Same old local

Same old local
Same old 9.56 fast local.

Goregaon. Jogeshwari. Andheri. The train started slowly and began to move very fast. If you stand at the gate and look down on the adjacent tracks, everything is so random that it makes sense.

The Jogeshwari slums and the big ‘outdoor broadcast displays’ between andheri and bandra have something in common. The people in the slums cherish the moment when a new display comes up. In another 15 days, they will get a new bed.

The material with which the banner is made is a material called ‘flex’. It has a soft plastic feel to it. Hot in summer, very cold in winter. It’s very seasonal. Like the life in slums where you literally live every season.

The train moves faster and so does everything around it. That’s what makes you think. Life is moving at a pace that’s faster than this train.

I want to do something for the slum dwellers. I want to do something for the children who sleep on the footpath. I want to do something that makes a difference to a beggar’s meal. I want to do something that will change something in the little hut, the roof of which is made up of newspapers.

Life is moving, as you stand by and watch.