Thursday, August 24, 2006

Train Stops

I am cozily seated on a chair at the railway platform. A passenger train hoots and pulls into the station. People dash in to claim their seats. In no time everyone settles in and the train is ready to depart. The train slowly starts to move out when the guard at the rear compartment suddenly pulls out the red flag and waves it wildly. The train immediately comes to a grinding halt. There is a sense of discomfort on the platform, people look up anxious and perplexed.
A middle age man and woman run towards the rear of the train and gets in. The guard waves the green flag and the train pulls out normally and everyone gets back to their work or daydreams. Ever seen a train stop because someone was a little late? Well, it happens only in India!

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

that is actually kinda neat and speaks well for your country.

i recently had a discussion with a friend of mine on the impacts of capitalism on our local society (i am a bit more of a socialist i think). anyways over here it's about the individual and what's most profitable for him rather than the community or other people. so over here the guys at the train station certainly wouldn't have stopped for one person running late (gotta stay on schedule ya know?). it seems you guys might be more focused on the community than over here and may not be as saturated with the selfish thought that runs through capitalism. i hope your country doesn't lose that as more people over there get into western culture. - nabiy

Sarad said...

Probably its just the difference between being helpful and not helpful. I think it has less to do with politics. We have a choice to do what we want. If you help someone in your power, I guess noone will ask-" why did you help?"

Jas B said...

Thanks for visting my blog, Sarad.

I would agree with Nabiy, it shows that in India people still care about others, have community feeling...

I have been living in this apartment complex for 3 years and I don't know who my neighbours are...and one time I saw this neighbour immediately get back into his apartment as I walked out of mine. He waited for me to go away to come back out into the hallway...wierd, eh...

Sarad said...

hi jas, thanks for dropping by. Some people are inherently a little crazy, never mind them :-)

Chica, Cienna, and Cali said...

:) we would stop a train for a middle-aged couple but we wud not hold the door open for the person coming in right behind us...............which americans do regularly and mostly with a smile....so it really basically boils down to as u said earlier "being helpful and not helpful" ............nth to do with politics really.

this li'l post was short n sweet........hoping to c more of them....i seem to ve taken a backseat from blogging : these days i only comment :DDDDDD

Sarad said...

hai moi, welcome back. how was your holidays?
Opening a door is a very simple task that can be done on the own.
Trying to hold open the door when one is perfectly capable of opening it on their own sounds more like courtesy than helping.

Chica, Cienna, and Cali said...

guess u r right sarad...i must be wrong to equate courtesy with helping .....again its really how one looks at it.........

Sarad said...

its how we want to look at it :-)

Chica, Cienna, and Cali said...

awlright!!! "want" is the kye word!!!! :DDDDD

Sarad said...

:-))

kaushik said...

hmmm...i really liked the first comment you made:. We have a choice to do what we want. If you help someone in your power, I guess noone will ask-" why did you help?"

what that guard did was an amazing gesture...but then not many people will do it and the question is how many people want to help when they have the power to help? and the difference then between any country will not be much i think...might not be an optimistic view, but i think people willing to help are much less!...i have seen a couple running behind the train, as it lef the station, and crying as they had lost all their luggage...

...but sure the guards gesture makes you happy....

Sarad said...

to some people helping others is a fullfillment of the self. others, they help for a reason and then there are those who don't help at all.

Thanks for dropping by Kaushik.