The social media is made of several bubbles. The bubbles, each of us build around us, with like minded people. With the bubble is well constructed, we live and slowly start believing it is the reflection of the actual world.
This is what happened to me in recent times. There is some negative news keep getting shared to me via whatsapp, twitter or facebook. The negativity comes in the form of political corruption to pedophilia. Slowly and steadily I started believing we are living in place where humanity turned extinct.
Looking back, I can see my behavior has changed completely. I got a huge trust issue. In office, I’m heading to rest room, I collect my wallet, phone and everything else with me, not trusting my co-workers. While commuting, I started to see people as evil maniacs instead of a common people like me. Things went on like this, till I took that blessed train travel to my home town.
Like many other, I too prefer train over bus journey. The rhythmic noise made by the compartments moving over the tracks alone scores a brownie point.
That too if its overnight travel, train journey is blessed, a it comes with restroom:) With restroom between every compartments, you can eat, drink whatever you want. Under the scorching Chennai summer, this is a boon. You can hydrate/relieve yourself without much of worry. In one of such journey I came across 3 incidents, which questioned all my negativity.
Acknowledging a help
Chennai being a metropolitan, it has local trains. This is fastest way to reach within the city, dodging the traffic bottlenecks experienced on roads. From my place, I should take a local train to reach central station to reach my home town. The local trains are usually crowded, you get exhausted quite easily. Not many people take local train during peak commute hour.
This gets tougher if you travel with a toddler. You have to carry the luggage, steady yourself and the toddler. Carrying a toddler is a huge and delicate task. That too inside a local train on a peak hour is indeed a herculean task.
That was a moderately crowded day. I got a seat that too next to a window. Enjoying the breeze, I was reading my Kindle. With 15 mins into journey, a couple with a toddler boarded the train. Seeing them struggling, I offered them my window-side throne. I stood there steadying myself and I was lost into my Kindle.
Suddenly, someone tapped my shoulder and said thanks and apologised for making me to stand all through the train ride. It was the guy with the toddler was talking to me, I understood what he was doing a bit late. Meanwhile, his wife was standing outside and looking at him anxiously, fearing he may not get down in time. And then he rushed out of the train. Good thing was the todler was with the mom, so he got out from the slow moving train.
Show of integrity
It’s a routine for me to fill my drinking bottle at the railway station. That’s cheap and safe to drink water provided by railways. How cheap? For refilling a litre it’s ₹5 (it comes to 7 cents/litre). For the same volume of water with bottle, it costs ₹8 or 11 cents. With a reusable bottle in my bag at almost all the time, I go for refill, always.
Lost in my own thought I handed over ₹8 for filling the bottle. The guy who fills up water is not a well todo guy, financially. By seeing you can understamd they live below poverty line. Each rupee matters. Despite this fact, after filling up the water, he returned me ₹3. I was frozen at the moment. My thought was why this guy is returning the money. Then I realize I handed over excess and so he returned. I walked away. Then it struk to me. What this guy has done.
For you or me, who are working in a firm ₹3 is insignificant. Losing it may not be a big deal. But for a guy living in below poverty line its a significant money. In percentage terms, he had just missed to pocket 60% of the charge for the litre. It’s equivalent to calling out over billing for a piece of work, that too voluntarily.
Expressing empathy
A train is not a simply a mode of transport. It’s mobile market place. If you’ve travelled in an Indian train, you can realize it. The things that are sold inside a train ranges from mobile charger to snacks, air pillow to tea/coffee. Tea sellers are dominant species and called as chaiwalas. We Indians and tea are inseparable. So do chaiwalas & train travel.
This incident happened just after filling the water bottle. I got into train and the trains started moving. As its a sleeper coach people are settling into their berths. The berths are arranged in such a way you sleep perpendicular to direction of travel. The head can be either near window or aisle.
My copassenger could be in his late 50s, kept his head nearer to the aisle. The lights were turned off. Then a chaiwala crossing us stood a second and noticed the phone was placed very close aisle. Then warned the copassenger to keep his mobile safe and away from aisle.
Again, this guy is not a well todo guy. He earns his money by selling tea. There was no need for him to waste his energy and time advising some random travller, who not even did a business.
Acknowledging for a small help or showing honesty even though there is no one expecting it from you or showing empathy for an unknown person. I was proven wrong. The humanity thriving. That too in front of our eyes. We are the one failed to notice its existence.
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Page last updated on: 2024-11-06 09:30:05 +0530 +0530Git commit: a98b4d9