Only women were walking along the platform after getting off the train
When a suburban train glides into a Mumbai station, a torrent of passengers spills out all at once. The platform is instantly awash in the colors of saris, as if a fish market had come alive and migrated onto the railway. Hindu women stride forward in their traditional dress, pressing on despite the oppressive heat. Among them, I noticed a single figure in a black hijab. We are often tempted to think of India as monolithically Hindu, yet more than ten percent of its population is Muslim, and in a metropolis like Mumbai, the two faiths coexist in the same daily rhythm.
The presence of the woman in black signified more than a difference of costume. To watch her step off the same train beside women in saris was like seeing an illustration from a textbook on diversity—but here, nobody batted an eye. In a country of over a billion, religious differences are absorbed into the everyday scenery. Still, when festivals from different traditions happen to coincide, government offices groan under the weight of too many holidays, a reminder that diversity can be both celebrated and administratively inconvenient.
Standing on the crowded platform, it struck me that the station was more than a junction of trains—it was a microcosm of Indian society. Hinduism and Islam, Christianity and Zoroastrianism all pressed together, rubbing shoulders, sometimes with friction, but still coexisting. A station, in its bustle and contradictions, speaks more eloquently than sermons, more chaotically than any textbook, and at times more humorously than both.
| Mar 2011 IN THE CITY INDIA | |
| HIJAB MUMBAI PASSENGER PLATFORM SAREE STATION TRAIN WOMAN |
Similar photos
PHOTO DATA
No
5251
Shooting Date
Sep 2010
Posted On
March 3, 2011
Modified On
September 9, 2025
Place
Mumbai, India
Genre
Street Photography
Camera
CANON EOS 1V
Lens
EF85MM F1.2L II USM
