Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Lesson in manners on a local train

I love train rides in the city. There's so much of Bombay and the vibes and changing mentalities that you can see when you take a local train.

On a train ride to Churchgate yesterday, an African man got in at Bandra with his extremly attractive wife/girlfriend. A man sitting near them decided to take a photo of the couple without asking permission. The African gentleman asked him politely to delete the pic, but the man ignored him and walked away. This infuriated the African man and he followed him and asked him again to delete the pic.

After being ignored again, the African snatched the phone and asked how the man dared to take a photo without asking permission. He was loud enough to attract other commuters to the scene and they asked the man in his late-40s to delete the photo. The ill-mannered man grumbled in Marathi about why the kaala was so offended but deleted the pic when forced to by other commuters, who rightfully took the side of the African man.

The frightened "photographer" got off at Dadar. I really hope he learned his lesson. As the train went towards Bombay Central, the conversation revolved around manners and how a few idiots give all Indians a bad name. One man in his 50s said, "we need to get used to seeing more Blacks and Whites and treat them with respect. They are after all our guests!"

That was a wonderful statement to hear from someone in a city that is notorious for having a large number of middle class racists. There just maybe hope for this country, after all!

1 comment:

  1. we should teach lesson to that stupid guys,we should not allow them to do such worst things.

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