text: The train is starting to move, you have to get on it. But you can't get up from the bench on the platform. All the passengers in the train are looking at you through the windows expectantly, or maybe sympathetically. You pushed down your hands with all your strength on the bench, your feet exerted so much force to get up. You still stayed attached to the bench. You feel like you are only four limbs and nothing else. You felt powerless in spite of putting up so much physical strain than you ever did in your life. The train zoomed away. Then it just came, the realization, that you are in a dream. The announcement of the train woke you from the small nap. You have been waiting for about an hour now. Finally the train is about to arrive within the next few minutes. You are relieved. You noticed that you aren't alone on the bench anymore. The two people on both sides are sitting very close to you. You felt the warmth. You have never felt any trouble with other human beings close to you. Being social and warm is kind of your thing. In fact, you would be extremely uncomfortable if you are alone. The platform is now more crowded than before. When you arrived, there were only a handful of other passengers, but now the platform is packed. You started to think about this big world, all the different types of people in it,and their lives. You felt very happy. The large number of people is not a new sight for you. Everyday after your work, you return to your hometown by this same train from this same platform. All these people are going to join you on the train. The crowd is only going to be in the train for the next three or four stops though. There is much more distance to go before you reach your hometown. By then the train will be almost empty. Usually, you would've been sipping a coffee while waiting for the train. Today you are feeling too much tiredness. Work was too much today. That's why the nap crept upon you. You decided to buy the coffee from the vendors in the train, and for now just observe those around you. It's always an interesting activity for you. Scanning every face in the crowd with the warmest smile on your face, you are sitting there waiting for the arrival of the train. Everyone has different emotions on their faces, some are happy, some sad, others difficult to read. Suddenly one face garnered all of your attention from the rest. You can see it is clearly sad and frustrated. It feels different from other sad faces. It shows recent pain, very recent. You looked at the immediate surroundings of that person. It is a man, average, everyday man. He is clutching his knee with one hand and his other hand is on his large suitcase. Struggling to get up from the bench where he was sitting. You are sure that he is disturbed. You then started looking in all directions to see whether anyone else had noticed this man. No one, no one seemed to be looking at this man. Only you have noticed this man's difficult situation. You are thinking why no one is noticing this. However, you are glad that you noticed. You got the responsibility of helping this man and you are happy to do so. Determined to help this person, you got up, walked across to the bench he was sitting on. Those who were sitting on the same bench as the man started to notice you approaching. They didn't recognise the pain of the man sitting just next to them. They were inside their own worlds. Maybe these people will get inspired by you, and they will help someone in future. Maybe they won't, nevertheless you want to do what you should. You stopped in front of the man. He noticed you. He slowly looked up at you. You can see the face filled with desperation and pain, just as you expected. You asked the man in a calm voice what his problem was. He replied that he has to board the same train as you, to reach his home. When he tried to get up from the bench hearing the announcement, his right knee almost buckled. You noticed the others are now listening carefully and those sitting near to the man are looking at you. Everyone understood the problem now. You extended your arm and helped the guy to get up. He wanted to scream with pain as he tried to stand, but he muffled it as much as he could. You asked about going to the hospital, but he wanted to board the train. Once he was up the train arrived and stopped. You supported him to walk up to the train. You looked back over your shoulder to the people sitting at the bench and then to the suitcase of the man. One of them hurriedly got up and started carrying that and followed you. The man looked at your face and said the warmest 'thank you', you ever heard. You smiled. You looked ahead to the open door of the train. People on the platform parted to both sides to let the man board the train first. You looked at their faces. You are happy that your small act has actually inspired people to be considerate. You realize that people are inherently good. They just need a push. You found a seat for the man and helped him sit. The guy with the man's suitcase came by and placed it in the luggage space near the seat. He also had your bag that you left on the bench. You thanked him. Then the man said thanks to him and then turned to you and said another thanks. The compartment was the kind with several rows of three adjoining seats, on both sides of the compartment