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  1. pushed-out-of-london-tube

    My name is Girish and I am originally from India. I have been in the UK since 28th May 2007. Today (15th June 2011), it has been more than 4 years for me in the UK. This article is about an incident that happened with me yesterday evening at around 16:40 London time. I work in Liverpool Street, London and was returning home. I took a London underground tube to Kings Cross Saint Pancrass and then took a picadilly service train to Heathrow. It takes me 1.5 hours to travel one way every day, 5 days a week. So, 3 hours are spent just in travelling, everyday. I boarded the last compartment of the tube (the one away from the driver's carriage). I always board this compartment as the seats in it are vacant, mostly. I took the seat which was 3rd from the last seat. There was a person seating on the last seat and the seat between us was empty. There was a guy sitting in front of us.
    I am currently working with a multinational bank as an application support analyst. I have been working with them since 29th Dec 2009. Before that I was working with TechMahindta and the client was British Telecom. Somewhere in March/April 2010, I started a hobby website of mine and called it trips2london.com. In fact I have published this article in the blog section of my hobby website, unless you find it on some copy website. Though its a hobby website, as of now, I manage to make very little money out of it. Now you might be wondering, why am I telling all this to you. Well, that's because the incident I will be telling you is related to this.
    So, coming back to the train I was in, I got up to check if there were any London underground poems in my compartment, after the train started moving. I have been clicking pictures of London underground poems and publishing them on my website. I saw a poem called "Nothing Special" in the same compartment but a bit far away from me. So I started walking towards it so that I could click its picture. But I didn't want to lose my seat. So I thought of keeping my bag on my seat but then realised that people might get scared seeing the unclaimed bag. So, I looked at my neighbour and waved at him telling that I will be back in a bit after clicking the picture of the poem. But I guess he looked away. I placed my bag on my seat and went and sat on the seat in front of the poem. I was waiting for the train to stop at the next station, which was Russell Square. Just before the train stopped, I got up to take position to click the picture and that's when I heard some one shout "Oi Oi". When I looked, I saw that the person who was sitting in front of my original seat was shouting at me and was asking me to pick my bag. So I shouted back at him saying "I will be back after I click this picture" and pointed towards the poem. On seeing this he started approaching me saying the same thing again and again - "pick your bag". I have never been involved in suck sort of trouble and always avoid to be involved. He was much taller than me and I didn't want trouble ,  so I went back and picked my bag and started walking back towards the poem, that's when he stopped me and started forcing me to get off the train. I said, No, why should I ? He said get off the train and board the next one. On seeing seeing him getting furious, I thought its better to go out than arguing with him. So, at the next moment when the train stopped and the doors opened, and while I started going out, he tried to push me out,  with so much force that he fell down . He missed me partially. His hand struck me but he mostly missed me and he fell down inside the tube. The CCTVs must have captured this event. While he did that, I was already out and saw him falling and that my bag remained inside the tube lying next to him. As I heard the beep sounds before the tube door closes I said "give me my bag" and he threw it out of the tube before the doors closed. I showed him the sign of being crazy and he showed his middle finger to me as the train moved.


    I am not sure who was right and who was wrong ? Well may be he was right in telling me to pick my bag but that's the reason I told my neighbour that I would be back, so that no one feels uncomfortable. Moreover, once he approached me I agreed to pick my bag. He didn't have to force me and push me out of the tube ? I would like to see your views, via comments, please. By the way I clicked the same poem's pic when I found it in the last compartment of the next train !

     



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