Knight Rider

Every day an insurance advisor from Goregaon boards the train to Bandra at 11.30 am for his work. However, unlike most of us, who travel indifferently to our destinations, he keeps looking around for elderly who haven’t got a place to sit. As soon as he spots one he approaches the nearest man sitting and shows him a newspaper cutting. Glances are exchanged, few words spoken and, most often, the man sitting vacates his seat for the elderly. The newspaper cutting when observed carefully is a letter written to the editor of a newspaper by an elderly reader about the problems they face while travelling in Mumbai’s local trains.
Forty-five-year-old Nishit Broker has been following this routine for the past eight months while going to his work. He is neither from an NGO nor an activist. In his words, he is doing it for personal satisfaction and with a sense of responsibility that this small step may gradually transform our collective attitude towards our fellow commuters.
And Nishit’s crusade is not restricted to senior citizens alone but extends to persuading youngsters from travelling on footboard. For this too he follows the same method. He carries cuttings of news reports of people who have fallen off trains while travelling on footboard and shows it to youngsters leaning out of the train. He politely argues with them that a six inch shift in their position could save their life.
He says this idea formed in him gradually after he returned from a travel abroad. “In foreign countries the travel is so comfortable. Everyone gets a place to sit. The same is not true here. We have scarce resources and limited infrastructure. We are forced to travel like cattle and in all the pushing and jostling we naturally lose temper. I too used to get angry earlier and pushed people, fought with them. But I later realised there was no point, as it was not going to change anything. We have to learn to manage in what we have got. While it is natural to become selfish in conditions that we travel, a bit of sensitivity towards the elderly won’t hurt much. Also, all of us are going to be senior citizens one day,” says Nishit.
According to Nishit, it was in 2006, when he started doing mediation, that his own attitude started changing. He first started with requesting people to give their seat to the elderly or not travel on footboard. But response was poor and at times hostile. Nishit says, “It hurt their ego that someone, who looked as ordinary as me, was telling them what was the proper thing to do. They would react with a disdainful look that said, ‘Don’t teach me. I am smart enough to know better.’ I realised it was not working very well.”
It was then that Nishit started looking for other ways. “One day a boy was leaning out of the train and I tapped on his shoulder and attracted his attention towards a railways poster that said, ‘Travelling on footboard is dangerous to life.’ I smiled, he reciprocated, and came inside. I realised that an indirect message from a third source appealed to them as it did not challenge their intelligence or sensitivity vis-a-vis me. Since then I started carrying these newspaper cuttings,” says Nishit.
The move worked. Nishit started getting more response from people. “While earlier only two out of ten people would respond, now I see about four to five people responding positively. That’s encouraging,” says Nishit who makes sure that he salutes the person who vacates his seat for an elderly.
He says, “He deserves it for his sensitivity. Also he should feel good and acknowledged for his deed. Only then will he pass it on. The idea is to make him do it even when there is no one around to remind him. Many senior citizens thank me after they get a seat. I tell them to thank the person who has vacated the seat.”
While Nishit’s work looks quite noble, it is equally difficult. There are people in the train who think he is crazy. There are others who give him angry looks. “I just remain patient. I smile and try to talk to them. If they don’t listen I move on. Maybe when I am not around they will think about it,” Says Nishit.
There are others, who have become his ardent fans like 18-year-old Jairaj Rao. A year ago Rao was persuaded similarly from travelling on footboard. Rao says, “Since then I have never leaned out of the train. He has had a tremendous influence on me. I have become a fan of his since then.” And why not, after all Nishit is also a man of showbiz. When he is not advising people on tax benefits of insurance and perils of leaning out of the train, he acts in ad films. Nishit was last seen surprising cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni as his mamaji with a weirdly-gelled hairdo in a Brylcream ad.