I left my parents cozy home and a freezing New Delhi yesterday and reached my not-so-cozy home in a positively warm Mumbai today!!Getting in the car with my dad yesterday on my way to station I felt a tinge of sadness.. saying goodbye to my family.. back to the grind!! As I reached Mumbai today though, I heard myself letting out a sigh of relief and though to myself 'I'm home!!'.. yep.. this is home too.. I have grown up here.. and even though my parents have now moved, this will still always be home!!
So the train that I took here.. starts at about 5 in the evening and takes about 18 hours to reach Mumbai.. an overnight journey.. but its extremely comfortable.. fully AC so the temperature is contolled.. and the fare includes all the meals. Heres the menu of the day..
5:30 pm: Evening snacks, tea/coffee, juice.
7:30 pm: Soup
9 pm: Dinner
9:30 pm: Dessert
7 am: Tea/coffee
9 am: Breakfast
Theres a lot of waiters/servers/helpers doing the serving and colecting trash etc.. basically they were doing what the air-hostesses do without the make-up!
One of these guys was this plump middle-aged man.. with a big rolly polly belly.. and everytime he walked up and down the hallway, he would bang into the compartment walls and doors!! He looked like a Rolly Polly Doughboy from those dough commercials.. lol.. poor guy.. as I watched him for a bit I saw that his uniform was torn a little in the place where the sleeve is stitched on.. looked like Mr. Rolly Polly had reached for something and torn his sleeve!
In a compartment full of coughing old people and newly-wed couples, he was the most amusing thing I could find to look at!!
I dont drink tea or coffee so when he came to serve me some, I declined. He was most concerned at this!! He said " Dont be shy.. have some!" and I said " No thank you" again.. he walked away a little unconvinced.
At soup time again I only drank half my soup and gave him back the rest. Again he said " Finish you soup.. its ok.. I'll come back for it later.. no rush".. again I said " No thanks I'm fine".. he walked away with my plate.
In the morning I refused tea again.. so Rolly Polly came back at breakfast time and gave my mine first. I think he thought I must be hungry. Breakfast was juice, two slices of bread, butter, jam, sauce, and two peices of vegetable cutlet in a tin-foil packet. I wasnt quite in the mood for cutlets so I gave the packet back to Rolly Polly saying I didnt need it.
As I started buttering my bread, Rolly came back with a packet containing two slices of bread to offer to me saying, " You're not eating any cutlets.. have some extra bread". I told him I didnt need anything extra and thanked him away. As I bit into my bread Rolly came back again, " We have rice flakes and corn flakes.. do you want those instead? Please eat something". This time I actually chuckled out loud as I explained to Rolly Polly that I was quite full and didnt need anything more! He wasnt convinced but he left me alone.
I tipped Rolly on my way out.. but he stayed on my mind for a while. I'm touched by how dedicated Rolly was to his job.. and just generally by how much he cares for people! He went above and beyond his job description to make sure I was full and had eaten.. even though there was nothing in it for him! People would have tipped him anyway! Even otherwise I could tell that he was genuinely concerned. I dont think his job pays him very much but that doesnt stop him from being a nice, generous and kind person to everyone around him! I was travelling alone but it didnt very much feel like it.. Rolly did a lot the same things my mum would've have.. only he didnt really have to!!
I hope I never forget Rolly Polly and that no matter what job I do.. whether I like it much or not.. whether it pays much or not.. I hope I can be as true and as dedicated to my work as Rolly was to his!!
p.s: I've only been gone from here for a day and I have 4 pages of my user's posts to catch up to!! WOW!! SC is on a roll!!
:-)
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diabolicdame posted on Jan 21, 2009
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Comments
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cuppajava said on Jan 21, 2009....
Hi Dbabe - I know what you mean - i have had that experience a few times in this country before too.You will remember him,cos you will laways remember that time in your life when you were back with your folks and the train ride,and with the train ride - comes Roly Poly - it sound like he treated you well,on such a long trip,which is good.
Yes,D6fer put the cat among the pigeons a few days back and i followed it up with one of my own as it made me think - but this little big house has been quite busy lately - some new people have joined as well - i just hope that they stick around. -
diabolicdame said on Jan 21, 2009....
cj: Yes he was real nice.. once before while flying to Delhi a steward took real good care of me.. trying to feed me a lot of feed and stuff.. and not Rolly Polly!! Except Rolly Polly wasnt as hot.. hehehehe.. not that it matters.. lol.. :-D
Yeah I really hope the new people stick around too.. the more the merrier!! I was there on D6fer's as well as your post.. but this reponse is better than what I could have imagined!! Very cool!!
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PAPERBACKWRITER said on Jan 21, 2009....
Beautiful post, dia! You told the story so warmly, you got me hooked from beginning to end :)
paper ~
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diabolicdame said on Jan 21, 2009....
