Proud of you Mom, for upholding humanity in Mumbai Locals.

Before I get to the incident,let me take your few minutes in describing her,(though I can write a book on her).My mom is 57 year old, a very short woman at 4'7". She has been working at Fort for the past 27 years and has covered more route kms travelling by Mumbai Locals than most of us here. A daily commute of around 95+ km. She is very timid, but very talkative and easily gelling woman we have in our entire family. She is a God fearing individual. During her commutes, she has fallen down many a times,seen accidents, near misses and even birth in the ladies compartment. She prefers to travel in second class as she can make more friends there and it has more breathing space. She has been stuck on trains, seen disruptions, seen sluggish runs, fights, celebrations, kitty parties and even more kinds of locos than me perhaps,considering the late 80s and early 90s commute.She has become fragile and weak but there is no dearth of energy in her.She can toil from predawn to late night. All my efforts to ask her to resign and sit at home get a "strong no" as she believes that the day she stops working, she will go lethargic and diseases will creep in.

Now,coming back to the incident.Commuting from Dombivli in peak hours is a nightmare for the strongest men so it is a no boner that my mom has to spend an extra 25 minutes in commuting in return from Kalyan. It was a Monday of 29th Sept, a day when she woke up with dry cough but decided to go to work as she had an extended week off from Thursday to Sunday. Accordingly,she got down on Dombivli Pf 1 and took a Kalyan slow of 9:07am which returns as 9:27 KYN-CST slow. She got a second seat and as the journey continued, the train got packed and she offered her seat at Bhandup to a woman standing in front of her for a few minutes as a kind gesture. Mom stood up in between the seats as we normally do in packed trains. Standing besides her was a young girl of around 21-22 years old. After a few minutes, this girl(Vinita....found her name later) was feeling dizzy and the movement of the train was making her head swirl. She simply asked 2 women who were already seated to vacate their seat for her as she was not feeling well. The answer by the 2 women was that they were also not feeling well and can't vacate the seat. By then my mom had noticed that her face was getting low on she was almost losing consciousness.Wasting no time, mom asked the lady to whom she had given seat at Bhandup to kindly get up and accommodate Vinita as she was not feeling well. Finally,some people noticed and she got the much needed seat. All this while, Vinita was holding my mom's hand (completely a stranger) with a firm grip as she was losing her consciousness.Even after sitting, she was firmly holding onto my mom's hand and resting her forehead on it for support. Soon help started pouring in and water and sugar was offered by the adjacent ladies. Vinita was getting back to her normal self but yet was not in a position to walk freely. Conversations with her revealed that she worked at Parel and was a Maharashtrian girl living with her family in Mulund. All this while,she was still holding onto mom's hands.Commuters advised that getting down at Parel won't be easy and Currey Road should be fine to make Vinita alight safely.She requested my mom if she can wait till she calls up her brother.Without an iota of hesitation, my mom took the onus of being with her till help from home arrives.With assistance from other fellow commuters,Vinita was safely allowed to alight at Currey Road with my mom in tow.They sat at the bench and called up her brother.

By now,Vinita was in a better state of health.My mom also spoke to her brother,(Vinay ) and calmed him down by assuring to wait till he comes down to Currey Road from Mulund. She also spoke to Vinita's mother over the phone who was crying profusely.Again another round of assurance on the phone was needed. Mom called her office and informed that she would be late.In the meanwhile, they kept chatting and became more acquainted with each other.Vinita said that she is engaged and will be marrying a guy,(Mandar) from Dombivli on Dec 3rd and that off late she was feeling these dizziness when in train.Vinita suddenly realised that Mandar might also be on his way to work and called him. He was in a Fast local at Ghatkopar and heading to CST. He promised to get down at Byculla and trace the route back to Currey Road ASAP.

As time flew,Mandar and Vinay arrived one after the other and Vinita had also recovered by then. Mom insisted that she should visit a doctor and have it sorted out soon.At the end, when they were about to bid goodbye,(Mom towards CST and Vinita and family to Mulund), she asked if my mom would come for their wedding on Dec 3.Mom said," if u call me,I will definitely come".Vinita diligently took down our address and phone number and promised to send her the invite. Finally in a typical Maharashtrian tradition,both Vinita and Mandar touched her feet to take blessings, right there on the Currey Road Platform. With a heartful of joy and eyes full of tears they waited till my mom boarded the train to CST. 

That day when she came home and narrated the incident, I was moved by my mom's gesture and we all appreciated her sense of urgency,ownership and kindness in helping a stranger girl in distress. She had held the spirit of humanity high in the City of Mumbai which rarely has time for anybody.(Especially in locals)....Thanks a lot for a patient reading..