A couple of months ago, I was going home to the suburbs after eating dinner at my cousin's place in South Mumbai. I was waiting for a bus to the station when a guy about my age stopped in front of me and took off the back cover of his mobile phone. I had no idea what he was doing, so I took a step back. Then he took off his headphones and handed me a bus ticket and told me to take it. I refused at first because I didn't know why he was giving it to me. So I asked him what it was, he explained it that it was an unlimited ticket and walked off before I could thank him. I was grateful because it meant that I wouldn't have to hunt for change or break a Rs. 50 note (I'm perpetually short on small notes and change). Then I boarded a bus to Grant Road station to go home.
On reaching the bus stop near the station, I saw a passenger hand his ticket to a man waiting for a bus . I paused and wondered: is this really happening? Then I followed suit and passed along my ticket to the friend of the man who had just received a ticket. They both looked at each other as if they had won the lottery. The receipient of my ticket smiled and said a very genuine ''thank you''. I smiled back and walked toward the station, scratching my head. I wondered if it was normal for people to do this - I'd certainly never come across anything like this before.
In every previous instance of using public transport, I was never able to give away my passes after I was done using them. Either there was simply no one entering the station as I was exiting or anyone who I could have given a ticket already purchased one. But here there is always someone waiting to catch a bus so I always have a willing audience. I had always been intrigued by this idea since seeing a movie called Pay it Forward several years ago and finally could put it into practice.
So I would buy Rs. 25 tickets when I would travel by bus and pass them along after I left. I would give them to young men, middle-aged men, old men, working class and middle-class alike. I think I've done this about 10 times now and people have reacted differently each time. Some see me coming with my ticket and ''know the drill''; they thank me and continue to wait for their bus. One time a man asked me to pass my ticket to someone else - he could buy his own ticket, maybe there was someone else more deserving. Others were kind of shocked: they would take the ticket and would look at me with their jaw hanging open. The working class men who I've given my ticket too are the most appreciative and so I try to give my ticket to them because the money they save by not having to buy a ticket impacts them the most.
This was a real eye-opener for me and my relationship with people in Mumbai. For a long time I thought this was a tough, brash city that didn't care for anyone - there's proof for that: beggars at stoplights, innumerable homeless sleeping in the streets, stray dogs roaming the streets, etc. I wondered how people could live with themselves after seeing the deplorable state of their fellow Indian citizens. But then I saw that people care for each other: beggars distribute food amongst themselves, the homeless share blankets and watch after each other's belongings, shop keepers feed stray dogs and give them milk. So now I feel like a Mumbaikar because I give and I take; I give when I can and I take when I have to. The extra Rs. 1 I pay for my ticket means saving at least Rs. 4 (the minimum bus fare) for the person to whom I pass my ticket along. It's a small but a very meaningful gesture and it has helped me to appreciate the great people of this city.
