“I am running late”, I told myself looking at my wristwatch.
It was a branded timepiece with a golden belt and black dial background printed
with dots instead of numerical with only 12-3-6-9 numbers in golden colour, a
gift gifted to me by my parents. Rushing to work in the morning was a daily
mundane. Today, it was raining heavily intermittently and reaching work was a
task. I use to travel from the Central Railway line to the Western Railway line
via Dadar. In the initial years of my professional life, Metro Rail Line was
non-existent. It would take a long time to reach from home to office & vice
versa. The office was not close to the railway station either. I had to stand
in queue for a sharing autorickshaw in the rain, heat and cold! The queues for
it were long and time-consuming. I always use to think, “The city needs a good
transport infrastructure. It is the economic capital of the country, people of
diverse backgrounds and with variegated lives live and thrive here”. Mumbai-
the city that never sleeps- needs some rest from the chaos.
I reached my office, got to my desk, put my umbrella to dry in a space and began the day at work. Almost all were running late that day, my boss too. Mumbai rains are such. To enjoy it in its truest sense, head to sea shore or best the Marine Drive. In the crowd, the rains feel messy and frustrating. It does give you respite from summer’s sweltering heat but the cold and humid weather invites all sorts of illnesses and diseases. At least once, you must be down from flu in monsoon. Nevertheless, the city looks beautiful in the rain and I love this fact. In between work, I use to peep out of a window at a distance to gauge the intensity of rain. If it was raining cats and dogs chances were always high to get to leave office early. It was not only me but everyone in the office with a similar attitude in monsoon. While leaving the office in the evening, the rains
were at rest and now the challenge was to get home before it starts raining again.
I reached the railway station by autorickshaw and walked in haste towards the platform to catch the train. It was jampacked at the platform. The time was 06:37 p.m., the Mumbai evening rush hour. Mumbai Local trains are most crowded at this point. Mumbai Local Trains are popularly called ‘Mumbai’s Lifeline’. Undoubtedly, it is. If you want to experience the majority crowd of the city, their lives, attitude, frustrations, anger and love then one must travel in the Second-class compartment of the Mumbai Local trains. You’ll find a variety of people and their journeys here. Whatever you are in life, if you can survive the Mumbai Local, you can survive anywhere, that’s what the public of Mumbai says. The city is like coconut, tough, hard and unrelenting to look at but soft, endearing and embracing to all who want its love and company. Finally, I boarded a train to Dadar to begin my return journey home. The train compartment was packed. It was a Ladies' compartment specially reserved for the female populace. I didn’t get a seat to sit so I had to stand. I stood near the door of the compartment, comfortably inside rather than hanging at the door. Just attached to the Ladies' compartment, was a compartment reserved especially for
handicapped people. The Handicap compartment and the Ladies' compartment were divided by a half-steel grill from where both side public can see each other. I was standing facing the steel grill from where I could see the people sitting in the small Handicap compartment.
The last long seat in that compartment was still empty. Suddenly, three people entered and occupied it but still, there was enough place for 4-5 people. One of the three people who entered was a young woman. She was a little drenched, as the rains had started a few minutes back. She sat at one end of the long seat next to the window overlooking the platform. One could make out from her attire and prop that she was working somewhere. There was no apparent physical disability in her. I wondered why she boarded the compartment. She was a bit uncomfortable. It must be due to her wet salwar kameez. I noticed she was constantly peeping out of the window looking out for someone. The train suddenly blew the horn. In a few seconds, the train was going to start moving. She became anxious. I was perplexed. Just as the train moved, a man in a white
shirt and brown pants, hopped in the compartment. He looked at the woman. Immediately, a smile blossomed on her simple face. He began to walk in her direction and sat beside her. She didn't take her eyes off him from the moment they saw each other till he sat by her. There was relief on their faces. The man started moving his hands as if he was telling something to her then, the woman too very calmly, replied to him but with wavering hands. I realized they both were deaf and dumb.
I felt inquisitive towards them. They were friends, husband and wife, or acquainted, I had no idea. I noticed; both of their eyes glittered while communicating with one another. I started imagining, he must be explaining to her the reason for being late and she must be replying to him that she was waiting for him. Watching this after a hasty and mundane day was interesting for me. Then, the man took her hand in his hand and looked into her eyes. She was surprised and looked down blushing. I felt like I was watching a movie. She raised her eyes towards him and smiled at him. Her face was radiating and his face looked assured. They glanced at each other in between, speechless and actionless. They were lovers. Lovers like any other. It was a beautiful moment to behold. Two hearts loving each other, speaking the language of love.
The whole journey they communicated in sign language. She asked him something and he replied with hand actions. During their conversations, their faces were utmost expressive. It was worth observing their emotions and expressions. They were expressive, reluctant, blushing, smiling, laughing. They both were in their world creating a new world of theirs. It takes courage to love someone. Despite the disability, a man’s ambition to live as normal, as free, confident, ambitious and with audacity is just marvellous! The train was gathering pace. It was a bit cold due to the rain. The cold breeze blew on my face and ran through my hair as the train gathered velocity. The train halted at a few stations, and still, a few were to come. My station was just two stops away. I was glancing in-between, at the couple. While looking outside at the passing view from the train, my mind was reflecting on random things. As I looked at the couple, they were hard staring at each other but were still communicating through sign language. Then, they both looked out of the window and looked at each other, the guy took her hand in his hand, blinked both his eyes together at her, smiled and took his bag in his hand. She smiled back, looked
down then up at him and put her hand on his. The guy got up and stood at the door of the compartment. His stop had arrived.
They were parting for the day. I was interested to see them at this point, as I was standing free and aimless waiting for my stop. The train slowed down and halted in minutes at the station. The guy got down and reached for the window of the compartment where his lady love was seated. They bade goodbye by waving at each other, with no words but pure emotions. The train started its further journey; she peeped out of the window till he went out of sight. Then she seated back comfortably in her seat lost in her thoughts, in her wonderland. Thus, I witnessed this amazing, unique but beautiful love story in Mumbai Local. The incident is still vividly etched in
my mind after so many years.
Love is such a beautiful emotion. It was a surreal feeling to realize what a powerful emotion love is! We whine about our lives and the things that we lack. Often being oblivious to the fact that we are gifted in numerous ways & be something and create our lives with whatever we have. They are our unique gifts and we just take those for granted. This couple’s silent and wordless life didn’t hamper by what it lacked. They look beyond it and loved each other. They know they are not perfect like the majority of others but they are true to their mutual feelings and respect their emotions even if it is strange to the world. Love can be found even in the hardest of times. No matter how difficult life is, you can choose what you want to feel and live your life as. We all fail, fall short, are imperfect, and carry a fractured life of failed relationships, and unfulfilled dreams. Yet keep the belief that tomorrow can be beautiful even though the present is awry. You cannot have everything in life and nobody does. It is our attitude that counts to not get blanketed by dark times. It is our choice to not spill our negativity on others. It is our decision to carry on, stand up, and believe even when the time is not in our favour. Like this couple, who don’t see their disability as an impediment to living, loving, dreaming and being free, we too may find the dare to accept life and make it beautiful by effort, patience and compassion. The missive this wordless love story gives is indeed a riveting and illuminating realization of life.
