This is a real incident that happened on the CSTM bound fast train which departs Dombivli at 12:37hrs. I was commuting to my office for the afternoon shift starting at 14:00 and this train serves me well as it reaches CSTM by 13:30. The 12:37 fast is actually a MRVC local which starts from Kasara and gets fairly crowded by the time it reaches Dombivli. Today, I was late to reach the station, hence decided to get into the Kasara end First Class instead of the CSTM end First class I am accustomed to.
The EMU arrived at 12:38 and I safely boarded it and gave my bag to a gentleman standing in the passage between the seats to place it on the rack overhead. As there were no seats available, I decided to stand behind this person. After Diva Jn, the person sitting on the 2nd seat vacated and I was lucky enough to be seated even before Thane arrived.
There was an old man who was occupying the coveted Window Seat and he had a briefcase on his lap. As soon as I sat, he opened his briefcase and took out a small paper bag which was neatly packed. I thought, he planned to have snacks, but he did not unwrap it and kept holding the same for a few seconds. As the EMU was slowly making it way to the Mumbra Creek, he gave this paper bag to a person standing on the footboard and gestured to throw it.
Many Hindu rituals insist on throwing the remains of floral decorations of deity in flowing water and I have seen many commuters going up to the footboard to throw them into the Mumbra Creek Water.
The person standing on the footboard, oblivious of what the old person sitting on the window had gestured, threw the paper bag even before the train could reach the Creek Bridge. The old man saw this and was enraged. He started arguing with the person on the footboard, about the premature dropping of the paper bag. The footboard guy in return said that, he did not know that the old man wanted to throw it specifically in the creek and thought that it was his leftovers and wanted to throw it out of the train. All I could do was laugh .....
NIKHIL
