Her 1st thought after she took a seat in the bus was "She should not have boarded this bus in the 1st place it wouldnt have harmed her to reach a little late at the theatre"She took a ticket to kandivali in the air conditioned bus which costed her 75 bucks instead of what could have been a 20 bucks ticket in the normal bus. Regretted again and then she gradually went through a 10 minutes of nightmare of her own. She had boarded an ac bus from bandra to kandivali and there was not a single female passenger in that bus. Infact the only other passenger in the bus was also a man including the driver and the conductor. Immediately she switched off her music that was playing on her phone and removed her head phone and was just focusing on what the driver and conductor were conversing. She herself was continually chanting the ganesh matra for her safety. In those 10 minutes all the possible dangerous thoughts came her. Thanks to the daily soap crime patrol. She got scared because she was the only female feeling trapped between 3 men in a bus which could not be opened unless the driver wanted it to. All the episodes of rape crimes and murdered after the rape were scaring the sh*t out of her. Her mom's voice was echoing in her head scolding her "Don't you have common sense to not board that bus in the 1st place"The other thought that came was that "What if they kill her and throw her body". Just yesterday she had spoken to her bhabhi about whom to give what possessions of her if she never woke up today morning. Why the f*ck did she talk all that non sense yesterday. But the answer was all the recent deaths around her had left an feeling of uncertainty in her. The next thought was a picture of her friend waiting outside the theatre wondering why she dint turn up. Mansi would keep wondering about where she was and probably call few times and when she would get some bad news about her friend how would she react. After sometime the male passenger came and sat ahead and she was feeling her palms sweat out of fear. She was mentally recollecting what all stuff she had in her bag. Did she have anything that could help her defend herself. The answer was nothing she had in her bag was capable of being used in self defence. The male passenger started conversing with the conductor and the driver in their local language. She could understand it and realized that the passenger was about to get down. She kept on thinking whether she should get down too.? Yes, no, should I, shouldnt I? Its better to be safely stupid rather then allowing conditions to create a tragedy was her thought and so as soon as the bus stopped at the station and the passenger got down she stood up from her seat and went for the door. The conductor told her that kandivali is still far away but she made an excuse that she has some work and got down. The moment she got down she could see the same expression of suspicion on the other passenger and the conductor's face. It felt like the passenger was laughing at her foolishness as he saw her waiting for another bus at the same stop and the conductor's last expression as the door of the bus closed seemed like he was confused and upset of being untrusted. Even the other people waiting at that bus stop were eyeing her suspiciously. But, like said in the movie jhankaar beats "Better safe than sorry" She told herself and boarded another bus for kandivali with a peaceful smile. I know people who read this post might think that what a stupid girl she is created negative thoughts with in mind herself and then fell in the trap of her own thoughts. But the fact is : nobody thinks of such tragedies happening to them, am sure even the woman who have been victims to crimes would not have thought about it. So its better to take some safety steps and look foolish rather then being victims. We all keep saying "Its kalyug and hence all this is happening" When we see crime patrol and hear or read such things in news. But my thought is : arre bhai jab pata hai ke kalyug hai toh thoda careful rehne mei koi bewakoofi nai hai. Jo hona hai woh ho kar rahega but self invite to mat karo. Hope ya all be safe. Also published on www. Dikshal. Blogspot. Com 