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Nitin Nayan Mali, in-charge of the GTB Nagar station, allegedly refused to provide first aid and medical help to a grievously injured man who lay on the platform for over three hours before he died.
I was shocked to read this and wish this news item is untrue.

From the time I stepped in this city in the 70s, I know that community spirit is far stronger to break. Religious differences cannot come in the way of this community of railway commuters.
Everyone knows regular commuters. Travelling in a particular train is not a daily ritual for a Mumbaikar, it is like an extended family. If a regular commuter doesn’t turn up one day, the individual has to face a barrage of questions the next day explaining their absence. I remember an incident in a 12-car local from Ambarnath that reaches Dombivli at 10.42 am.

I was a regular traveller in the last first class compartment, over a decade, and I knew everyone in that compartment. One day a fellow passenger had slight chest pain and he started sweating profusely. Believe me, the entire first class compartment got down at Dombivli and got him medical help. None of the 43 people (I prefer to call them community) went to work on that day. They only heaved a sigh of relief once the doctor declared that the patient was out of danger.That is the empathy city dwellers have, particularly when it comes to fellow passengers who travel with them for years. Because this train was coming from Ambarnath, most of the passengers were from Ulhasnagar, an area known for people who settled there after Partition.

They fight like cats and dogs in the train, but when it comes to emergencies, I’m yet to see a community that comes together, pools money and saves people. That is basically because they had witnessed vicious bloodshed during the communal strife of 1947, lost their kin, forfeited their properties and started from zilch to build an economy - we call today Ulhasnagar today.

That is the reason it surprised me when I heard that Nitin Mali refused help to a victim who was lying in a pool of blood over three hours. Mali belongs to Sukhsagar Colony in Ulhasnagar, a town that has always stood by people in distress.

In the same week, I witnessed another incident on my way to office from Thane. Minutes after an accident, a police vehicle heading towards Mumbai stopped at an accident spot. The driver stepped out to check what was happening. But when the crowd asked him to take the victims to a hospital, he offered lame excuses and sped away callously. Since he was a policeman, the crowd could not even force him to help the victim.

Being a good citizen goes well beyond voting, campaigning for a greener environment and social service. It involves doing work that reminds us of our community and keeps individual Mumbaikars
together.

Remember John F. Kennedy’s adage: Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country. At least people can emulate the Bombaywalas of yore and be sympathetic to those in distress.