Mumbai, a grope fest

From the pages of the Times of India newsprint today comes an article outlining one of the many challenges facing female life in Mumbai. It is quite apparent when when we hit the streets in Mumbai, that a 6ft tall Australian man is of little interest to the locals (unless he's a cricketer), his wife on the other hand is very keenly observed...
The paper reports that by the age of 20 the local girls have learnt many a lesson that unfortunately their freedom ends where the man-on-the-street's fingers begin, so they must;
- Learn how to deal with stares from men of all ages
- Learn how to use their arms, elbows and handbag while getting into a bus or a train as armour for her breasts
- Know how to hold their handbag while seated in a bus so that the man next to her doesn't get a chance to elbow her or press down on her with his forearms
- Know how to move in a line so as to escape the pressure of the guy behind her, all the while keeping her armour in place.
- Be alert while walking on the road for oafs coming towards her who swing their hands a little too hard or suddenly push out their elbows.
Most of Mumbai's 18million inhabitants (there are 811 females to every 1000 males) rely on public transport to travel to and from their workplace due to the lack of car parking spaces and terrible roads. Trains are the only form of public transport we've used so far. The trains have 1 carriage for women and when it's full Shaz has to make the best of it in the "First Class" cabin with all the men. By the way there's no silver service in the first class carriage it's the same as the other carriages, it's hoped that the added expense of a few rupee on the ticket price will raise the bar on the type of commuter.
So far so good for Shaz, she has taken it all in her stride to be part of this crazy, crumbling, cosmopolitan city, not one of the expats who is driven from door to door by a driver (although that would be very nice).