Thanks paper!! I got this out as soon as I got home.. Rolly made quite an impression on me!! -
PAPERBACKWRITER said on Jan 21, 2009....
I am glad you took time to write and post it, dia! You have portrayed Rolly in such an endearing way :)))
I worked in a hotel for a year as an apprentice, and was trained in different departments. I enjoyed having the experience of working in a wine bistro, and restaurant (just some of the many departmenst one has to got through), and being complimented for my service and smile... I always thought, wow I was just trying to make them feel good because I get a kick out of smiling faces and the thanks... it was very rewarding to get a positive feedback for something that you really enjoy, even if I didn´tget paid much (LOL!!!)...the smiles and sometimes the "wow, there is still good service" -unbelievable -look was indeed very rewarding..
I hope you are feeling rested after the long trip.
paper ~
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CayenneMan said on Jan 21, 2009....
I'm glad you met rolly polly , they are hard to find but they do exist and are here to please. Not all rolly polly's are a like. Some rolly polly's are lazy and act like bean bag chairs. I learned a long time ago . . . never go ice fishing with a rolly polly . . . but they seem to have a built in warning device. They pass a lot of gas before the ice cracks giving you enough time to run like hell. Great post diabolicdame. I almost wrote about rolly polly's yesterday ;0) [ ! ] -
diabolicdame said on Jan 21, 2009....
paper: Thanks.. He was an endearing guy! Thats interesting what you said about your experience.. I've also always felt that bringing a smile to people and being good to them can really brighten up your own day too!! Makes me wonder whats really impotant at the end of the day you know.. if you hate yourself everyday, a big paycheck wil hardly fix it.. but if you can love yourself for making people happy and smile.. what more can you ask for!! I'm still a little in limbo.. as in still feeling like I'm sitting in a train.. hehehehe.. but I'll be fine after a goos night's sleep!! :-)CMan: lol.. yeah thats some warning device!! lol.. I wonder what you were running from though.. the lethal fall in the ice-water or the toxic gas of the rolly-polly? I think they could be both equally traumatising!! lol.. thank god I wasnt ice fishing in the train last night!! :-D -
uniquely-ironic said on Jan 21, 2009....
First I'd like to say that it takes a genuinely nice person to make the effort to see past rolly polly man's appearance to see his personality. (that's you BTW)I am always impressed when I see a person doing a menial or semi-menial job who makes great efforts to do an outstanding job or care for the people they serve. It shows great strength of character. Apparently this man lives by the higher code of conduct. -
diabolicdame said on Jan 21, 2009....
Who me? Really? hehehe.. thanks uni!! Yeah this guy really worked by the higher code of conduct.. with little extra incentive other than making people happy.. and he had the widest most genuine and happy smile ever! Rolly Polly is very inspiring!
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fragglesrock said on Jan 21, 2009....
what a personal touch and good memory he has! it's so sweet that you noticed and appreciated the extra doting :) too bad there aren't more like him everywhere! -
GrapeKoolaid said on Jan 21, 2009....
What a post...
One of your best to date, in my humble opinion.
This post warmed my heart. Had a gem of a life lesson embedded in it also.
Glad to have read it.
Thank you for writing it.
P.S. Good luck with your schoolin'!!!
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rat_fink said on Jan 21, 2009....
you sound awesome! What is ED? -
Me-Myself&I said on Jan 21, 2009....
your love for folks stood out in this post. you more than likely showed more kindness to him then most people do, he won't forget you. it sounds as if he enjoys his job and thankful to have it. i'm glad you are home, enjoy. take care ~see ya -
Hegemone said on Jan 21, 2009....
Sounds like a really sweet guy. How lucky you are that he was so concerned about you. It certainly makes a difference to have an experience like that as opposed to having somebody come through that didn't care, didn't give you all of what you were to be given and didn't talk to you at all. It makes things more memorable. Thanks for sharing! -
diabolicdame said on Jan 21, 2009....
frags: Yep the world would be a better place with a few more RollyPollies like him around! As far as noticing his extra doting goes.. it was really hard to miss it actually! He certainly put a smile on my face!! Thanks!!Grape: Thanks for the aprreciation and thanks for wishing me luck! I'm sitting in my comp lab typing this so you can guess how studious I am!! lol.. and.. needless to say.. your humble opinion means a lot! :-)rat_fink: Thank you!! ED? Did I mention something like ED in the post? I have no idea..Me-My: Thank you!! I think if you smile at people, they automatically smile back.. so a lot of people must be nice to him too!! And home.. yeah.. I am home but also away from home.. I miss my mum's cooking!! hehehe.. yeah I'll get used to it! :-)hege: It certainly makes a difference.. you're right.. a journey that could have been non-descript is now special and memorable to me!! Thanks you!!