En-route to Mumbai!

It was a very hot day; II class train coach was overly crowded. People around us said this is how it works in India. People buy passenger coach tickets, do not feel comfortable there, so they just hop in to II class coaches and sit in any empty seat. If you are thin girls and are only three on the birth then people just take over half your seats and you just can't do anything about it! I had been travelling since 7 PM previous day and it was late in afternoon now. Bangalore is so cool comparatively. It was getting too hot and sticky in the train. Once we crossed Poona I had lost it, I couldn't take the heat, people chattering anymore and wanted to escape. But where will you go? It's a moving train with overly crowded coaches. I could not bear anymore and decided to just walk in the bogies or atleast find a door where I could sit and rest my legs on footsteps. Train was filled with people; I walked from door to door, covered almost three bogies but could not find any door unoccupied. Disheartened I was walking back to my seat when I found at one door, there was a woman sitting with two little kids. She looked like any beggar on Bangalore roads, dark, dirty chewing beetle leaf. But I was just too tired to care for any of that at that point of time. I just did not want to sit in my seat anymore; it had been nearly 18 hours I was stuck in one place. I just wanted to feel the breeze at the door of fast moving train, enjoy the view, and stare at the miniature people and animals. Stare at those clouds. What the hell, I just asked the kind lady to make space for me at the door so that I could enjoy all of it. The route from Poona to Mumbai is amazing, train breaks through the air, through the earth, through the sky accelerating to its destiny. The route is through the mountain regions (sahyadris I guess) where bridges have been constructed between hills and so many tunnels have been dug which are at such length, that you almost feel like you'll never get out of the tunnels, that the rocky mountains are gulping you and just when you can't believe the length anymore and doubt that if nothing else you are now deprived of air to breathe the hill just opens up and throws you into the air. The open doors of the hill will make you wonder if the train is still touching the ground or if the train has started to fly. I just lost myself in the stretch of the mountains and beauty everywhere, in the speed, breeze and softening Sun.Once I got used to hymn of the trip from prized place, I looked at the kind lady who gave the opportunity to free me from my misery. She looked above 25years of age with an infant in her lap which still did not know how to walk and another kid by her side who looked tired and bored. She had moderate built and looked strong. She smiled with those reddened teeth and asked me in Hindi if I were going to Mumbai, I smiled back and said I was. Her infant was active and was playing, I just said he was cute to just make her feel accepted, to break the barriers. Little did I know that I will learn a beautiful lesson that I'll never forget.She said she was from Solarpur and is going to Mumbai to work. I obviously measured her looks and added my experience to it and assumed her work would be either to beg or sex. I was bold enough even to ask if she begged and wondered if she made her poor child to beg too. She then told me her entire reason to be on train and her life story.She was only child of her parents who were laborers and hardly had any money for anything. They are very strong family and all her cousins and uncles and aunts were always at their rescue whenever there was a problem. She got married to a man in same village when she was 30 and now she is 32. Previous day morning her husband did not get up early enough to get job for the day and earn his wages, so she fought with him. He hit her and she kicked him out of the house. He has not yet returned. She is going to Mumbai to meet her Chacha (uncle) to see if he knows where her husband is. 'The uncle always knows where he is' she said. I was surprised that she actually was going in search of her husband because the women I have met in villages during work were even scared to leave their village, and our lady here was going to Mumbai. She said of course she had been to Mumbai many a times! I asked her if she could just go there and her uncle would accommodate her. She laughed and said her uncle leaves in footpaths so she has to go find him, and she obviously will stay at foot paths of 'Gate' as she always stays there when she goes to Mumbai. My next question was why she would go to Mumbai often to stay in footpath when she has house back in her village. She said to work.She then gave details of her work profile and her employer. 5 years ago she had come to Mumbai with her parents to see some relative who introduced her to a foreigner named Richard. Richard, she says, loves India and sends all his friends to visit India often. Then she proudly said that she was guide in Mumbai for all of them. Richard asked her if she knew Mumbai, and she readily had said yes, and that she could take him everywhere. He then offered her the job of guide and was impressed with her services. He then made an agreement that whenever he or his friends comes to Mumbai he'll send her a message and she has to be the guide. Once she got married even her husband was in the department. Richard does not come every year but lots of his friends do atleast once a year. She takes them to best hotels, and gets to eat the best of meals of-course in some corner of hotel's backyard. She shows them all the interesting places and they always pay good sum of money. She said she makes around $20 per person. Yes she knows Dollars and their values.My astonished head had thousands questions for her. I asked what had she studied, she said nothing; I asked how does Richard communicate of his friends arrival. She said he writes to them, he has their address at Solarpur and someone educated in her village reads it for them. They make it a point that they are at airport to receive their guests. She was now going to Mumbai too for same reason and that she was sure that her husband will be there for dollar bills. She showed a photo of Richard, her and her uncle and another photo of the people who are coming to Mumbai the next day. Photos would communicate to either of the parties and introduce each other and then she knows what her next job is. She gets a bit of money from the hotel people, rickshaw walas, vendors etc. I could not resist asking her more questions. I asked her if these people ever treated her bad, expected sexual acts as such, she said 'they treat us better than anybody in whole of Mumbai'. They have given us life. She even quoted an example where she had problem when she was pregnant with her first child and needed money for her medicines, she had a letter written to Richard Saab and he immediately sent her $50. I asked if she stayed at hotels atleast during the work time. She said that's one option she does not have. She would stay in the footpath with her children even tonight. She said that it was dangerous, drunken men always come to lay her during nights; she hardly slept and just made sure her children were safe. I asked what she did when men came to lay her, she said she always keeps stones and thick wooden sticks handy, that's all she has for rescue but works for her as she is strong enough. I asked if she was ever raped, she said she was not, only once there were three men who attacked her and she had to run too fast and luckily escaped. I did not want to push it, but she assured me that she can take care of herself. And I want to believe her.I had spent too much time now and knew my friend I was travelling with, was stuck in the coach with strangers and had no escape as she had to guard our bags, I was about to say bye, when a man came stood next to her, stared at me for a second, he was dark looked like a villager, he smiled at the lady with his reddened teeth rubbed her cheek with his hand and touched her breast with the empty water bottle he had in his hand. I stared at him with a rage and looked at her to know if she knew him. He walked away immediately. She smiled and said 'this how people treat us here, and those Saab log (foreigners) respect and appreciate us'. I had nothing to offer her, her courage surprised me, her wisdom shocked me. I said my good bye, she asked me to visit her village and ask for Santhi (shanthi). I said I'll try and left. I know I won't ever judge anybody by their looks again.