Horrors of traveling in a bus

Srimayee Dutta Gupta

I find it difficult to revisit this particular account of my life. I know it’s extremely common among the females of the country to have gone through something similar, but each account is different in its own might. Only the women vary, not the perpetrators. They have the same core. As a 9th Grader, it was a matter of immense joy and pride when my parents allowed me to travel all alone to school using public transport. For the first time was I allowed to step out in the world without holding the hands of my elders. I was explained everything on loop, given sufficient money, made to recite the bus numbers several times. But, what I was not warned about was that I would be touched inappropriately without my consent, frequently.