I started working in the city. It’s around 80 kms away from my house. Being from a small town, this is quite the distance for me, so I decided to commute by train.

This was an entirely unique new experience for me.

I met new people every single day. And being an extrovert, I enjoyed the conversations on the journey, more than anything. I would talk to people, listen to stories about their lives. Because of this, I generally greet the usual passengers I meet. Through these journeys, I kept noticing this one boy. He’d get on at the same time as all of us but always looked out of the window, or into his phone.

He never bothered to greet anyone, or let alone share a smile with the other passengers.

His negativity would astound me. How could someone be so oblivious to the world around them? But he was young, and I blamed it on his attitude and eventually, he drifted out of my mind too. Soon, I was transferred to another city. It was my last day to sit with these passengers who had become great traveling companions to me over time. On this day, a friend of mine came who was sitting next to me, and happened to know the young boy who never smiled at anyone. He waved and I was surprised to see a warm smile light up the boy’s face.

He came over and started talking to him, through sign language.

They communicated like this for a while, before the young boy went back to his seat, to look out the window. I was shocked. No, ashamed.

My friend told me how that boy was deaf and dumb. I could only nod. I was so, so, terribly wrong about this boy. I assumed that he was arrogant only because I didn’t know his story.

One part of me wanted to go and apologize to him, but the other was too embarrassed.

But there is a lesson to be learned here- one should most definitely not be quick to judge because at the end of the day, everyone has a story that we don’t know about.

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