It was just another day for me. I got down from the local train and was spanning the seemingly vast length of the platform towards the foot-over bridge - cursing the guy who placed the ladies first class compartment at the other end. It was then that I happened to overhear, quite unintentionally, something very queer. Something that strangely remains vivid in my memory.
They were two men - one, an aged man with grey hair, the other much younger. Standing just where the platform ended, and the steps of the footover bridge began, the two men were - very seriously - debating about something. On getting closer, I realised that they were weighing the possible alternatives of exiting the railway station. The old man told the younger one, "Let's not cross the tracks. The police will catch us." The other rebutted, " Are you crazy? Nobody will lay a hand on us. Everyone crosses the tracks, and nobody gets caught. Now stop wasting time, and come." The old man still a little unsure about something, thought for a couple of seconds and then acquiesced, muttering to himself, "Yes, and we won't be the only ones to get caught after all..."
I stepped onto the bridge steps exactly at the same time that those two began crossing the tracks; and I saw those two clambering over the barricade a few seconds after I descended the bridge. I had always believed that people chose to cross railway tracks instead of using the bridge because that took them lesser time. I never as much as even thought of crossing the tracks myself. But today, this myth was busted anyway; and I walked homeward wondering what was the worth of human life in the eyes of a human being today. If at all somebody chose not to cross the railway tracks, would it be just to avoid getting nabbed by the police and not because you actually care for your life? What can drill the essence of life in the heads of such cretins?
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