More hostesses on buses, please

For many of us lucky enough to have taken an ST bus short for State Transport from the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation therersquos nothing like those magical vehicles anywhere in India If Bihar can boast of building sturdy bridges and Gujarat can speak of sending the bravest men to the Army Maharashtra can put forth its fleet of MSRTC buses as a source of state pride One can spot them from a mile away gleaming under flyovers in Dadar or Parel as they prepare to carry thousands of satisfied passengers across the statersquos flawless highways Now as if those pristine vehicles werenrsquot enough MSRTC officials have come up with a way of making rides between Bombay and Pune even more pleasantTrained hostessesThey are to be called Shivneri Sundaris apparently because they will work their magic on eShivneri buses Itrsquos heartening to think of the advertising agency that walked away with a large taxpayerfunded cheque for coming up with that particular bon mot Given the other buses in the MSRTC stable I foresee marketing campaigns for Ashwamedh Ashwinis Parivartan Parvatis Bhimashankar Bhoomis and Shivshahi Shalinis looming on the horizon Itrsquos the future whether wersquore ready for it or notThe Sundaris in question will supposedly welcome and offer passengers highquality assistance during their journeys They will presumably provide highquality travelrelated information tackle queries with highquality responses take suggestions and feedback with a highquality attitude and help with basic amenities like water newspapers and magazines according to an unnamed MSRTC official quoted in multiple reports Thatrsquos not all though Sundaris will also ensure cleanliness on these buses monitor airconditioning and temperature and inform authorities of technical issues They will be equipped with first aid and medical kits to offer basic medical assistance if required For highquality medical help passengers will probably have to rely on oldfashioned doctorsThis couldnrsquot have been a quick decision It must have involved hundreds of fruitful meetings and hours of brainstorming Our already overworked officials must have had to stay way past lunch hour on multiple days to flesh out the planrsquos finer points It says a lot that they could find nothing else that required urgent attention which makes me believe that the one thing passengers must have needed most on ST buses was a woman to serve them somethingI can see why most normal people would baulk at an idea so seemingly regressive pointless and reeking of misogyny I can see why they would accuse those enlightened erudite MSRTC officials of dragging society into the medieval era What they donrsquot understand is that these are foundational principles when it comes to governmental bodies tasked with managing travel across Maharashtra Ask any woman in your family if they agree or disagree Why pick on one campaign when the whole edifice is rottenWomen arenrsquot given much thought when it comes to anything in this state despite what fullpage governmentsponsored advertisements may proclaim There are ministries and departments allegedly dedicated to their welfare of course because that is the sort of thing international organisations tend to focus on while rating a state All that bureaucracy means nothing to the average female traveller because it cannot guarantee a safe calm or pleasant commute anywhere So if the MSRTC wants to treat women as commodities and reduce them to the status of props it isnrsquot that far from how most women without means believe they are treated regularly anyway This is not a country that believes women should use public transportThen again maybe Irsquom looking at this the wrong way Maybe the Sundaris are a first step towards the unfolding of a larger plan Maybe what the MSRTC wants to do is start with the big picture and then focus on granular details First hostesses then smaller issues like cleanliness food quality and employee welfare Irsquom not optimistic but maybe I should be After all our central government has also introduced schemes that were initially criticised but eventually accepted as beneficial PM Cares comes to mind for all the good it has done for at least one or two individualsI must end this column with a suggestion If Maharashtrarsquos bureaucrats want to start something they should try it themselves first If they canrsquot for whatever reason they should nominate a female member of their family to take the plunge It is only fair that they also have journeys as pleasant as the ones enjoyed by thousands of citizens who step into ST buses dailyWhen he isnrsquot ranting about all things Mumbai Lindsay Pereira can be almost sweet He tweets lindsaypereiraSend your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper