"Mind the Gap"

"Mind the Gap" you hear the automated female voice say several times when you ride the tube in London. It has become a phrase that is brought up in conversation during harmless, joking banter as well as a phrase that has increased the sales of London tourist shirts sold on the streets. You wonder why don't they just fix the gaps themselves rather than risk a lawsuit by someone who fails to see or hear the continuous reminder that is voiced to every rider at every single stop. What about the blind and the deaf who ride the tube?

It turns out that there might now be a more compelling reason to revere the gap rather than just to scorn the poor architectural design. The gap between the train and the platform in India actually saved a man's life...

...but then again; if there was no gap, would he have ever fallen in the first place?


Excerpted From Mid-day Mumbai

"Like you, this man too, had a dream. Like you, he too pushed his way into the crowded train. Like you, he too wanted to get going before he got delayed. Unlike you, he slipped and fell in the gap between the train and the platform at Kandivli station. The man obviously has a guardian angel and supportive bystanders who told him exactly what he shouldn't do - move. And so, the man lay absolutely still as eight bogies of the train passed over him centimeters from his head. Within seconds the 12-coach train passed and the man clambered out, unaided, unhurt, but too shocked to speak to us after his near-death experience. Untidy safety habits Can trip you up."

(For real, --who writes like this?)



Bless Him!