10 November, 2019

Running on the Escalator

It's a Sunday. I have the luxury of laziness. Today I am not surrounded by people running on an escalator.

Every work day, as I take the metro, I meet these people. It's different faces, different destinations, but the same characters...Heads lowered into mobile screens as they wait for the train, often using this impersonal diffidence to shove themselves ahead of everyone else in the queue when the train arrives. The angst and discomfort of those who get pushed back , goes unrecorded by them , because these cervically challenged people use their mobile screens as an alibi for never having to look up and face the glares of those whom they pushed back to rush into the train and grab a seat.

The scene when we reach our destination is no different. This mob of humanity with their workbags slung on it's shoulders rushes out onto the platform...and thus begins the run. The sarees, trousers, skirts and jeans all become a blur of fabric as everyone begins to rush...brisk walk , marathon walk, light jog or even the agile sprint. They run. They reach the escalator and proceed to run on the escalator... 

Every morning I slow down. Take up the smallest possible space, and allow this Serengeti wild-buffalo like mass of humans to rush past me and run on the escalator. 

Are they late for work ? Everyday ? Or are they so eager to get to work every morning that they feel the compulsion to run on something which is already on a fast track ? 
I wonder at the lack of time in their lives .....or am I the one who is slow ? Or are these people the ones who are on a faster route in life ?

Either way, I don't have too many answers yet... Just the open incredulity of seeing the rhetorical action of people running on the escalator, day after day, stealing those 30 seconds from the hands of time...... 

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