“DAY ONE: THE TRAIN STATION,”

“DAY ONE: THE TRAIN STATION,”

The first time I picked up this book to read it, I thought I would hate it although after I read the first 2 pages I couldn’t put it down, it astonished me how much this book relates to my time in India, the fighting between the Hindu’s and Muslims, the packed train stations and bickering with Zia and his customers at the train station. Last year there was a protest between the Muslims and Hindu’s about who should own the temple that was on Hindu’s land although one of the great Muslim gods was born there, we were not aloud out of the house because of all the violence between them. You see a lot of Muslim/Hindu areas when walking through the streets of Bangalore. Although many seem to get along a lot more in the real world then they do in the book. He described the streets of India very well, the coolies bathing at the station in public – every morning I walk out my front door to see the street children bathing out the front of my gate, it is a bad thing to see but we can do nothing about it as this is not our home, we are just foreigners visiting for a few years. The trust between the Pathan and Zia is something that Zia has always been looking for, like a father/son relationship. He does not only work for the Pathan, but the Pathan is teaching him the way of the world although Zia does not seem to realize this and throws the chances of learning back into the Pathans face. Although the question has been answered, we know there is still something stronger than “they want to get rid of the Muslims”. Everyday the Pathan had Zia check the trains for: How many there were, who was in them and whether or not they had red markings on the back. On my drive to school each morning I go past the Indian Air force, last year there was a few weeks that they were looking for new recruits although when they said they were hiring they didn’t expect so many people to show up, there was a line about 20km down the road, some had blankets so they could stay the night to save their spot others just stood there, or just casually just driving to town or home behind a truck full of soldiers it amazes me how many people they can fit into one of those trucks. My favorite part in “The Train Station” Would be when the Pathan and Zia sit down to have a samosa and tea, how proud and happy Zia was of being a pathan and having money to buy his food with. Without being called a theft – the children in the slums around my house are always being shooed away from the shops and being called thefts or they are chased out when I get there, because I am white and the shop keeper thinks that I will leave if there are ratty little kids in his shop.