local train- a lifeline!

              Being a part of mumbai always credited tediously to the routine of travelling through local trains.to my surmise, I always termed the journey, as the session of 'overburdened thoughts'. although the appearences of the stranger's faces seemed new, everyday, it wildered the thoughts of reading them as I came through, regularly. The second class compartment witnessed harrowed passengers somehow managing to aquire the fourth seat of the bench. A strong belief that the insight to a persons heart was well conveyed by the face, sometimes, minus the expression! the new set of passengers boarding the train at every new station stared a glance with the ones already present inside the compartment. They exchanged the act of scanning through each others attire and looks so as to judge the class they belonged to. The upper-market class of the crowd preferred to travel 1st class. However the real story lied in the commuters who made extra ordinary efforts to gain business within the railway limits.to be precise,in the train compartment.
           the entire compartment was categorised with the ones who sell,the ones who beg,the ones who buy or the ones who donate.the crowd which did not participate in either of these was termed 'audience'.selling meant for a living..does begging copes up with a living is still a question?unbeatably,a local train was the best place to read faces.faces filled with the expression ofpatience,frustration,anger,joy,calmness,tolerance,arrogance,empathy,
sympathy and lastly ,the confidence to start a new day again.that was life!
            no sooner did i realise a situation where an old blind man walked in with a stick in one hand and a handful of tofees flavoured with mango.the local word for it being 'chikki' ,requested us to buy those for a rupee or so and promised to give the money back if we dint like them.he addressed a beautiful slogan while he marketed his product.his strategy worked.and the line which he recited while selling the tofees said' ek din aap is desh ki neta ban jaogi!,indira gandhi ke baad kaafi time tak acha naam nahi sunaa!'
            this inspiring statement of his was for every lady in the compartment.it felt that he came with a motive to cherish our dreams.to mould our thoughts.the same thoughts which entered and exit our mind when we were travelling in the compartment.the fact was,he was blind.and still what we saw in his eyes was the power to motivate us.the guts to encourage a person even though he had to find its way through begging.we donated him a rupee or two out of sympathy but could do nothing out of it.ladies refused to buy his tofees claiming they might be unhygeinic.as local train products were tagged cheap ,low quality,and low on price too.
           the incident still flashes in front of my eyes,leaving me stunned! today too,we still fight the crowd and struggle to find a seat till we reach our destination.this applies with life too.the  only difference is here 'seat' means struggling for our identitys sake amongs the wordly competition and 'destination' refers to success.