The metro was over-crowded, as usual. I
entered a compartment with no hopes of a seat and made a place for myself at
one end of the compartment. The crowd on the yellow line, connecting Huda City
Centre with Samaypur Badli, starts thinning from Kasmere Gate station onward and
peters out after G.T.B. Nagar. Normally when the metro is on approach to Kashmere Gate, commuters who have to go further, make a bid for the seat
vacated by fellow commuters. This was a general compartment and not the one
reserved for ladies. I was watching this old gentleman, who had boarded this
metro from any station prior to Central Secretariat from where I had boarded
this metro. He stood in the middle of the compartment and waited for a seat which however was not available. So he stood patiently
for his turn. At the Chandni Chowk station a young beautiful girl of this old
gentleman grand-daughter’s age, entered the compartment and stood just behind
him. As the metro approached Kashmere Gate, a young boy, who had kept seated all
this while, ignoring metro’s appeal to vacate the seat for the old and the inform, stood
up and vacated his seat to get down. He moved across towards exit in a manner
that it blocked the way for the old gentleman to occupy the seat vacated by him. Nevertheless
this old gentleman managed to keep his hold. As he gestured to occupy the
seat vacated by this young boy, the young girl standing behind him requested him, whether he could spare
the seat for her. I felt pity for the old man. He had been traveling for a longer period, standing all along, compared to this girl who was young and had boarded the
metro at the last station. The young boy had not gestured to offer him his seat.
Rather, he did try to create an obstacle to facilitate the young girl grab the
seat vacated by him. The gentleman politely refused her and sat down, much to my
relief. But the incident left me in a dilemma with many unanswered questions. Was it proper on part of the girl to request the old gentleman to spare
the seat for her? Would she have made the same request if the old gentleman
been his real father or grand-father? Was the old gentleman right in
politely refusing the girl? Would he have refused the girl in the same manner had she been his own daughter or grand-daughter? Who was wrong in the
given situation and who was correct? Any answer?
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