This Thursday Morning…

15th November 2007

I had a very different experience this morning while traveling to office. Life, I must say, has its own unbelievable methods to teach you a valuable lesson.

I boarded the regular 9:36am Vashi local from Kurla. Since the train was a little crowded I decided to stand near the door. I noticed an elderly gentleman in a pretty irritated mood standing very close to the door. He was carrying a small bag. I assume it had some products. He was probably carrying them to sell them in his shop or maybe even door-to-door. He was prodding passengers away who came pretty close to him or his luggage.

As the train began to move out of the station, a UP-ite hopped onboard and stood at the door. We were already four people and therefore it was a little inconvenient to stand. He hung for a few seconds and then decided to move in. By this time the train had moved out of the station. Since the doorway was quite full, he had to squeeze his way in. As he began to move in, this old man grew restless and began resisting. Since there was very little space I tried to move in a little to make way for this guy. I had released my grip and was moving in. At this very moment, this old man began to push me out. Thankfully, I had not released my complete grip and immediately held on tightly. I completely lost my cool and turned to face the old man and uttered the “C” word and, in a rather high tone, scolded him for his act. The guy retaliated verbally by declining it. He then made excuses like, “ I was holding your hand,” and what nots. We argued for sometime on his wrong action. But, I always maintained my calm and addressed him with respect as he was old. He suddenly raised his voice and began to question me as to why I was abusing him. I told him that I was addressing him with respect and I apologized if he felt that I was abusing him; which I was not. Then, he started to raise his voice and advancing closer. He started to threaten me. He began to challenge me to alight at Chembur and then he would deal with me. I calmly told him that it was he who using the wrong words and that I haven’t uttered any profane words, nor was my tone derogatory. But he kept on threatening me. I could not take his provocation any longer and therefore asked him to alight. I told him it was completely fine with me. I was willing to go anywhere he wished to, including the police station. I told him to pick his belongings and get down as I would also be doing the same. I noticed that he was slightly taken aback. The train had just moved out to Tilak Nagar station by this time. I began to insist that he get down at Chembur and told him that I was prepared to alight. He suddenly went to the back foot. His tone mellowed down, but he still started questioning that why I abused him. I told him that I had apologized to him and he was the one who is at fault. But if he is still insistent, he should get down at Chembur. At this moment, he completely mellowed down and started speaking emotionally. He told me that he was my father’s age and I should not be behaving in this manner. I replied that I very well acknowledge this fact and therefore I am speaking to him with respect, and that he was the one who was being offensive. He reiterated that I had abused him, and then he uttered one sentence that froze me completely, “Why did you abuse me like my son.”

That sentence completely left me unprepared. I was not livid, but just a little irritated till moment, but after that sentence I do not what happened to me. I only felt sympathy for that old man despite the fact that he had nagged me to the core all this time. All the frustration just vanished without any trace. Just then, the train was nearing Chembur station. By this time his tone sounded like a weakling pleading for mercy. He politely requested me to make some way for him to alight and hold no grudge against him in my heart. I assured him that I had held no grudge and smiled at him. Just then the train came to halt. The old man alighted and walked away.

The train began to move again. I was still thinking about the old man. His sentence kept resurfacing in my mind. A thought crossed my mind that he must be having a son of approximately my age who must be treating him bad. Or maybe someone close to him of my age must be mistreating him. I felt a strong urge to get down at Chembur and have a small chat with him over a glass of cutting chai. I am sure that this gesture would have made his day. But, by this time the train gathered quite a good momentum and it was impossible to alight. I stood there and my conscience was condemning me. It kept reminding myself that time once lost is lost forever. I need to be more spontaneous in giving actions to my feelings.

We sometimes do not realize in the spur of the moment how much our words could hurt someone. We just say something and then its repercussions are so great that its effect become irrevocable. We are always consumed with what is happening to us or around us. We always fail to pause for moment to notice what is happening to people around us. We never make efforts to find out what the other person is undergoing or what could be the reason why a certain individual is behaving in such a manner.

If we did, I am sure, we would not have many dates to remember for our History test paper.