘mundane edges,’ of having less time allow more empathy to flourish between us with sunshine and air in the ambience. From cutting vegetables to preparing PPT in the train, women share poles apart yet linked struggles, hopes, sorrows, resilience and laughter within the compartment, making it an undeclared and informal territory of vibrant feminist endeavours and beautiful friendships.
Ladies’ compartments in trains are free from the patriarchal dilemma of hanging between the ‘risks of patriarchy,’ and ‘possibilities of feminism.’ I and the stranger travelers in these little moving rooms of stories have already broken an orthodox rule as we travel on our own, without any men to purportedly support or accompany us.
I see the ladies’ compartment as an off-the-record bureau of feminism. There are very less places that I can call ‘my space,’ but finally, I have found the tracks and a compartment where women like me choose their journeys to reach different destinations.
*Names have been changed for privacy
