The old lady

Something amusing took place on the train today.

I was on the train with a colleague (photographer) on the way to an assignment. It was not too crowded, there was enough standing space, but all the seats were taken up, and we were both standing.

Just then, someone stood up, I signalled to my colleague, in his 50s, to take the seat because I knew of the heavy load (camera and lenses) he was carrying, and I thought it would be good to spare his shoulders the torture. As he moved towards the seat, somebody young beat him to it.

"Aiyoh, you see lah, nobody want to give up their seat to us..." The voice of an old lady (in dialect) rang out from behind me. I turned and saw this old lady standing near the door, one hand on a walking stick, the other holding on to the pole for support.

She half smiled and sighed at my colleague as she said it. I reckoned she saw what happened, and couldn't help it but lament about such a "plight".

Almost right after she said that, a young man stood up, and offered her his seat.

"It's okie, am alighting at the next stop."

Another young lady sitting right in front of her also gestured that she wanted to give up her seat. The old lady declined again for the same reason. The young lady then gave a sheepish and embarrassed smile.

It's funny that there are people on the train who can give up their seatsvto others who need it more than they do, yet they only decide to do so when the poor old lady spoke up. It's like if you want a seat, you have to ask (hopefully not to the extent of begging) for it. Not many people would have the initiative or be considerate enough to actually "volunteer" their seats.

Japan has special carriages on trains for "ladies only" during a certain time of the day, I doubt an "elderly-only" carriage system would work in Singapore, and that would probably not solve the root of the problem as well, but it would certainly be interesting to explore other possibilities.