Little Woman

She looked derelict, like many of the homeless children who abound on the local trains of Mumbai. With two flattened stones in her hand, she was on the lookout, in an almost empty first class compartment, for a willing ear to listen to one of her out-of-date, out-of-tune hindi film songs. Many women, may be for the lack of change or empathy, pretended to sleep or got busy with their mobile phones. In a few seconds, she gave up and took advantage of the luxury of being able to sit on one of the cushioned seats of the first-class compartment. No one said anything to her as she waited for the next station where she could get down and run to the more crowded, and lucrative, second-class compartment. Suddenly the ladies in the compartment got a pleasant surprise. Our little woman dressed in rags, with shabby hair and equally shabby buck teeth began reciting a nursery rhyme. The women, including the ones who had pretended to sleep were all ears as she recited baa baa blacksheep, jack and jill and twinkle twinkle little star -- all in one breath.
They were sure impressed by the sudden outburst and she did get some "chillar" and some biscuits for the recitation, but before anyone could ask her where she learnt that from, her station was in sight and like many of her ilk, the little girl got up and hung around near the door, only to be admonished by the lady standing next to her, who told her that she would fall off a moving train. Turning to her, the little lady gave an angelic smile and said: "Thank you for your words auntie, but we children are used to this life and we know how far we can lean out before we fall."
The auntie gaped at this sudden onslaught of the English language from a girl who sang tuneless Hindi songs with the help of two battered stones for a living. And just as quietly as she'd come, she was gone.
We will never know where she learnt her impeccable English, or for that matter the manners, like saying thank -you and sorry, that the much more privileged children have kind of forgotten. But, what we do know is that someone, somewhere out there is making a difference to a little girl's life, who otherwise may not stand a chance in this world. And at the end of the day, that's what matters.
(This is a true incident that happened on the train a few days ago and I was one of the ladies in that compartment who had the good fortune of watching this little lady in action.)