Near death on the tracks

This incident took place a few years ago, but it keeps coming back to my mind.

It was a time when I used to visit quite frequently on Saturday mornings a shrine on the banks of the Banganga tank at Walkeshwar. The usual routine was to reach the shrine at about 9 a.m., and return to Grant Road station by 10 a.m. to catch a local train elsewhere.

One such morning as I was waiting on platform 3 to catch a fast local from Grant Road to Dadar, an old lady suddenly started crossing the tracks from platform 4 towards platform 3. As she reached platform 3, it was obvious that she could not jump and get on to platform 3 (since the platform is a good 4 feet high from the track level). She seemed to be a regular since she came quite close to platform 3 confidently. When she reached the platform 3 side, she did what many do in Mumbai...held out her hand...anyone on the platform then usually obliges and hoists / pulls up the person onto the platform. The idea is that the person on the track level usually just needs a hoist - an initial pull - the person, of course, needs to put his / her own efforts to push themselves up. That way, even if a heavy person is asking for help, it not too much of an effort for the person on the platform to hoist the guy.

When she held out her a hand, I was closest to her on platform 3. As a result, I offered my hand to her to pull her up. It was not the first time I was doing such a thing. However, for some strange reason, as I started pulling the old lady up, she just started dangling in mid-air. To my horror, the fast local had just entered the far end of the platform 3, and in a few seconds would be directly where the old lady was struggling to get onto the platform. For a split-second, my heart skipped a few beats. My mind was puzzled with decisions. Should I let her go? Should I jump onto the tracks and take her to the place in between tracks of platforms 3 and 4?

Fortunately, another man on platform 3 who had noticed this, approached quickly, and helped grasp her other hand, and we both managed to pull her up seconds before the train came to the spot where she stood.

I was relieved, but shaken. It was then that I decided that thenceforth I would not help anyone else to clamber onto the platforms. If a tragedy had occurred, obviously it would have played heavily on my mind, and it would be one decision that I would always have come to regret for the rest of my life.