Yesterday night I went out with a girl friend of mine to one of my favourite hangout pub in Bandra. Even on a Thursday night the place was filled with a decent number of people, mostly office crowd. Now you would be thinking whats so darn great about this, I mean this is a scenario in most metro cities. However I noticed one peculiar thing when I glanced around the small room. Though the present crowd mostly comprised of men, there were also quite a few women around, just by themselves or in small groups.
It reminded of the times when I use to come down to Mumbai for holidays and crib in front of my best friend about the attitude of Mumbaikars or Indians in general, where women could not go down to the pub or a nightclub without being assisted by their male friends or relatives. It was seen more of taboo and would put a question mark on the girl’s character if she ever dared to venture out alone to such places. Afterall decent Indian women, don’t indulge themselves in such activities, it was perceived.
Mumbai has always been generally very safe for women traveling alone. However one biggest annoyance I and I am sure many would have encountered, are the eagle-eyed stares in nightclubs and pups. While western clothing was fine, one would have to think twice before wearing short skirts and low-cut tops and baring shoulders was definitely a no-no in such outings.
But today these notions have changed in many ways and thankfully for the better. In a multi-cultural, multi-layered city like Mumbai, there is enough and more for everyone — men or women — to participate in. In my opinion Mumbai is clearly the best choice for single women. Now we have vast majority of Mumbai’s women choosing to go to pubs, discos and it is no more seen as a moral issue. As a matter of fact, it’s so much easier for women to gain an entry in clubs and pubs, plus in many places we have free entry for women.
Mumbai men are mostly well-behaved and mannered when they meet women at clubs and pubs. Mostly it’s like, everyone just minds their own business. Ofcource there are few exceptions, where some men choose to think more from below the belt rather then their head but you can’t complain much since these assholes exist everywhere.
All in all, for Mumbai women with the initiative to do something other than routine, there is never a dearth of ideas or activities. She could be shopping one weekend, going to the cinema the next or proceeding to a newly opened nightclub. Better still, they might be hopping onto the night train to make it to swinging Goa over a long weekend and all of this without a damn care in the world.
[cross-posted @ Metroblogging Mumbai]
wanting to scream out loud, hoping that so-called “TV gurus†would hear our plead one day. This entry was posted on Friday, October 28th, 2005 at 9:02 am and is filed under Lists, Humor, India. You can follow any responses to this entry through theRSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. 46 Responses to “The old “idiot†box…†sowmya Says: October 28th, 2005 at 12:08 pm First time here. Your post took me through a nostalgic journey down DD lane. Indeed the
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