The city has its own way to teach the lessons of life.

This is Mumbai.

The city which does not sleep. The city with the determination to fight back. The city full of enthusiasm. The true metropolitan city, balancing the equation of religions and regions. It has its own colors. It has its own way to teach the lessons of life.

It was one of those busy evenings at VT railway station where everyone was in rush. Rush, for what? Rush to catch the local? Or have an appointment that can not be missed?? Or may be just because everyone was rushing. In fact, I was also one of them. I can not remember even one instance I’ve not rushed to reach railway station despite of having adequate time in hand. I simply don’t know why.

The station was filled with the people. It was 15 minutes to catch my local. I could luckily find an empty bench to seat on platform. I was listening to the radio and observing the movements of the people in co-ordination of the trains coming and going. Once the train is gone, you could find the platform empty, majorly. And within a minute of time, it’s again flooded with the passengers ready to board. I could see people waiting for the next train to come. It came. Everyone tried their best to get into the train, as if he or she was to get an award. Award - the place to seat or half a square feet to stand! The clock was doing its work with the utmost efficiency. Few seconds over 2 minutes were left for the train to leave. And suddenly my eyes got fixed on a movement. It was reflex to the sound made out of a run by a man in some weird manner. The man was running along side the train, I believe, to reach at a certain distant compartment. His run was haphazard with uneven steps, with a red and white stick in a hand and black glasses on eyes. Anyone could have easily said he was a Blind.

I couldn’t.

I didn’t take a time realize he was blind. I took time to digest the fact that a blind person is running on the platform to catch the train without anyone’s HELP. I was freeze. My thoughts just stopped where ever it was. Even before I could think to do anything, he was out of my sight, may be in his desired compartment. I took a time to come back to normal.  What should I call this? An immense act of courage with the highest level of self esteem? I don’t know. People say, It’s Mumbai, It has its own way to teach the lesson of life.

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I travel two times a day in train. And I get enough time to converse with my mind and heart. I call them the biological mechanisms which never work in the harmonization with each other. Sometimes one wins, but majorly it ends up with a tie.

People gel with each others in no time. May be because they have enough time while travelling long? They smile, they talk; they share place to seat, they converse; they play cards and they fight. Everything happen everyday. These are the Mumbaikars. It’s become routine for them. Many of others don’t talk neither do the other things. They are frightened, frightened by the horrified stories seen on news channels, reading shocking articles in news papers and, most of all, hearing the so-called experiences heard from someone. They simply travel. And I’m one of them.

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Recently, I visited very famous Kala Ghoda Art Festival, here in Mumbai. Everything was worth seeing. The sculptures, the paintings, the street performances and what not. Everything had one thing in common, Creativity. Everything was unseen before but one. The baggers and slum kids.

One of the stalls which had attracted everyone’s attention was Chocolate Fountain. Looking at to the hot chocolate running down from the top, my mouth started watering. Even while writing this!! I was attempting to buy one of the instant made products, and so the others, from the mass gathering. And at my notice, a few little faces were also trying to have glance of that never been seen before chocolate fountain, pushing the ‘Potential Buyers’ aside. There were five slum kids.

A good friend of mine has once said, “A YUVAiet will always be a YUVAiet”. I bought five Strawberry Chocolate Candies for them. Being a photographer, I wanted to capture the (happiest, for them) moment. I wanted to click that Hundred Billion smile on those five dirty faces with sparkles in their eyes. But, as expected, I couldn’t find even a single candy at the very next moment I bought it near to them. They were all well settled in their stomachs!!

Finally this is what I got on my lens!

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The city has its own way to teach the lessons of life. Everyone finds their own ways out to the solution.

The blind man was not running to catch the train. He was running to get into the particular compartment so that he could travel with his ‘known’ co-travelers. The people in the train like to ‘Enjoy’ the time so that at-least for that time period they can enjoy their worries. They talk, they share, and they fight to balance their emotional imbalance. Five minutes after my ‘kindness activity’ to the children, when I looked back, I found another young kind heart doing something similar.

I’ve also learnt one lesson. Every one is capable enough to find a solution to the problem. It’s like finding the key to the lock. Just to wish for one thing, God won’t change the lock when you find the key!!