Attitude!

After 2 months of demanding schedule at my MBA course, we finally got a long weekend and I decided to visit my parents at Bangalore. I had two other classmates of mine traveling with me and it was quite an interesting journey. We boarded the Lalbagh express that leaves at 3.45 pm from Chennai. I and my friend settled down in our seats and were joined by 2 couples for this journey, one old and one of them in their middle age. They were pretty much busy in their conversations, so were me and my friend all through the journey.

Train journeys are generally pretty interesting to me as they provide me an opportunity to pursue my favorite hobby (mind reading!). Yes, I do the same when I travel by bus too. The younger couple among the two sitting close to us, from their conversations, seemed to be either employed in Sri Lanka or Dubai and were probably visiting their folks back in India. Their conversations were pretty much limited to arrival and departure timings of various flights bound to these countries, or regarding the wireless services rates prevailing in India.

The older couple were quite most of the time. I and my friend were speaking about the various vendors who keep moving across the train throughout the journey and the various strategies they use to sell their products. A bookseller walked up to us and handed over a bunch of books to us and did not return for almost 10 min. My friend had no choice but keep them in his hands (as there is hardly any space left with 3 people sitting on each berth). Meanwhile, we glanced through the books, when it stuck us that this could be their strategy to sell as anybody doing so would get interested in at least one of the books.

Midway through our journey, a handicapped person (he had lost his both legs) came pushing himself on the floor, with a cleaning brush in his hands. The floor of the coach was as usual dirty with ground nut shells and mud scattered all over the place. Among all the people seated their, the old uncle spoke for the first time and asked this guy to cleanup the place, after which he paid him some money and sent him away. This gesture of the old man caught my attention and got me thinking on the civic sense left with the people of today. This old man simply blew me off with this gesture, and I learnt a lesson – to be thoughtful of helping the community in some way, whether big or small. What need did this man have to get the place cleaned when he was not even the one who had dirtied it, but I’m sure he had a sense of duty towards his surroundings which provoked him to initiate this gesture.