India's daughter! really??

This blog topic has been circling in my head for the last few days but I never managed to get those 30 minutes to put my thoughts together...I surely can't focus and write when one kid is watching 'Sam & Cat' and the other is engrossed into her 'Peppa Pig'.  Of course had you quizzed me about Peppa Pig and his family, am sure I would have excelled!

I think we have been reading enough and more about the documentary 'India's Daughter' filmed by Leslee Udwin and released by BBC (I know am late- the film has been banned on the internet by the Government of India and so I can't upload the link here). Though most of us managed to see it within 48 hours of its release (it just proved the strength of online media today). The publicity it has generated is probably more than what was covered in the media when the incident really happened.

During my PR days, the social/online media was not really around and now living out of India, I highly rely on online media for my news articles and updates. So I have been reading tonnes of articles/blogs that have come out post this film was leaked out. Some of them have been disturbing and some re-assuring.

Watching that film gave me goosebumps. I never managed to see it in one shot. I needed the breaks to digest what was being said. Did they really mean that? It's not an India I relate to. On one hand, we talk of India being the fastest growing economy etc etc and then a film like this comes by and shows the country in poor light. Which is the true picture? Is it the India I look upto or is it what was shown in that movie!

Having lived that way in Delhi (the same city where the incident took place) most of my life  and having been in a 'likewise' situation several times, this could have happened to anyone. When I think back about my college days, I always thank my stars for scraping it through. Traveling in those public buses, getting back from friend's homes in an auto late evenings, I probably was just lucky. Of course with no mobile phones to even track you, I wonder how our parents survived each day! Even today I constantly live in a fear, that something may just go wrong. It's tough for me to let my kids out of sight (even when they are just playing down).

My 7-year old walks back by herself from her bus stop every afternoon. Of course the (hyper) mother in me, waits for her at the balcony. If she is a bit late, I start getting impatient. Letting her do it required a lot of self-convincing. And mind you I live in one of the 'safest cities' in the world. Had I been in India, I am not sure when I could have let loose. Every time she travels to India for her breaks, she has to be told that it is not 'safe' to operate in the same mode there. Soon, she will have to be confronted with the harsh realities of life that she may not be exposed to here.

Am not sure which life (the one I lived or the one my daughter is living) is better! I think my situations taught me a lot and in her case I may have to do a lot of the teaching! 

This morning I chanced upon this news piece:

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/train-reliability-has/1708456.html

(only the last para is relevant)

WHAT ABOUT WOMEN-ONLY CABINS (in the MRT's)

In response to suggestions by Members of Parliament Lily Neo and Low Thia Kiang to deploy women-only train cabins, Mr Lui said this idea had been raised and looked at carefully before.

"There are practical difficulties and challenges, such as how to and how strictly to enforce the rule, and also how this could sub-optimise the capacity of our trains," the minister said.

"From the experience of other systems, the women-only cabins are often utilised less, meaning that more commuters will have to crowd into the other cabins or wait for the next train."

REALLY? In Singapore? And I wondered for what reason!!!!