Lesson for life

I do not know what the guy must have been thinking as he was being dragged by the running train yester night. He might have been thinking about his children, waiting for him to come home. He might have been thinking about his wife, who has been loving him day in and day out, concerned if he brings home enough tonight to feed the children. He might have been thinking about his aged parents, whom he has pledged to himself to take care till the end of their days. He might have been thinking about the money he owes his landlord. He might have been thinking about the bloody pain that is slowly rising through his breaking limbs wincing every cell in his body, distorting his thoughts and getting etched in his memories forever. But the train was not thinking anything, as it is not supposed to think.

It is us humans, who are supposed to think. It is upto us to fulfill the promises we make to ourselves and we need to live, happy and whole, to do so. It was around 10.45 PM as we ran after the stopping train in the coimbatore railway station towards the coach S11. I stopped on the way to buy a water bottle and the vendor was extremely tensed as he was handing over the change to me. He murmured in breakin voices - "Trolley guy", "Train", "Limb", "Cut" - I could only manage to get a glimpse of what happened from what he said. I walked a few steps in the direction he pointed and the gory sight I saw next paralyzed me. There I saw a man - ragged clothes, fainted memories and hopelessly wasted. There I saw a man, semiconscious, holding another fellow crying for help. There I saw a man, whole except for a limb cut down from the calf-muscle, bone jutting out of what remained as his leg-and-memory, sheared skin, bloody and twitching in pain. The foot that held the weight of this man for so long suddenly had found him heavy, slid down between the train and the platform, and the broken bones with mesh of flesh lay somewhere on the tracks, below the train that had totally stopped now. The police were asking the trolley guys to go fetch a trolley as the victim was "one-of-them" (that's the phrase the inspector used) and the public looked hopelessly to the police to take some initiative. But it was too late anyway and the man had been handicapped for life.

My thoughts spun as I was looking at the ghostly figure lying there, still with life. Probably, this would be one moment the man wished he was dead instead of having to go through this. I imagined myself standing there, whole, but this could have happened to me any of the numerous times I have got down from a running train or boarded one. I realized God had already been kind to me a lot of times for not letting that happen. I was reminded of the people who would have been devastated if this happened to me. Life is too precious to risk such a stupid thing.

The train started moving, and it suddenly occured to me that I should be on that train. I took one last look at the empty space that should have been occupied by his limb, the incomplete man twisting in pain. Then I ran towards the train. As I clung to the railing and stepped onto the mini-staircase of the moving train, I saw the very small space between the train and the platform which had claimed that man's foot a few minutes back and I thought to myself: This will be the last time I am boarding/getting down from a moving train.

I wish this man a speedy recovery and hope he will get used to being limbless. And I pray to God for the welfare of the family of this man, who through his pain, taught me a valuable lesson for life!

Tears,
Sravan