A young woman was recently molested in a cab on her way home from a party. The specifics don-t warrant repetition, but the incident itself brought to my mind a similar instance involving a friend a few years ago. She was being dropped home by a superior after an office party, when he decided to invade her personal space. She quit the company, complained about him, and was rewarded with the knowledge that while she had to deal with unemployment, he was promoted and is currently a vice president at the same organisation.

She knew the person, but this doesn-t change the fact that she should have had the right to get home safely. Would her molester have acted if there were systems in place to prevent the incident from taking place? Enough has been written about MeToo, the many reasons why millions of Indian women choose to drop out of the workplace each year, and why government schemes about security are a sham. What isn-t talked about nearly as often enough is how the simple act of commuting from our homes to our offices is a daily nightmare that affects us all, irrespective of whether we are young women or not.