Merely for a bus seat

I was in Mumbai whole of last week and now going over to Bangalore. Have not been posting comments for sometime now, though my great blog friends have been doing so promptly. A thousand apologies on that. Will do so once I am back in Sharjah in a fortnight. Had a great opportunity for the first time to meet blog friends Pankaj and Nikki. More about Mumbai visit later. A little Chennai experience now.
Men and women are seated in separate sections in Chennai buses. When the women’s seats are vacant, it is common for men to occupy them. I was one among them. As we were almost reaching the suburban destination, I thought there would be no hassle. But suddenly there was a rush of passengers as the preceding bus had halted due to a technical fault. I was surrounded by women in a few minutes, old, young, pretty and sisterly types. I was about to rise to leave way for one of them when the man sitting next to me held my hand and cautioned: “Sit back. We will be crushed in this crowd.” I tried to hang on to my seat with my head down, but could hear nasty comments from some women, “why can’t they get up, fools.” My second attempt too was thwarted by the man. At last, I decided enough was enough, got up and moved on. The man refused to budge, but the four-letter verbal mauling by some women made him relent. He reluctantly got up, looked at me like a man whose new dress had been dirtied by crow shit and stood quietly near me till I got off the bus.