Of the many options I have had in the last three months, I have opted for the most economical ones for more than one reason.

You get to know people in their real sense only in scarcity. I could see the implications of this during my journey back to Bangalore in the passenger train. Sunday evenings always call for a larger crowd in the train and with a fare of a meager Rs.22, you can imagine how tempting it might be for people to travel via this train. With little knowledge that the train would get crowded as much as it did, I boarded the train soon after it reached the station. I didn’t realise how fortunate I was to get a seat till people started standing in our compartment. My compartment consisted of a mother with 2 young children.

Slowly more people entered and pushed the childrem to the edge and occupied every inch of space available and everyone squeezwed themselves to give space to others. Among them was one couple. They did not know the local language but only hindi. When I enquired something in Hindi, the lady excited and asked me about by wheere abouts reported the status of their children and remembered the times when her daughter was in my state and blessed me when I had to leave.

 By the end of the trip I got something I hadn’t got for a long time…Love and respect from the most unexpected quarters..