Second class travel, first class people!
I stay in Vashi and my parents stay in Kandivli. So every Friday, I go to Kandivli and return Monday morning. Lately I have found that while going, nothing is better than local trains so I generally catch a train from Vashi on Friday evenings.
Last Friday was no different. I wanted to reach at a decent hour so left about an hour early from office. There is no direct train from Vashi to Kandivli so I took an Andheri train. When I reached Andheri, I thought of catching a rickshaw to Kandivli. Just then, I noticed that on the next platform, there was a Virar train starting from Andheri.
Sometimes, having choices is bad. More so when life presents you a choice you aren’t familiar with. Virar trains are generally dreaded by an average Mumbaikar but since this one was starting from Andheri and was empty, I decided to give it a chance. As it is, if I took an Auto, I wouldn’t have reached in less than an hour and here was an opportunity to reach Kandivli in 20 minutes flat! I jumped in….
Kandivli is the fourth station after Andheri and all went ok till the first two stations. The crowd started building but I was ok. I was carrying some luggage (one bag of clothes and a laptop) so I stood close to the door and told myself to get ready to get down.
The third station saw tremendous crowd getting in. Suddenly, the compartment was as crowded as it could be. Those who have traveled in really crowded Mumbai trains will be able to picturise this. It was so crowded I could hardly move. There were only three people standing between me and the door but there was no way anyone of us could move even a millimeter.
Kandivli came and went. I loved the ‘whooshing’ sound it made when it passed by! Next was Borivali and I thought may be being a junction, more people would get down there (including me). Just then someone told me that Borivali will come on the other side which meant if I had to get down, I had to move to the door on the other side! Another lovely ‘Whooshing’ sound….
Next is Dahisar and I had lost all hopes of getting down. At this rate, I thought I would only be able to get down at Virar. With the weight of the bags, my hands had started hurting but there was no choice. It was so crowded that if you breathed hard, your belly ended up kissing at least three others…
All this while, my fellow passengers were at their accommodative best. They were confident that they will be able to make me get down at Dahisar. The three guys that stood between the door and me were trying their best to push me closer to the door. Sometimes I could move; sometimes my luggage. With about a minute of pressing their bellies hard inside, standing on one toe, suffering the edges of my luggage, they made sure I reached the door and got down at Dahisar. