By Thulasi Muttulingam Family lore has it that there was a scandalous great aunt in my family. Some 70 years ago, she became “spoilt” when her father sent her to be educated in Colombo. She had *gasp* *wheeze* *gasp* male friends she often hung out with. Imagine! And she was once *gasp* *horror* *gasp* actually even seen riding pillion on the motorcycle of a male, burgher friend of hers. The family has never lived it down, down the ages. I never met this great aunt. She probably died way before I was born. But I heard her antics of having male friends in Colombo and riding pillion on their motorcycles in scandalised whispers well into the 1990s as I was growing up. You’d think Jaffna would have changed by now. It hasn’t. I imagine some 70 years down the line, some great niece of mine would hear in scandalised whispers of the shameful maiden aunt who went pillion riding on friends’ – and even worse, strangers’ – motorcycles. That would be me. How it started So, last week, I wrote about some of my exploits in Thailand and my aborted attempt to get into Cambodia. While in Thailand, I quickly figured out I was going to get only eye-watering tourist rates if I tried to hire a taxi on the road. You’d think they’d know to differentiate between brown tourists and white tourists. We are the poor tourists y’all. We can’t afford to pay hundreds of dollars just for a few kilometres’ ride. Anyway, after two days in Bangkok, I downloaded their local variant of Uber…which is Grab. Long live these apps and their founders – they have made the budget tourists’ lives, and especially the safety-conscious female travellers’ lives, exceptionally easier. You are told via Google Maps exactly how far away your intended destination is, the estimated time it would take to get there, exactly how much it would cost, as well as your driver’s name, vehicle details, and most importantly, ratings and comments left behind by his previous customers. This rating is all important; it keeps the drivers on their toes in order to get good feedback from paying clients instead of trying to get away with being rude or sleazy. I always double check if a driver has gotten less than three stars as their average rating, and what the reason is; if any female customer had left behind comments saying that they gave a low rating because the driver tried to get fresh with them, I wouldn’t ever accept that ride. Thus far, however, on the rare occasions, I have seen low ratings. The customer feedback I saw related to careless or poor driving skills – still important feedback, but not the number one priority for women travellers. Freedom from sexual harassment comes as our first priority. Safety on the road due to driving skills comes second. Ever since Uber and other related apps such as PickMe and Grab launched worldwide, they have been godsends to women. Not to say that we are 100% safe with such apps. Just six days ago, an Uber driver in the US was convicted of raping a drunken woman who had hired his taxi to take her home. He had taken 53 minutes to get to her home 15 minutes away, for which he had charged her, and he had also charged her for vomiting in his car while getting raped. She had woken up the next day with bruises on her body, but no memory of what had happened, at the hospital – a rape kit had proven she had been raped. In 2015, an Uber driver was convicted of raping a woman in New Delhi, India – this time, while she was fully conscious and trying to fight him away. It later emerged he had raped many other women who had not come forward due to the stigma attached to rape victims there (as here). But even so, if we are unfortunate enough to get caught to a rapist even via these apps, at least we will have a name to the person who raped us. Given police inaction when it comes to matters such as these, this matters to us a great deal. I am sure I am not the only female who worried while being sexually harassed in a moving vehicle – in my case, it was in a bus once and a van another time (I have not had bad experiences in three wheelers, but a few women have) – that I might get raped, murdered, and dumped, and my parents would never even know who had done that to me. Now, with Uber and other related apps: 1. Sexual harassment has reduced dramatically 2. Even if we are harassed, we still have a name to the assaulter – he can be tracked Yes, that means a lot. No longer will we be nameless victims the Police can shrug their shoulders at. Uber or PickMe are still to hit Jaffna, but I value them highly whenever I travel to Colombo or outside the country; primarily, for their paramount safety value and secondly, for the low rates that involve no haggling or cheating. Just a couple of months ago in India, I hired a three wheeler on the road to get to a destination barely a kilometre away. Without the benefit of Uber, I had to pay ₹ 200 (approximately Rs. 500). On the way back, I downloaded Uber and paid ₹ 30. That’s the difference between having this app and not. If you are a budget traveller like me, it makes all the difference. Utility value Bangkok’s traffic is pretty similar to Colombo’s – insane. I did not appreciate the many minutes I often had to spend in traffic, trying to get from point A to point B, given my very limited time there. At least Grab made it affordable. I always ordered a Grab car; I saw that they had something called a “Grab Bike” which appeared to be even cheaper than the car, but didn’t care to try it. Then one day, in a rush to get to a destination, I accidentally clicked on Grab Bike to give me a ride. A driver accepted and was well on his way before I realised my mistake. I could have cancelled, but given how far the driver had already driven over to meet me (I could see that on my smartphone), I didn’t have the heart to do that and so, I awaited him with a sense of trepidation. Then a young Thai man drew up on his scooter and handed me a helmet – and away we went. Wheeeee!

