A lady in the background speaking distinctively “the doors will open to your left,please mind the gap”(darwaaze apki bayi aur khulenge),a chunk of corporate people sitting and reflecting back on their lives and at the same time trying to beat this delhi summer. Add a group of bustling teenagers to the picture, they are in their own stratosphere,to them it is another 30 -40 minutes of chilling,a fun ride. Now all we gotta do is add a pinch of toddlers travelling with their mothers raising the whole ambience to the roof ,no matter how much their mothers ask them to stay shushhh they will play with that pole the whole day. On top of that they are like mini celebs they love all that paparazzi (people),they just love all that attention.
You guys must have got the gist by now.Yes i am talking about our very own’Delhi metro’,i think i gave it away when i said “a woman speaking distinctively…..” most of you got it. Well, i so suck at riddles you know.
Delhi metro- quick,effiecient and easily accessible ,it is indeed the backbone of our capital,no i am not advertising for it, hold on! as a matter of fact i am in fact let’s give it a twist i am here to advocate for one of the issues concerned with it.
Here’s a vignette for y’all to imagine-:
An aged’woman’ or for that matter an aged ‘man’ boarding the metro and finding nowhere to sit.Not very far a bunch of youngins(slang for young people) are sitting comfortably in their seats .Watch out guys, things spice up here ,ladies and gents we officially have a ‘russian roulette’ at our hands.I will refer to the aged woman as ‘aunty’ and the aged man as ‘uncle’ let’s go ‘desi’on this one. So what will happen is that the “aunty” will give one sharp look from the corner of her eye to the youngins –for those of who who don’t know what this ‘morse’ code means i will decode it for you this means”man,what is wrong with you ,don’t y’all have some manners? a woman gotta sit”now you get that look 3 times you better leave that metro otherwise you are in for a treat.
“Uncles” are usually sophisticated they don’t play no ‘jedi’ mind tricks on you,they zero in and ask you directly for the seat. Notice that i ain’t talking about the seats meant for ‘ladies’ or ‘aged’,i’m talking about seats which are meant for everyone.
This is my whole point->this is what i am going to advocate about ‘why you should give seats away willingly to the “old” or to anyone in need even though i know you have hard earned it by standing for a while and maybe pushing a guy or two in the process?’ believe me dude or dudette(girl) i feel you,i have been in your shoes .But if you read this further i can try to turn your head otherwise i.e make you feel like a superhero.
Now that i have got your attention let me tell you that i had the same mindset you know “why should i?why should i give my seat away when i stood for it ?and that too to some random “uncle” or “aunty”, i mean my legs are hurting i have got a long way to go and i had to hustle to get it.
Here are 6 reasons why-:
1.On the prima facie , i get it no denying you hard earned it but here is a cliched reason why you should.because you will generate a mutual sense of respect between you and the person you just offered the seat and i think that goes a long way,it shows the values which were forged upon you.
2.This is for us dudes specially. Boys ,in each and every coach of a metro there is a pretty girl or two which you have been checking out for a while,don’t you lie to me boys afterall i am one too,if you give that seat away you know “uncle ,please sit here”,it is going to take your odds of getting along with her from zero to one.
3.Again i am sorry boys i am putting “us” on the spot. Most of us have been hitting the gym for a while now you know pumping that iron,so i see this as a perfect opportunity to display your regimen you think you are fit ,let’s see you standing up for half an hour how about that? i like to think myself as extremely fit but you know what it sure gives you a run for your ‘moolah’ to stand for all that time,so boys are we up for it?
4.This one is my fav. haha when you walk away after giving your seat away to the people in need ,you feel like a ‘vietnam veteran’ as if our honourable president should honour you with a ‘medal of courage’. I have an awesome collection of such fictional medals dangling in my closet.It sure does feels like homecoming.
5.Now this is the most important one that’s why i saved it for later. With all this gizmos and the pace at which we are all living our lives because of that most of the elder people think that our entire generation is good for nothing they think that playing fortnite whole night and swiping on tinder whole day that’s all we can do,on top of that they think that we have zero values or ‘morales’. I think that’s not true at all i see some very awesome ‘youngins’ behaving in such flawless manner i mean i want to be like them.
so what happens is when you stand up and give that sit away to one of our respected elders ,at that very moment it’s not just about you, you are representing the entire ‘young generation’ which has a ‘villain-ish’ image so that gesture helps in straightening of that ‘dent’ rooted in the minds of elders.It sure does goes a long way in improving that image.
6.You did something by will and straight outta heart even though they might not say it to your face ,there is a whole knot of ‘blessings’ in the atmosphere floating towards you(you better grab onto them before somebody else pops in between).
I understand there is always a conflict of interest but here’s another vignette for y’all to imagine ,the majority who is still not convinced-:
“When my mother sets out from the house i would like to think that she would travel hassle-free,i would like to think that some random young dude or ‘dudette’ will be kind to her,i would like to think that later on that day she will razz on me like”look at all these wonderful children Nishat and yet here you are wasting your life away’,i would love to think tat way.
Paint a bigger picture,what i’m talking about is a very tiny thing but in that moment when you are being kind that’s what all matters to the universe.I give my seats away regardless of the gender or age,besides i like to shock the ‘jeepers’ out of people by being kind and caring.Can’t i stand for a mere 30-40 minutes?what’s a ‘homo sapien’ who won’t dig deep?
Recently i gave my seat to a watchman travelling and you could see it crystal clear naturally how tired he was.See even i am dog tired most of the time obviously commuting takes a toll on you but on those days what propels me is this quote i read a while ago “In a world where you can be anything,i want you to be kind.”You are not being any less than the “deadpools”,the “supermans” and whatnots. If you are willing to then there are always people looking for help not just in terms of wanting to sit.
So i shoutout to all the ‘youngins’ to sprinkle this world with a dab of your kind gestures.
I really hope that you will keep this between ‘us’ just keep it on the shush ,i mean it’s okay that you would wanna tell your friends that you know a superhero but hey you can come and meet us anytime in the metros(metros are like headquarters,if anyone remembers justice league(the animated one) remembers the spaceship aka given to them by courtesy of Bruce Wayne floating above the earth).
POW POW POW POW POW POW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!