So I was on my way to my office in Kalkaji on 18 April when the incident happened. This lady, about 55 to 60 years old, was sitting on one of the two seats that are reserved for women. Beside her (on the seat reserved for women) sat the said man, alongside his friend.

When I entered, the men did not show any intention to shift or get up and then I asked the one sitting next to the lady to give me the seat. He did not seem very happy. And after I insisted, he stood up and right in front of me started the collective grumble with his friend. This was when aunty pitched in and shut them up.

I got down from the train as I reached the station along with guys, who got down immediately after to save themselves from the burn that Aunty caused.

When I reached office, I posted this incident as a Facebook status update and continued with my work.

Everything was normal until a friend of mine called me up and informed me that the post has gone viral. When I reached home, I saw that most of reactions were positive. People found the post relatable.

There were inevitably some negative reactions too, but I decided to let them go. However, on one share, a friend of mine commented something tagging me where another person from some website had asked me to check my inbox as she needed my permission to feature the story on the website. I checked mine, there were no messages. And then I opened the filtered messages.

And BANG! People, mostly men, accused me of being a feminazi, and told me that I am the reason behind the male-female drift, of having a ‘rubbish, girly’ life, of studying “ch***ya”(direct quote) subjects like Women’s Studies, etc.