The kid got in the train, rushing in, and grabbed a seat. He kept looking out of the window at every station, a little nervously. Clearly, he was either new to Mumbai, or not used to traveling by local trains.
I put down the book I was reading and asked him where he wanted to go. "Bandra", he replied quietly, and looked away. He probably didn't want to speak to a stranger. I told him that I would tell him before we reached Bandra. He nodded his thanks but kept looking out of the window.
When we reached Dadar, he got up and went to stand near the door. As the train left the station, a ticket checker boarded the train. The kid was so nervous, that he dropped his purse while getting is ticket out for inspection. It turned out that he had boarded the first class compartment but had a second class ticket. I was curious to know what the ticket checker would do, so I went and stood near them. The checker was about to launch into a lecture when I caught his eye and shook my head at him slightly and glanced at the boy. The TC looked at the boy and saw that he was on the verge of crying. He quickly undertood the situation and gave me an assuring nod. He ignored all the other passengers and showed the boy how to recognize a first class compartment. The boy, nodded, but was still nervous. The TC then put his hand around his shoulders amd told him not to worry. But he made the boy get down at Mahim and personally guided him to a second class compartment, all the time giving him instructions about how to travel in local trains.
It was heart warming to see the checker do what he did. Who says Mumbai doesn' t have a heart?
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