In the 21st century at one place we talk of equality, and woman empowerment and on the other a “Single Lady” Nupur Saraswat was not allowed to get a room in her already booked hotel just for the reason that she was traveling alone. She was correct in her words that “This is how patriarchy works”!
Nupur Saraswat, a NRI landed in Hyderabad on Saturday where she had booked her room at Hotel Deccan in Erragadda through a popular travel website. When she reached the hotel, despite of her booking confirmation the officials of the hotel did not allow her in the hotel as she was a Single Lady or solo traveler and perhaps it was against their ethics to provide her a room. Ms. Saraswat came up with the incident on facebook and asked people to share it.
Later when her post became viral she was contacted by the Ibibo officials for apology and was offered a complimentary room in another hotel with refunding her money. CEO of Ibibo, Ashish Kashyap also took twitter to ask for an apology. The website also de-listed the hotel from its list and assured it would not happen again. This information was given in another post by Ms. Saraswat where she thanked people on social media saying, “You guys did it. You made the corporation listen, you took us a miniscule step closer to making solo travel a little easier for women in India”.
Reading such incidents Women Rights activists Brinda Adige on Tuesday slammed the hotel for its patriarchal thinking. She asked Telangana’s chief minister, K Chandrashekhar Rao who always talks of women equality to look into the issue and take it seriously for future.
This was seriously unfortunate and raises an alarm. Nothing can be done until we bring a change in our own thoughts and not let the filth of our own mind bother others. Travel blogger like Brooke Seward from Tasmania, Shivya Nath from India and many more are living their dreams by traveling along as many places as they can and chose their own career in this field. Women should learn from them to live one’s own dream and not let these things demoralize their moral.
