Society has myriad shades and the best part is that we all live collectively in a togetherness which is both sweet and salty. I got to meet people from different professions and moods in the metro train daily. Though each face is new and strange somewhere I find a resemblance of my own persona in each of them.

Everyday I travel through this train which has slowly become the identity of this already vivid town. It was winter season and I as usual I took my bike and started off to my work. I was all geared up with jacket and gloves and covered from head to toe. I used to park my bike at the metro parking and then take a metro. It was so cold outside that I needed to kick my bike several times so that it’s engine heat up. The fog was too thick today, I said to my mother. My mother used to come to the balcony to bid me every day.

I could hardly see to a feet. I drove at a slow speed so as to avoid any sudden braking.
I reached the metro parking in about 15 minutes which usually takes about 5 minutes. As I was parking my bike I saw some people wearing jackets and mufflers standing at one side of the road near the Chai stall. The chai wala had setting up his cart. He was cleaning utensils in which he serves tea. I wondered what they were doing there as chai wala had still not completed with setting up the cart. To end my curiosity I went to see. They were actually beating the heat with cigarettes. The cigarette smoke from their mouth was nearly invisible in the thick cover of fog.

I went straight inside the metro station. I was greeted by the metro security staff. As I was early than my usual time, I preferred to strike a conversation with him. He too confronted that it was chilly outside and told me that the temperature was just going to go down further, as per a daily newspaper.

I went into the metro station.
I still remember the days the Delhi metro ran for the first. Thousands of people gathered to take its first ride and today 5 years down the line, people hardly care about it. You can see all sorts of sign boards on metro station warning people to behave.

But, who the damn care? You can see this by the paan stains across the walls straight beneath the bill board which says “Do not spit”. I used to take metro from Rithala metro station, as It was the starting point of the metro and thus I usually managed to get a seat.

A Sardarji was sitting next to me in the Delhi Metro. He was discussing about the sensex with one of his friend. I too had invested some money in Share Market, so I started paying attention to their talking, in order to get a tip of a profitable stock to invest. Soon at the Pitampura metro station I saw an elderly lady entering in the metro. She must be around 75 years old. I could guess her age as she had white hair and could hardly walk straight.

The IVR constantly announced “Please give your Seat to the person in Need” but nobody bothered to. Everyone was busy in their own world. I would have to get up, I said to myself and I stood up and offered my seat to the old granny. She sat and blessed me. I was happy to seek her blessing early morning. As it was office timing, I could see a lot of people waiting outside the metro station so I quickly took a corner of the compartment to stand. A group of young girls entered the metro and fortunately in the compartment I was in.

They were all teenagers and must be 5 or 6 in number. All dressed fashionably trying to look different and more beautiful than other. I could see them catching attention of almost all men present in that compartment. Actually they were laughing and gossiping so loud that they unintentionally caught the due attention.

The laughing and gossiping sound was suddenly broken by screams and sudden brake noise.

[To be continued...]