In a leisure mood, you went to hang out with your friends and suddenly you spot a cafe and you thought to go and chill there for a little bit. However, your leisure mood is ruined because you are not allowed to go inside the cafe. How would you feel? Annoyed? Disrespected? Humiliated? And in future whenever you will step out to go out, the incident of denied entry to a public place will hound you.
You will think twice about, going or not going to a particular place. Will you? Or will you not? You may dodge the aforementioned scenario saying this doesn’t really happen. Why will you be denied entry to a public place, right? But my friend it may happen as it happened to Srishti. In a recent incident at the Caribbean Lounge by the famous Raasta chain in Gurgaon, Srishti was denied entry, why? You may ask. It was because according to the General Manager she would disturb people inside the cafe because she was on a wheelchair. The ordeal she faced will leave you annoyed and disgusted too and make you question the state of disability in the year 2022.
What exactly happened?
Srishti Pandey, whose Facebook profile describes her as a Changemaker at YuWaah – Generation Unlimited India is a student of MA psychology at the University of Delhi. She writes on her Facebook wall “Okay so I went out after MONTHS to hang out with my best friend & her fam last night. Cyber hub, Gurgaon is one of the very few(somewhat) accessible & the closest places around to their home so we decided to go there. It felt awesome to be with some of my favorite people & just roam around after so long, u know? We found this place called Raasta. The music seemed good, it was almost empty at that particular hour & they had wonderful reviews online so we thought why not”.
“Bhaiya (my friend’s elder brother) asked for a table for 4. The staff at the desk ignored him twice. The third time he asked, the staff replied with “wheelchair andar nahi jaygi” (The wheelchair can’t go inside). We thought it was an accessibility issue, but it wasn’t. We told him that we’d manage, just book us a table. What he said next left all of shocked for a while. He told us pointing towards me “andar customers disturb hojaynge” (The customers will get disturbed) & denied us entry.”
“All of us were beyond disgusted & argued for quite a long time. All we got were disrespectful, ignorant replies. After a lot of arguing, he told us to get a table outside(can be seen in the video). Now,
1. The outside seating was ridiculous. It was getting cold. I can’t sit out in cold for long because my body gets spastic. It’s literally unsafe for me
2. Why should I be made to sit outside anyway? Segregated from everyone else? If we wanted an outside seating we would have asked for it? Eventually, we were asked to leave. Obviously.”
“But is me just existing that much of a disturbance for you? Why do I always have to fight for the smallest of things? Why was I DENIED entry in a public place? Who are they to deny my entry just like that? This is not something that happened to me for the first time of course. I have legit been kicked out of schools, metro stations & what not before simply because I’m disabled & now there are eateries too. Should I stop going at all only then?
The Other side of the Desk
The man denying entry was the General Manager of The Caribbean Lounge Raasta Delhi. We reached out to them and connected to Anand Prakash, the pan-India Operation Incharge of the Raasta Chain. On being asked about the incidents he said that the General Manager denied entry to the dancing area as it could have hurt the guests or she could have hurt herself also.
But how could they reach the dancing area when they didn’t even get inside. They were instead asked to sit on the outside area of the Caribbean Lounge. To this Prakash said he will clear it with the General Manager and inform back, about which we will keep you updated.
He did say one line about how this is really sad but on being asked about any action taken, he had no concrete answer as he was in Calcutta.
However, Goumtesh Singh, founder-partner at Raasta-The Caribbean Lounge tweeted, “Let me start by apologizing on behalf of the entire team Raasta for any bad experience that you may have had. Please rest assured if any of our members are found in the wrong, appropriate action will be taken against them.”
“I am heartbroken man”
“I am heartbroken man,” wrote Srishti. This should make us sad, depressed, anxious and irritated. A young girl going out to hang out with her friends returns home heartbroken because she was not allowed. She was made to feel less worthy. Whose mistake is it? In times like such, when the world is enveloped in uncertain times of COVID, we are living in a perpetual state of anxiety and sadness and no news of end to it. Over it, when you are ripped off the little escapes you find for yourself, how would you feel? Srishti was humiliated for going to the Caribbean Lounge in a wheelchair. And she must be given an apology for the ignorant behaviour.
We tried to connect with Srishti as well. I am waiting for her response. She is yet to see my message as I couldn’t find her number. One thing I want to ask her is that was there no abled person inside the cafe or outside who came to stand by her, apart from her family? Maybe the fact that there was no support from the people around her left her more shattered.
All the words of inclusivity we talk or debate about are useless if we cannot stand by our disabled friends when they are mistreated. I wish I was there to just stand by her in her fight. Sometimes that is all you need, people with you. It gives you strength, you feel that people are acknowledging, and supporting you! Maybe that is the least she would have expected. A little support would have not left her heartbroken.
The Public Outcry
However, the incident instantly drew public outcry on social media. Actor Pooja Bhatt wrote she’s “terribly saddened”. “We suffer from an absolute lack of grace as a society (sic)”, she said in a tweet. Further, Disability rights activist and actor Jitendra K Biswal tweeted: “This is not only highly insensitive and criminal in nature but also a blatant violation of basic human rights. The perpetrators of the crime here must be taken to task and given exemplary punishment so that people think twice before misbehaving with a person with a disability like this. Criminal action should be initiated against them under Sec. 92A of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016.”
Whereas Disability rights activist Virali Modi wrote, “This is horrendous beyond belief. No one should be segregated or discriminated especially when it comes to who you are. A disability isn’t something we ask for. It’s not our fault. We shouldn’t be discriminated against on the basis of something we can’t do anything about.”
Its Not The End
But many people with disabilities would have let it pass, I think many do. Maybe such ignorant behaviour makes them develop a thick skin and they sort of just accept it. But we must not. Each time anything like this happens with you, you must speak. Such incidents give others from the community the strength to confront the wrong and ignorance of others put at place. I think her struggle doesn’t end here, as her profile describes her as a changemaker, this incident with Srishti once again reiterated the need for a much-needed dedicated campaign and discourse on disability. And we must not keep quiet till we all clear our consciousness and not just talk but start building an inclusive environment.
