The Wanderlust Diary

It's been three years, since the first time I set my foot in MUMBAI, all by myself. I had packed a bag and rushed out of my home within just a few hours, to be a part of the cricket frenzy of the Indian Premier League: well, I was insanely crazy about it that year.
It was six a.m. when I arrived in Mumbai, by train from Calcutta. As I stepped out of the train and began scanning the station to find an exit, I witnessed a crowd just by the end of the platform. A group of people were waiting patiently in a queue, as a lady handed them something. I nudged one of the men and asked him what they were waiting for? He told me that the lady is one of the most humble business-woman in & around the station & that she prepares and sells food to passengers who arrive very early in the morning, at a very nominal price. (Mumbai is a city which is connected to its suburbs with trains making it easier for people to commute in and around the city). The man told me that she would make a fresh batch of food everyday and travel on the very first local train to be there. You might wonder and ask 'so what's the big deal about someone prepping up an ordinary meal?' Is it a no-brainer? It isn't. Because, it isn’t just an ordinary meal that would make people line up - it was her warmth and her ability to build a rapport that drew them. Even a stranger like me stood in the queue waiting for my turn and, boy when I met her, I could actually see the divinity in her. Just one of her warm gaze and my fatigue from the forty-hour journey just vanished. I was famished and I could eat a horse. But being a vegetarian, it was out of the question. Just kidding. Nevertheless I sat down not far away from her and relished a plate of warm & soft idlis. Frankly speaking just one plate of it wasn't enough and I had to gorge on few more. I was full and I had no intent on getting up and walking past the majestic doors of the station. But there wasn't a place where I could have gone so early in the morning, so I sat right next to her and we talked. She was an actual entrepreneur, one who knew the value of feedback & welcomed it. She realised that customer-interaction is the key to success of any business as is their satisfaction.
We continued talking & before I knew it, the clock struck 8. It was time for her to leave, to open up her actual eatery just outside the station. I could easily identify a smile & stride of satisfaction. She carried with her the blessings of the 50 passengers whom she'd fed.