Title - Fending off dirty dozen is a daily affair

BANGALORE: On the rush-hour train to work or home, a lewd experience is almost essential for women shuttling between cities. With Kavya still recovering from Tuesday's trauma and injuries in hospital, TOI spoke to women passengers who travel daily from Bangalore to Mysore, Mandya and Kolar at Bangalore railway station on Wednesday. "It's a daily affair for us. We have no choice,'' was the refrain.Parvathi M, who has been travelling from Gollahalli near Tumkur to Bangalore for work for the past three years, says that if she misses her regular train, she prefers to take a bus rather than the next train. "I always get into the coach where my friends are. In case I miss my train, I make sure I don't end up waiting alone in the railway station or travel with strangers in another train. We know how men behave in trains," she said.Kaveri OS, a lecturer with a private college in Basavanagudi who commutes by train every day from Tumkur, recalled a horrible experience she had during her journey to Punjab, when had taken a group of students for a sports meet. "A group of men surrounded me and locked up in the railway canteen in Punjab a year ago. I still get the goosebumps when I recall the incident. I howled for help and was rescued by passersby. But I didn't register a case with police to avoid complications. It is better for women to travel in a team," she said. She feels there are more eve-teasing cases on the Kurkure Express, that starts at Yeshwantpur.

Jyothi N, a mass communication student at a private college in Jayanagar, says it's best to travel in the ladies compartment. "Some men behave almost mad. It's better to sit with women and speak to them to be safe," she said. Almost all the women carry pepper sprays and sometimes small pen knives for safety.