Personal Space in India

Arriving into Mumbai, I did all the things a typical new-comer does. A Mumbai-Darshan, a few plates of pani puri, dahi puri and vada pavs. After a few months of travelling in the comfort of A.C. buses to commute to work, I decided to take a train ride from Vashi to CST just to feel what it is like. Holy dooly! It was a ride of my life. And I was told, later, that the train was only three fourth full. It was a Saturday and I was in my casuals with slippers on. Casuals: right choice. Slippers: wrong. Here’s a piece of travel tip I can give to train commuters in Mumbai. Wear Shoes!

After the train ride, I wanted to write a full length article on Mumbai trains. Then again, a lot had been written and an article on Mumbai trains would be the last piece of newspaper column a mumbaikar would like to read. Nevertheless, I want to talk about personal space in India. Let's take a ride!

India has a total land area of 3,287,263 square kilometers and as per the last census in 2011, has 1210 million people — a densely populated country. However, with consideration and respect for each other's personal space, we could all have our personal zones, outside the safety of our homes as well. Unfortunately, the notion of personal space is something not embraced, in our social lives.

Let us talk about a few places where a lot of people can be seen. Movie theatre! Buses! Restaurants!

Movie theatre! Hilarious things have been said and written about the queue formation to get a ticket for a movie. There are no rules! People walk on each other and there will only be a few feeble protests when someone climbs up to walk on others' shoulders to reach the box office. Lasith Malinga, a recognized toe crusher worldwide, would certainly be envious of the thousands of toe crushers in numerous movie halls in various states. It is granted that we will rub against others while trying to reach our seats. That is the designed way of moving around inside of a movie hall. If I don't want to step on others' toes or not rub against their knees, then I have to turn into a small reptile to creep up against the back of a chair and reach the allotted seat. Perhaps I have to remain as a reptile for the reminder of my stay inside the movie hall, to avoid legs and hands getting into my personal space.

Buses! In some of the city buses, even a reptile cannot creep into a safety of a seat or reach a corner to stand without rubbing against someone else. I have to be a fly; a small fly at that, to keep flying above the heads of fellow passengers. Sometimes, I may get lucky and find my own personal space inside of a bus. However, people get creative to violate the personal space. Passengers sneeze or cough out so loud without any protection and I can feel the impact on the back of my head. While getting down, I have to jump out. Delay of a second and a fellow passenger would put a hand on my shoulder and will *help* me out.

Restaurants! Any fancy and a good looking restaurant would have the smallest of a rest room facility, even in metro cities. I have to transform to an acrobatic specialist to be able to stand in the narrow space and attend to nature's call. The spacing inside of the dining hall can be classified as following, in terms of accessibility to the closest table.

1. I cannot hear the sound of cutlery from the sloppiest of an eater at next table - will have to pay an arm and a leg for such a restaurant.

2. I cannot smell the food in the next table - Still a costly outfit.

3. I can smell the food. I can hear them eat - About 15 percent of the restaurants.

4. I can reach the food from the next table without stretching my hand - About 80 percent of them.

Traffic! For the purpose of this column, let us restrict our discussion to space violations. In contemporary traffic, between two vehicles, if there is enough space for a two wheeler, an auto-rickshaw gets in between. If there is space for an auto, a car gets in between. For two wheelers and auto, the rule is to get the front wheel into an empty space available. Then, they will worry about the rest of the body of the vehicle. In the buses there are writings 'Don't stretch your hand or head outside'. In the current conditions, the writing has to really say 'Stretch your hand or head outside, if you can; and call this number to communicate your recent record to Guinness book'. Over the years, the distance between two adjacent vehicles have been reduced from a few feet to within a foot and thereon to within a few centimetres and now in millimetres.

Then there are elevators, share autos and internet browsing centres where space for one person is taken up by at least two. The irony is that I am looked upon as a creature from another planet when I respect someone else's space and provide ways and means to create space for them - in a bus, train or in a restaurant. Having tried and failed at many attempts to spread the concept, now I take it up on my own to protect self. I travel with my new outfit to escape from rubbing, pushing and nudging — a bullet proof vest, a rain coat with gloves and a helmet on.