Irony!

In a purple sleeveless dress, Ms. XYZ stood feeding a stray dog on Mahalaxmi station. She must have been in her late forties. The dog however wasn’t looking very interested in the biscuits. She had to keep going back to him to coax him to finish the food on the floor. When I asked about this strange behavior of the dog she said, “Must not be in a mood… I feed him everyday, he knows me.” Seeing an amazed expression on my face, she continued her saga. She told me that she feeds almost 50 to 70 dogs daily. “I love animals, I have a dog and nine love birds at my home. They are in a big cage!” she proudly asserted. The nine love birds’ statement left me with an unsettled feeling. But she defended herself by saying, “they won’t fly away even if I free them, they love me.” Not very convinced with her defense though, I just let the conversation end there and not let it spiral into a worthless argument.

Few moments and a million observations…

As soon as the train halted at the station, some footsteps found their way towards the staircase leading to the road. Some were however not so keen on reaching home, so their hands found their way to their pocket to take out some money. That’s how some men ended up at the food stall where they slurped away their nimbu pani or the all time favorite coca cola.

In the next few minutes the crowd at the station thinned. Only then could the station be seen in full view. The people left behind on the platform were those who were waiting for the train to arrive. Most of them had found their way to pass the next few minutes till they could be see the big yellow light approaching them. One man in white was animatedly explaining the guy sitting next to him about the realty space. His ‘kasam se bolta hun’ could be heard even from quite distance. His aggression made other people around him listen in. Other men were fanning themselves newspaper and few just looked bored and disoriented.

But there were two people who were totally engrossed in their conversation. He was holding her face, looking down into her eyes. She was holding those hands but was not talking. He was trying to tell her something but her eyes didn’t look every convinced. She looked down and then away. Just then the next train arrived and the station was full of people again. And everything and everyone disappeared in front of my eyes.