The autowaalah was a young chap, who was kind enough(!) to take me to Koramangala. The weather was good and I was in no mood to find if the meter was tampered or not. Usually I paint a serious picture of myself once I am in an auto and do not open my mouth so as not to encourage the driver to indluge in any conversation.

As we were cutting through the streets of Jaya nagar, I noticed that the driver understood the concept of joy while working. He didn't fail to give at least one glance to every girl that was on road. At one point, looking at one reasonably good-looking and modernly dressed girl, he shook his head murmuring something. I didn't hear what he said nor did I see the expression on his face. I assumed, perhaps, he was overwhelmed. May be he was new to Bangalore.

Then that happened. We crossed one of the popular girls' colleges in Bangalore. So many beautiful girls and that perhaps was too much for the driver. He said aloud, 'Did you see, sir, how they dress?' It was a question to me and I had to respond, which I hated. 'Yes', I mumbled. Just as I would do with a stranger traveller in a train who tries to pull me in to a conversation, I added a good proportion of disinterest towards any further discussion. Unfortunately the autowaalah preferred to ignore that!

'Time has changed a lot, sir. All these modern girls wear what we men wear. Why don't they be content with what is good for them.'
I said nothing.
'They don't seem to have any shame at all. You see,, sir, how short their t-shirts are. ', he went on.
I was still not ready to get involved in. After all the heated argument I had exchanged with a friend of mine who supported the universities in Chennai for banning sleeveless t-shirts and jeans inside college. I had always had the opinion that people/organizations should not force things on which they can only recommend. I wanted to tell the driver that they would do as it would please them not as per what he thinks is right for them. But I refrained.

'Do you understand Kannada, sir?' He asked me in his broken Tamil, 'I am more comfortable with Kannada'. I said 'ok' leaving the answer to his guess.
'You know, sir, last week I dropped few girls from Koramangala to Marathahalli. They all were dressed like these. They care not about showing their waistlines. All those girls were giggling all the way non-stop, you know. I asked them why they all are dressed up like this and they said it is fashion.'
I doubted his guts to have asked that question but said nothing.

Then he had a question (for me) again. 'Won't their parents reprimand these girls at home, sir?'
As fate would have had it, something forced me to retort and I said, 'May be they are modern-like-this too.'
'You are right sir. Once, two ladies got in to my auto. Mother and daughter, they are. And both are dressed like same. No difference. I look at the daughter. I look at the mother. They are equally badly dressed.'

Fortunately for me, that was the end of the ride and lesson on Indian tradition. But that summed up the mindset of most of Indian people. What is right for a foreign girl is not right for an Indian girl. What is right for an Indian man is not right for an Indian girl. What is right for an Indian girlin her opinion is not right for her either. What one thinks as right for her is right for her!

Long way to go!