Encounters with age II

A regular working day means waiting endlessly for that divine being- rickshaw driver and his rickshaw! Both ready to take us to another hell called railway station!!!
Then comes the swimming through those swarming crowds…once I imagined that these people were tiny glittering fish…some under water oceanic miracle and I was a ruthless shark or at least some stingray that could DO something to make this swarming crowd disappear!!! But no! Harboring such fantasies doesn’t really help!! You have to make your way through the crowd, reach your destined platform before bracing for the next level in this real life game...That of entering the already overfull local train compartment!!!
It’s the first class ladies compartment mind you that I am talking about, nothing less...but then all this turns out to be is, scented cattle class…the comfort you get is the perfumes doused on equally rubbery boring and lumpy female bodies...which are packed too close to your own…So finally you enter! Only to either get pushed right IN to the middle of this seemingly collective mass or are left hanging out for dear life! Either ways it’s not at all pleasant!
So daily routines are such! Back n forth you do it! What I have done to deserve this!! Am not born for it!! All such protests are drowned in the drum of facts and statistics that millions are doing it for years…nothing great about it!!!
Such is the life in the economic capital of the country…but yeah, smaller snippets n incidents warm the bruised, bumped soul….making some journeys really worthwhile and filling you with joy!
I recently had one such wonderful journey…
As described above my real life game day began regularly...The rickshaw hunt, railway crowds and then finally IN to the mass!!
I was lucky to be pushed to one end of the compartment so that at least my spinal cord didn’t have to turn jelly for this trip!
After collecting my bearings, taking cognizance of my joints n purse…I noticed something very different…someone very different on board today!
A teeny weenie girl all of 3-3 1/2 years…trying to hold the overhead handles…all excited and happy about being “tall” happily perched on her mom’s arms!
I weakly smiled…muttering to myself addressing the girl…hey lil’ one...don’t u grow up soon...take your time…Live in open spaces… breathe fresh air…once grown up…these jam packed compartments shall await you…Till then why hurry…take it easy gal…
The girl began crying suddenly… Most ladies seemed to be indifferent… which surprised me! How can you not be attracted to an innocent kid!
But the most noteworthy part came up next…her mom… who looked like an average Mumbaikar female… tiny mangalsutra strung across her neck, thin to a level which scares me...pale...almost white...draped in formals, specs and a brave hair band to hold back those cropped hair from flying…
That girl-like lady was her Mom! I was like is the Santoor ad for real!!! She slowly hoisted the crying girl a bit higher, then started talking to her in baby words…pointing out to the train handles, other women in the compartment and again asking the girl to count the handles…try reaching them…not a single word in raised pitch, no irritation, no frustration on the lady’s part…being in a crowded train at peak hours with a small kid in tow, which is bawling away to glory isn’t the most nicest situations to be in!
But this lady seemed to know it all right! She slowly let the girl dry her tears, talked to her softly sweetly till that innocent smile radiated a familiar warmth on the girl’s face…This was I think a lesson for all the women around as well to control their tempers at least in crowded trains…but yes of course…such subtle lessons are for the sensitive soul..
I was intrigued, what makes this lady travel this way… where is she heading and why is she taking the child along? Is it that US culture of ‘take your child to work’ permeating through the corporate fabric of India?
Or the child is put in a crèche so far away? And if the nature of travel is casual why is the lady dressed in formals!
As a divine chance to quench my curiosity…the crowd jostled further for space and pushed me closer to this interesting mother-daughter duo…
Happy to be close with the kid, I playfully winked and smiled at her…got my chance and enquired what was the lady up to?
She replied almost naturally…well my daughter was curious to know where does mommy go every morning and come back only after she has slept! So I promised her one day to take her along to show her mommy’s side of life…so here I am with my toddler on this crowded train…will change trains and take her to office, sit around till she is bored and come back again…she smiled…Again going back to her daughter who was asking her mom, ‘do you count these (railway overhead handles) everyday?’
Her mom replied something…I was hardly attentive…my destination station was fast approaching…and my thoughts already flowing…what a wonderful parent she was…what a different approach to parenting, to teaching an individual to live! That lady was consciously nurturing empathy in her young daughter, showing her that she was living a life beyond her home…beyond her daughter…yet she did all this for her lovely daughter…
And I think the daughter also taught her mom and me at least a lesson in travelling that day…never lose out the novelty of the routine… the mundane can also be fun…so next time even I am going to count the overhead handles and giggle when they swing wildly in the fast local…