I did the trip from Dadar to Kalyan (and back) a couple of days ago. Honestly, NOTHING else could have motivated me more than that to write this!!
Local train travelers have a completely different lifestyle. Their existence totally hovers around the railway timetable – the further away you stay, the more it grips onto you!! Now since Junior college, I have always had friends who’d travel from far off lands everyday – heard their tales about the fascinatingly overcrowded 9:15 morning local, how they almost got thrown out, how they bumped into an old friend on the station and I’d go, “Damn why don’t I ever have the pleasure of such a conversation!!” But then I’ve had my school, junior college, graduation college, my workplace and my B-School, all within a radius of a kilometer from my home (can you believe the luck!!) So I had to steal my few trips on the 5 crore ki gaadi whenever I could and believe me, the sense of pride and independence it gave me back then, wasn’t even funny!! This was just reinforced on my trip to Nagpur. First I traveled to Nagpur ALONE, then my little cousins asked me with complete admiration – you travel by locals in Bombay?!!! On my casual yes, they elevated me to an almost superhero status!!
If you observe, you can broadly classify the local junta into 3 categories.
First there are the Frequent Fliers. These are the ones that have train friends, set timings – everyday users basically. They know precisely which side the nth station comes (followed by an explanation why – like you care!) The women in this category are monsters – nudge them and you’d wish you were dead. Very adeptly, they peel vegetables and read and sing songs as if they were at home. They storm and jostle you for the 4th seat like it is their birthright – they own that train, period.
Then there are Irregulars like me – gladly not as emotional as the first kind. They don’t get so personal when it comes to shoving you around and understand your plight when you do! They just make peace with the discomfort – especially when the weather adds some special effects to the experience like charring sunlight or streams of rain pouring in through open windows and doors. That’s when you realize what God meant when he said I want you even smell like a human being.
And the last is my favourite – Novices. Now these are the rats who have absolutely NO clue whether they are heading north or south. They gape hungrily at the train route charts by the door and pray with eyes open (can’t afford to close them!) with an expression like they are getting a root canal, that they get this over and done with asap!! You just can’t miss catching them go white in the face when they see the sea of humanity pours in at Dadar or Andheri – ‘Yup! We’re definitely going to die!’
However clichéd it might sound, but the locals are undoubtedly the circulatory system of the city. The Mumbai City Railway network caters to 6.3 million commuters everyday. It has the highest passenger density in the World, ahead of even Tokyo (the only other ones I’ve had the pleasure of using) and Seoul. Almost half of the total daily passengers using the entire Indian Railway System are from Mumbai Suburban Railway system alone (sea of humanity – told you!) When the recent bomb blasts along the Western Suburban line shook up the city, I know none of us wanted to hear the words “spirit of Mumbai city” again for a year!! We helped each other regardless of caste and creed and thankfully there was no spill over of violence later. But here, I applaud the authorities at Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation Ltd (MRVC Ltd) and the Ministry of Railways for working non-stop all night long and restoring upto 90% of the damaged tracks – all back in full use by dawn. Like a regular day, each one, man or woman stepped out and ran the platforms to catch their blessed local to work next morning. If the principle motive of terrorism is to instill fear – not happening here dude!! That’s the damn spirit we were talking bout!!
So these trains will keep zipping across the stretch of the city no matter what, as Mumbaiikars sing bhajans and haggle for clips and kerchiefs in there. I’m sure whoever said life is a journey might have had the local train routine sometime in his life!!
Adios!
Local train travelers have a completely different lifestyle. Their existence totally hovers around the railway timetable – the further away you stay, the more it grips onto you!! Now since Junior college, I have always had friends who’d travel from far off lands everyday – heard their tales about the fascinatingly overcrowded 9:15 morning local, how they almost got thrown out, how they bumped into an old friend on the station and I’d go, “Damn why don’t I ever have the pleasure of such a conversation!!” But then I’ve had my school, junior college, graduation college, my workplace and my B-School, all within a radius of a kilometer from my home (can you believe the luck!!) So I had to steal my few trips on the 5 crore ki gaadi whenever I could and believe me, the sense of pride and independence it gave me back then, wasn’t even funny!! This was just reinforced on my trip to Nagpur. First I traveled to Nagpur ALONE, then my little cousins asked me with complete admiration – you travel by locals in Bombay?!!! On my casual yes, they elevated me to an almost superhero status!!
If you observe, you can broadly classify the local junta into 3 categories.
First there are the Frequent Fliers. These are the ones that have train friends, set timings – everyday users basically. They know precisely which side the nth station comes (followed by an explanation why – like you care!) The women in this category are monsters – nudge them and you’d wish you were dead. Very adeptly, they peel vegetables and read and sing songs as if they were at home. They storm and jostle you for the 4th seat like it is their birthright – they own that train, period.
Then there are Irregulars like me – gladly not as emotional as the first kind. They don’t get so personal when it comes to shoving you around and understand your plight when you do! They just make peace with the discomfort – especially when the weather adds some special effects to the experience like charring sunlight or streams of rain pouring in through open windows and doors. That’s when you realize what God meant when he said I want you even smell like a human being.
And the last is my favourite – Novices. Now these are the rats who have absolutely NO clue whether they are heading north or south. They gape hungrily at the train route charts by the door and pray with eyes open (can’t afford to close them!) with an expression like they are getting a root canal, that they get this over and done with asap!! You just can’t miss catching them go white in the face when they see the sea of humanity pours in at Dadar or Andheri – ‘Yup! We’re definitely going to die!’
However clichéd it might sound, but the locals are undoubtedly the circulatory system of the city. The Mumbai City Railway network caters to 6.3 million commuters everyday. It has the highest passenger density in the World, ahead of even Tokyo (the only other ones I’ve had the pleasure of using) and Seoul. Almost half of the total daily passengers using the entire Indian Railway System are from Mumbai Suburban Railway system alone (sea of humanity – told you!) When the recent bomb blasts along the Western Suburban line shook up the city, I know none of us wanted to hear the words “spirit of Mumbai city” again for a year!! We helped each other regardless of caste and creed and thankfully there was no spill over of violence later. But here, I applaud the authorities at Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation Ltd (MRVC Ltd) and the Ministry of Railways for working non-stop all night long and restoring upto 90% of the damaged tracks – all back in full use by dawn. Like a regular day, each one, man or woman stepped out and ran the platforms to catch their blessed local to work next morning. If the principle motive of terrorism is to instill fear – not happening here dude!! That’s the damn spirit we were talking bout!!
So these trains will keep zipping across the stretch of the city no matter what, as Mumbaiikars sing bhajans and haggle for clips and kerchiefs in there. I’m sure whoever said life is a journey might have had the local train routine sometime in his life!!
Adios!
4 comments:
Hi namrata nice to see your blog, thoughts abt india is really gud. keep writing
heyy..
interesting !!!
loved da way u moved on frm ur experience 2 the general...
was a good read...
"...Yeh local sabhi sthaanakon par rukegi!!"?? ...Don't tell me you were travelling by a slow local to Kalyan !!!
Intersting Namy !!!
I guess we take our locals for granted that we never realize all this.. liked the way you moved on from your experience to talk about the locals in general...
Good work dear.. Keep it going...
For Few Idiots like me, Local Train is everything...I remember those Sundays which had each and every fun loving things but those Sundays didnt had Local Train ka Safar (suffer) ....Keep going , nice blogs..
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