The Reserved Territory

          The Reserved Territory

At the struck of the last bell at school we use to sprint like Usain bolt just to reserve a seat in the school bus. It was one of the fierce competitions held every day at school. Windows of the bus were like the gates of a kingdom inviting us to capture the territory. The weapons used to conquer were our academic materials mostly notebooks which had our name printed and sometimes muscles too worked.

The most preferred were the last lane window seats which were mostly occupied by seniors of the school. The quality of the seats in terms of preference decreased as one moved to the front seats. The most disliked ones were the first few seats which were already reserved for teachers. And having a seat near the teacher was no fun and I believe not even today. The middle and last lane seats were the targets of many. These seats offered joyful ride as the students participated actively in various games like antakshri, quiz and many others.

To reserve a seat, we had to outrun others. Many a time’s more than one student reserved the same seat. This led to clashes and sometimes severe consequences. Moreover, it was a form of rivalry.

Now, I am no more in school and I travel mostly by public transport. Not more has changed when I compare the old day’s rivalry with travelling by public transport. The rivalry is still in action especially during office hours. What has changed is then I had to compete with school mates but now it’s an open competition.

These days there are reserved seats for women and physically challenged people. What I learned at my school was “Reservation is for people who are in minority or underprivileged”. While taking up the gender statistics of Nepal, females are in majority! And I wondered why reservation for a class who is in majority. Now, I understand that these reservations are not based entirely on statistics and I salute the lawmakers for this achievement. But of what good is a law if not followed honestly?

Many a times the seats reserved for women are taken my men and women are found being crushed like protons and neutrons in an atom. I have also seen people trying to misbehave physically taking advantage of the overly packed transportation.  Fault is from both sides. Men don’t have the courtesy to give the seat and women don’t dare to ask for their right. 

We all want to be in the comfort zone either by hook or by crook. We enjoy underestimating and poking others. We develop this attitude since our childhood and it keeps growing. If we were taught lessons on peace, harmony and mutual understanding beside math and sciences at school and at home, we would have developed sympathy and brotherhood towards each other. The ultimate lesson for all of us is to develop conscience and spread harmony. Developing the feeling of mutual understanding will help all of us.

My only request, 

Dear men, 

Next time if you see women, senior citizen or a differently abled standing in the public vehicle please show some respect.

Thank you.