At Platform No. 1

          It was  the Month of December I had just finished my odd semester and was returning to my home for the winter vacation. The time was night 9:00 pm, night was chilling I just had a shawl with me. 9:10 pm was the time which I was waiting for the digital clock to reach as that was the right time of the train Puri-Ahmedabad(via Vizianagaram). "The train if would come at right time then I will reach my house at the early morning having a nice sleep in the sleeper compartment " I was expecting this when I was sitting on the bench of platform no 1(1st platform from the entrance) and waiting for the train until the computerized lady voice in the loudspeaker announced that the train will be about 2 hrs late. Initially I used to get angry and curse my luck when like this thing happened, but with time I started to enjoy this time. I started to see that if you want to know about different types of people then the most accessible place to you will be the Railway station. A Place where people from all parts of the country are reachable. Different sections of society without any caste, religion or status can come here. A beggar to a big businessman or a Politician. After a certain time of my travel in train I usually felt it so entertaining to just observe people where you just pick one person in the crowd of the platform and observe him/her you will get many moments to enjoy(again you have to make sure that they don't know about you else you have to change your focus ;) ).

    But it was a late Winter night and the station had very less people. I was sitting just near to the entrance trying to read a magazine of THE OUTLOOK and adjusting my shawl so that no air gets leaked inside and I feel cold. To bear the cold I got a tea . I was nearly going to get OFF with the boring communal Politics article of the magazine. I somehow finished the article finished my last sip of Tea and saw around. I was happy as I saw a family near me it was a small family Father-Mother and a cute son. Instantly my attention drifted towards them specially to the cute guy who was holding a big Baggage with his hands trying to raise it up high enough such that the bag does not touch ground. I think the boy would have been in his 4th or 5th standard of his school and was really cute and might have inherited his Father's nice look. His Mother looked silent, when you see her you will instantly understand she is responsible and was responding  graciously to things. One thing that  I observed was she never smiled. She only responded when she had to. Looking bit further to his husband I slightly got hint to the link to the missing smile. Her husband was unable to stand straight on his legs and was talking insensible things and she was supporting him such that he could sit properly at the bench, and to my surprise and happiness also I was seeing the boy also helping his mother to guide his Drunk papa to sit on the bench. That really brought a sorry feeling in my heart at that time. Among everyone the Boy was the most interesting for me. He helped his father sit on the bench and then took the water Bottle from his Maa to fill up Water then finished some work and sat like a good boy near his Mom with his Innocent eyes looking down. I felt that her Maa should pat her Son's back and show her love to him a little just to encourage him and his feelings. Then the Father woke up and then started to shout at his wife started scolding him. I understood what he scolded but in his drunkardness I felt it was of no meaning. After scolding he started crying and then  walked towards the track and urinated on the track. I just prayed that no train comes at that time. Coming back I saw the boy here, he was now standing below the podium holding his Mother's sari in one hand and looking towards his Father. It was really nice to see him taking care of his Mother and also showing his affection towards his Father. I was feeling he was at a turmoil here I think as he loved both of them but he didn't know who is doing right and who is wrong. After his father came his father asked water then he took the water bottle to him. Really amazing I felt due to the Boy's patience I was feeling. I was just starting to think the importance of responsibility which the boy was demonstrating to me yes many things were there to learn here like the nuances of society forcing people to goto addiction to forget them(nuances) and get an escape for sometime and the issue of that child whose future appears if not Black but at least grey for now to me. I was trying to understand how even a small boy who has none but only his parents feels the urgency of his parents to be happy so much that he has forgot his chocolates or comforts and starts to take care of them and wishes to share their responsibility. May be he will always look bit sad in his looks but its good that nobody taught him  this lesson to be responsible to his parents but he learned it of his own(if somebody has taught him this then also its great to learn it so well at such a young age), because he will never forget this art now. As I feel a person never forgets something if he has learnt that by his own experience. Then the train Came.

               After sometime a train came and they got up in it I wanted to meet that boy and ask him his name at least but when I got up his mother called, " Pintu, train aasi galaa. Bapanku dharey".(means Pintu,Train has come hold your Father). As I got up I just helped them with their luggage a bit without talking to the small big guy. So I remembered his name as Pintu and gave a thought that here goes a guy who has the potential to become a Really great man full of pride and honor for his service in his life or may become a distressed depressed person for his lost and missed out things in his life.