Conservatism has no Logical Approach

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I had this misconception that I can never go wrong (not even by chance) with the metro routes of my hometown until I found myself on the wrong platform. 

Even after realizing it, I wasted another couple of minutes to regret about the brilliant decisions I made in the morning.

First, washing my hair and later the scalp got sweaty in the humid. 

Second, I was in the mood of wearing ethnic clothes today.

Third, I took out a handbag instead of my backpack.

I have long hair and those strands were getting stuck in the chains of my handbag which I’m not a very big fan of. At the same time, I had to extra care of my clothing as I’m not very used to ethnic pieces. 

I sighed in disgust and moved ahead to reach the right platform. While crossing those three staircases, I counted all the twelve steps (each of them has) with my fists clenched in frustration and humid. 

Mostly, a staircase contains at least 12 steps. 

100 points for one of those architectural standards I still remember which my brother told me once. 

The platform was crowded enough to get some space on one of those seats where people like me usually wait for an “Emptier-Metro” which lets us reach our destination in peace. 

Within a couple of minutes, the metro arrived with a decent amount of people. 

I boarded the metro and looked through an entire coach to get an empty corner so that I can read the book while I travel. 

Each corner of the coach was occupied so I had to compromise with the space between the rows of seats which were also filled with people. 

I don’t prefer reading whenever I travel because I feel reading is one of those therapeutic exercises that should be done alone with no disturbance which your brain needs. But I still gave it a shot that day just to know If I could concentrate or not. 

I got lost in my book in no time that I didn't realize that I was about to reach my destination. 

While I was putting the book back in my bag, I noticed that the two women (who were sitting right in the row right in front of me) staring at me with the worst expressions I could ever imagine. It didn’t bother me much until I reached the door of the coach and they commented. 

I heard them saying, 

“कुछ फायदा नहीं है ऐसे लोगों के बीच किताबें पढ़ कर दिखावा करने का।”

“हाँ सही में , एक बार शादी हो जाती है तो सब ऐसे ही रखा रह जाता है, संभालनी तो रसोई ही है उसमे कहाँ ये किताबें काम आएंगी।”

(“There is no use of flaunting by reading this book in public places”

“Of course, once a girl gets married, there is no use of such books. After all, she is gonna look after the kitchen only.”)

And I regret till date why I got down from the metro without replying to those women. But the reality is that I can’t walk up to everybody who represents their conservative thoughts by commenting like this. 

I contemplated upon every single aspect I could find behind why made that woman use such lines. 

She might not get a proper education when she was young.

She might have taught to be a good housewife after she got married.

She might have seen this throughout all her life till now that women should better not read or do any literary work.  

There are countless possibilities that I can relate with that one incident but the point is to be at least logical about what you say or think. One doesn’t need to follow what is being followed by most of us till date. 

I understand that people have their reasons to be particular about things or not to accept a change. 

If you think reading in public is wrong then it’s your idea and before I consider you a human with a conservative brain, I would like to remind that you can’t decide for others at all. 

If I prefer reading in a public place then I can’t advise every reader that they must read while traveling.

If I prefer a less crowded metro, I can’t walk up to all the commuters and make them travel in an empty metro. 

Rather than abolishing the conservatism completely, I think we should find the reasons behind it first. 

What makes people still have such mindsets. 

We need to figure out if they have a clearer and logical perspective for that. 

My journey has ended that day but it has started a new chapter in my life. Before taking such things as an offense, I think about them deeply and try to find out the hidden logic behind the story. 

After all, we need to follow a logical approach.