An ex- NRI living in Bengaluru recently shared why she chooses to take an auto-rickshaw for a 1 km ride to her gym, saying that the short walk involves navigating speeding vehicles, encroached footpaths and unwanted stares.
Nupur Dave, who is currently based in Bengaluru, shared her experience in an Instagram video. She also described having to navigate scooters parked along the main road and cross a busy signal filled with speeding vehicles. She said her gym is around 1.3 km from her home, a distance she would otherwise prefer to walk.
“Now I started normalising taking a rickshaw for 1 km every day,” Dave said, explaining that the route involves several hurdles. Dave shared that she has to walk through an area where “everybody stares”, while the pathway is “ubad-khabad”, dirty and encroached. “I have to run to cross so that no vehicle comes and runs me over,” she said, adding that the experience does not feel “dignified”.
(Also Read: NRI forced to leave US after his entire project gets moved to India team: ‘The irony!’ ) In the clip, Dave further questioned how many of the difficulties she faces are linked to being a woman. “I’m not trying to eliminate every inconvenience. I’m choosing which ones I’m willing to pay to avoid,” she wrote.
“A lot of it,” she said, while acknowledging that not every part of India has the same problems. She shared that she had previously lived in apartments where she could walk through “a tree-lined, beautiful area”, but said her current location does not offer the same experience. She said that this has become part of the compromise of living in India after being an NRI. “India then becomes a compromise, but it’s a happy one,” she said, adding that she tries to find ways to mitigate the inconveniences. In the caption accompanying the video, Dave said that she spends around ₹ 100 on the ride to “buy myself a little peace”. One user wrote, “When we visit India, I take a rickshaw just to go to the other side of the road !..better safe than sorry, and yes the rickshawalas have a great laugh.”
