A response to Sanjukta basu

Dear Sanjukta,

I read your piece on women reclaiming public spaces in Chennai and it left me quite unnerved and unsettled. Here are a few reasons why.

I lived in Hyderabad for a year and a half, but I am not the right person to comment on women’s safety there since I hardly ever took the public transport and had access to luxurious commute most of the time. But Chennai, I can comment on.

You spoke about feeling safe in buses. While I do take pride in the fact that Chennai is one of the safer cities in India, I do not think it is safe on an absolute scale. Men leering at you or sizing you up and making you feel uncomfortable also count as feeling unsafe and I’ve felt that a lot of times myself. Trust me when I say that you have not actually experienced proper public transport unless you’ve taken a crowded 29 C in peak hours.

You have mentioned statistics and numbers in your piece and while I appreciate that as a research scholar myself, I also know how subjective and sensitive an issue like women’s safety is. You cannot get an understanding of it just by spending one day or even a few days in some of the most prominent public places in Chennai.

I am not quite sure how you claim that most women chose “traditional Indian clothe” and that very few wore “jeans or western wear”. Are you sure this is an accurate description? Because I beg to differ (not quite sure what you were trying to convey through that accompanying photo either. That doesn’t look “safe” to me at all).

And finally, merely seeing a large number of women vendors and shopkeepers doesn’t mean they have reclaimed public places. Did you actually talk to them and ask them if they feel safe out on the streets, while doing business?

I am in no way trying to paint Chennai as a villain. In fact, it’s the city I love the most but that doesn’t mean I turn a blind eye to its flaws. A local who has lived here for a while and spent a lot more time in public spaces might understand all this better than someone who has spent just a few days here.