It was a regular day with regular faces boarding the Bandra local. I boarded the first class compartment of the Bandra local. The train had set in motion when a shabbily dressed man accidentally entered the compartment. The man was yelled at by a commuter as time went by the commuter started slapping and questioning the meek mannered shabbily dressed man. The interrogation kept getting harsher leading to a question “ Tumhara mulukh kidhar hai” (Where is your hometown?). The question asked here brought out a response which I have never before seen in my life; people from every part of the compartment left their seats which I feel is a prized possession in trains in Mumbai, to stand up for the man being victimized.
The crowd didn’t fight or threaten the attacker instead they questioned his authority. The man being victimized had no name, race or religion at that very moment he was one of us a man reaching his work place. The dispute ended when the attacker realized he was now facing Indians and not a society of rioters terrorizing the weak, it ended when his civility was questioned by one of us. It made me proud to be a part of this society, "an accommodate all" and "not tolerate all" society.
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