So I had this very strange experience last evening, while traveling to Mysore from Bangalore.
Anybody who knows me well, is not unaware of my abhorrence for crowded places like bus and railway stations etc. In fact any place that has an organised mass or gathering of people. Nothing against people as such, it's just that any kind of chaos unsettles me.
Anyways. I reached the Satellite bus station in Bangalore at around 6 in the evening after the two hours hike from Electronic City in a cab. Yes, I call it a hike because of the crazy traffic that one has to endure on the way. It actually feels like a painful hike as it drains you physically and emotionally. The sight of around 200 over-enthusiastic people standing in a queue to book the bus tickets to Mysore, welcomed me. And I couldn't believe my eyes! Somehow I gathered the courage to join the serpentine queue. And I could see that 80% of the crowd there belonged to some IT company or the other going by the logo of their backpacks. No wonder, Blore is known as the IT capital of India. After some 20 agonising minutes of waiting, a lady came and stood behind me. And I was kinda relieved for being not the last one. We started chatting up because, there was nothing else to do!! All of a sudden, a Volvo bus arrived to collect the passengers and announced that tickets will be issued inside the bus instead. And obviously there was a mad rush to get into the bus!! The lady who was behind me told me that she is going ahead to explore the probability of beating the crowd in the stampede. Before I could realise what was happening, she vanished! And I got busy looking at the pushing--shoving-elbowing that was going on at the bus door. After 10 minutes, I saw the lady calling out to me to get into the bus along with wild waving of hands. I still couldn't believe that I had it in me to jostle amongst the crowd and get inside the bus. It was like you are drowning and you see a hand calling out to you in an effort to save you! I don't exactly know, what happened to me in that instant. I joined the melee of crowd and somehow pushed-elbowed myself and managed to get into the bus! The lady had saved a nice seat for me! I felt like screaming in delight, I was so happy and relieved! I thanked her profusely. The struggle didn't end with the bus ride. After we reached Mysore, I couldn't find a single cab. The lady who was a localite, shouted and screamed for an auto and managed to find one for me! She negotiated with the auto driver and helped me get inside safely.
I was too stunned with this unexpected kindly gesture from a stranger and quickly I asked her number to send a thank you msg later! And all throughout the auto ride, I was thinking how people touch your lives through their kind behaviour sometimes...She didn't know me personally or anything, still she went out of her way to help me out...And it left such a lasting impression on my mind, I just wanted to crystallize this incident forever by blogging about it... I hope she reads it somehow and realises how thankful I am ...
Anybody who knows me well, is not unaware of my abhorrence for crowded places like bus and railway stations etc. In fact any place that has an organised mass or gathering of people. Nothing against people as such, it's just that any kind of chaos unsettles me.
Anyways. I reached the Satellite bus station in Bangalore at around 6 in the evening after the two hours hike from Electronic City in a cab. Yes, I call it a hike because of the crazy traffic that one has to endure on the way. It actually feels like a painful hike as it drains you physically and emotionally. The sight of around 200 over-enthusiastic people standing in a queue to book the bus tickets to Mysore, welcomed me. And I couldn't believe my eyes! Somehow I gathered the courage to join the serpentine queue. And I could see that 80% of the crowd there belonged to some IT company or the other going by the logo of their backpacks. No wonder, Blore is known as the IT capital of India. After some 20 agonising minutes of waiting, a lady came and stood behind me. And I was kinda relieved for being not the last one. We started chatting up because, there was nothing else to do!! All of a sudden, a Volvo bus arrived to collect the passengers and announced that tickets will be issued inside the bus instead. And obviously there was a mad rush to get into the bus!! The lady who was behind me told me that she is going ahead to explore the probability of beating the crowd in the stampede. Before I could realise what was happening, she vanished! And I got busy looking at the pushing--shoving-elbowing that was going on at the bus door. After 10 minutes, I saw the lady calling out to me to get into the bus along with wild waving of hands. I still couldn't believe that I had it in me to jostle amongst the crowd and get inside the bus. It was like you are drowning and you see a hand calling out to you in an effort to save you! I don't exactly know, what happened to me in that instant. I joined the melee of crowd and somehow pushed-elbowed myself and managed to get into the bus! The lady had saved a nice seat for me! I felt like screaming in delight, I was so happy and relieved! I thanked her profusely. The struggle didn't end with the bus ride. After we reached Mysore, I couldn't find a single cab. The lady who was a localite, shouted and screamed for an auto and managed to find one for me! She negotiated with the auto driver and helped me get inside safely.
I was too stunned with this unexpected kindly gesture from a stranger and quickly I asked her number to send a thank you msg later! And all throughout the auto ride, I was thinking how people touch your lives through their kind behaviour sometimes...She didn't know me personally or anything, still she went out of her way to help me out...And it left such a lasting impression on my mind, I just wanted to crystallize this incident forever by blogging about it... I hope she reads it somehow and realises how thankful I am ...
1 comment:
There are many such unselfish souls out there....
Post a Comment