with no partitions. You can see almost everyone in the entire compartment. At least everyone who is standing. The compartment was packed and some of them were watching you help the man. Vacant seats were few, but there was an aisle seat free on the other side of the man. He asked you to sit there. You smiled and did so. The guy who carried the suitcase didn't have anywhere to sit. He lingered for a second or two and went to another part of the compartment to find a seat. The other passengers nearby started to ask both of you what happened. You both told what happened to those near to you. Your account is short and plain, while his is long and colourful. You just smiled to yourself. Quickly, everyone went back to their business after the stories. The man started to talk to you. You both talked about your names, families, jobs, hometowns and so on. He gets off very quickly, two stops from where you boarded. You, on the other hand, had a long journey ahead. More than two hours of train ride then a short walk to your home. You asked him how he will reach his home from the station. He said that he will call a friend to come pick him. And he then took his phone and called that person. After the call you said to him about seeing a doctor or going to a hospital. He agreed to do so. He will go with his friend. You insisted him to go to the doctor before going to his home. He nodded agreeingly. Shortly, his destination arrived. You and one or two other passengers helped the man and his luggage down. The friend was waiting there to pick him. You went back to your seat after saying goodbye to him. You felt happy and proud. The fast moving but beautiful images seen through the window attracted you, and in an instant hypnotized you. You slipped into another nap. There were no dreams this time. You just opened your eyes. The empty seats all around you worried you. You looked out of the window. Then being relieved that your stop hasn't passed, you sit back on your seat comfortably. The compartment is deserted and a quick scan by extending your head showed only a handful of passengers left. You didn't get the coffee, and vendors won't be coming now. You sit back and continue to look out of the window. There are a couple more stations before your destination. You remembered the man you helped and felt happy about what you did and actually how it made somewhat of an impact on all the people around. The station that you had to get off is about to reach. By now the entire compartment became empty. The last station completely drained the train. Your house is only a kilometre or so from the station. You stretched your legs and grabbed your bag and went towards the exit. You want to exit this deserted compartment, it's making you uneasy. As you reached the exit door, you saw a man sitting on the doorway. This is not a rare sight in trains in India, but you had the impression of being alone, and seeing someone else suddenly gave you a slight shock. The shock turned to disgust as you observed the man more. He looked like a homeless person. Whatever the colour of the clothes he is wearing was in the past, they are now brown and black. They don't look comfortable. He has a long stick with him and it went through the hoops of some plastic bags filled with something. You quickly realize he is not in a normal mental state, as he is talking to himself and haven't noticed you standing a few feets from him. You couldn't understand anything he said. He continued his unintelligible blabbering, you can understand the words he is saying, but not what he is saying. You realized there is no use in trying to analyse his words, and went back to observing him. Suddenly the man turned and looked at you, stared for a second or two and then he turned away. You quickly looked around the compartment again, and failed to see anyone else. Your attention returned to the man in front of you. He is not blocking your way, you can exit using the door on the opposite side. The platform is always on that side, he isn't going to bother you. So you continued watching him. Now it is his gestures that are gravitating your attention. No particular meaning, not interesting, but you continued to look at his hands. Then the attention slid to the long stick and then to the plastic bags. He is sitting on the doorway, the bags were on the side of the open door, held together by the stick. They were full and you felt that they could easily slide out of the stick. He was unaware of anything. He is chatting to himself and continues to move his stick carelessly, now and then, unaware of the bags on the end of the stick, dangerously close to the open door of the train. It could be food or something. Whatever it is, they are seemingly his only possession in this world. You should direct the attention of this man to his bags or he could lose all of them. But will he understand that you helped him? Will he acknowledge your help? And there is no one else to see you help this man. Then without any warning the bags smoothly slid out of the stick, and fell out of the door. He reacted a couple of seconds later than you did. He reacted nothing more and after a while he restarted his argument, or persuasion, or small talk, or whatever, with himself. The train reached your station by that time and you got down, walked to your home.