Just got back from a lovely vacation in Goa this morning by train.
About two hours into the (overnight)journey, one of the passengers got a call from a friend asking if he was okay. That’s when he got the news about the bomb blasts in Mumbai.
At the time, there were still four more to go in the next 45 minutes. Surprisingly, most passengers in my boogey stayed very calm, inspite of the news, even as the train sped towards a Mumbai, that seems to be overcome by one tragedy after another.
The cell phone lines were jammed and I couldn’t locate my roomate for many hours. The poor girl’s father was frantic with worry since he lives in Bangalore. Ultimately, she called her Bangalore office from a landline and they conveyed the message to her dad. At times like this a landline can be a saviour in this day and age of mobiles.
One elderly gentlemen got off the train in Cancauli, a place located about three hours from Goa. His son who resides in Goa phoned him asking him to get off the train immediately. The train halted and many passengers helped the old man down. I hope he managed to meet his son safely.
My cousin Sandeep called from Dubai to find out if I was allright, minutes into the news. After that whenever anyone called I answered the phone on the first ring almost shouting,” I’m alive, I’m alive”.
In the train, the crisis seemed to have bred a feeling of unity amongst us co-passengers who might not have exchanged more than a fleeting glance in more peaceful circumstances.
People exchanged news snippets and shares mobile phones when the networks were jammed etc. In my compartment there was a social activist, a lady who works for an NGO, which fights communal forces and spreads the message of secularism. She was born a Muslim but is now an aethiest.
Another Muslim couple were both engineers by profession. They seemed very happy and peaceful. In comparison the activist was a wee bit aggressive and at times a little supercilious. She made many references to incidents/people, some of whom we had not heard of. She was very ‘activist’ like. I wonder how she manages to convey messages of peace whilst her body lanuage conveys that she is formidable.
I noticed that though she is an aethiest, she seems keen on improving the lot of the Muslims in India, especially muslim women an constantly makes references to the fact that the community has been held back.
A discussion brewed furiously as all of us went from talking about the bomb blasts to terrorism, communalism and religion.
I stayed awake into the wee hours and grabbed a few minutes of shuteye every now and then. The train slowed down as we whizzed passed Panvel and was delayed by about one hour. The stations were not deserted. In fact at 6 am in the morning, people were moving around quite fearlessly. The cab deriver’s spirit seemed broken, even though he had not lost anyone in the blast.
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