I get repeatedly asked from both male and female friends whether I am not afraid of sexual harassment while riding this. Well, there is not much a driver can do in the way of sexual harassment when I am seated behind him on the pillion. And even if there were a chance of harassment, I doubt it could be any worse than in three wheelers or cars

It was one of the highpoints of my trip in Thailand – seeking Bangkok in the open air, on the back of a motorcycle, while weaving in and out of traffic. I got to my destination in record time, something a car could not have done, and as an added bonus, the price was much, much cheaper. I am sold. I have been singing praises of motorcycle taxis ever since and booking one every chance I get, including in Colombo. I had no idea we had motorcycle taxis here in Colombo too, till I got back. Then I saw when I returned that Uber and PickMe indeed do offer motorcycle rides – again, at much cheaper rates than three wheelers or cars. Wheee! For the first time ever, I got to ride on the back of a motorcycle in Colombo a couple of days ago. If that makes me a scandalous aunt in family lore for decades to come, I can live with that. After all, you live only once. And via family lore, you’ll live forever more. According to the motorcycle riders I’ve hired so far, I am usually their first female Sri Lankan customer. They say they are used to tourist women hiring them, but not our own. They do a double take when they hear I am from Sri Lanka, and to top it off, from Jaffna. Every single one of them has been thoroughly professional, let me state – carefully driving on the roads and absolutely polite and gentlemanly in their behaviour. I felt very comfortable riding on their pillions. Even many of my Colombo female friends appear to be taken by surprise over this when I updated my doings on social media. I am sure Jaffna, meanwhile, is aflame with scandal, but I’ll face that when I eventually get there. I get repeatedly asked by both male and female friends whether I am not afraid of sexual harassment while riding this. Well, there is not much a driver can do in the way of sexual harassment when I am seated behind him on the pillion. And even if there were a chance of harassment, I doubt it could be any worse than in three wheelers or cars. The next question I get asked is where I hold on to. Whether I hang on to the driver’s midriff for dear life? Err… no! A hand on their shoulder would do. If it’s especially bumpy, both hands across their shoulders work nicely, but otherwise, I balance just fine with a hand on their shoulder. So to any great niece of mine reading this 70 years later, let me say, there is nothing sexually gratifying about it – either to me or to the driver. So, by that yardstick, it should not be sexually scandalous either. I have no idea why it is considered so in our community. All ladies out there…I highly recommend the bike taxis. Try it sometime. It is no more dangerous – either due to sexual harassment or road safety – than a three wheeler. It has the added advantage of being able to navigate the streets and roads better in rush hour. I’ve been pleasantly surprised, both in Bangkok and in Colombo, over how fast I can get somewhere – even in rush hour traffic – on a bike. As an added bonus, it’s much, much cheaper than the other taxis. I’ve travelled 3-7 km for as low as Rs. 50-70. If you insist on not wanting male drivers, perhaps you can take a leaf from some Muslim-majority countries like Indonesia and Bangladesh who have introduced women-driven bike taxis to cater to their female population; they are hugely popular in those countries, and I am sure they will be popular here too, if introduced. In the meantime, the men, mindful of having to get good ratings from customers, are being absolutely professional. Therefore, unless you, like me, belong to a family that will pass you into the annals of scandalous lore in their family history to be whispered about in shocked tones forever more, have no fear. Whizz off into the sunset and let those left behind choke on your dust. The sense of immense freedom that comes with it is unsurpassable. Take it from me. (The writer is a freelance journalist based in Jaffna. All views expressed are her own and not of any organisations affiliated to her)