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My perfect day kicks off with a wake-up call, followed by a sweet morning message from a close friend; while I try to get up from the bed for another fresh day-forgetting yesterday’s hectic routine.
While driving myself for office on busy roads of Karachi, in morning rush hours, I frequently find some car giving me way to move; I double check both my rear and front screens for any ‘L’ sticker, but the driver’s smile saying ladies first confirms that I am given lane, not as a precautionary step from a driver to save his car from another reckless driver.
On my way, when I fortuitously pull up on a pedestrian crossing as the traffic signal turns red, the traffic constable only smiles to remind me that I stopped the car on a pedestrian crossing, and just need to reverse the car a wee bit.
When I enter the office and turn to use the lift, my male colleagues wave to say I can use the lift first, albeit I came in the end when the lift door opened. As the day nears its end at 5 pm and the workload demands overtime late night sitting, my boss politely tells me to leave office by 6 pm maximum and not to stay longer because I am female.
On the way home, when I stop at a grocery store where men queue up to make their purchases, the shopkeeper waves at me to say that I can buy first- with a thought in his mind that being a woman, I should not be waiting that long.
When I come home, the guard does not stop my car for security check, for he knows it would be unwise to stop a woman from checking identity-though my car even does not have an entry sticker.
Being a woman, I daily experience these ladies first gestures out of respect or as male chauvinism or as it’s part of our culture in the region we live in; whatever the reason is, my day ends as perfectly as it starts.
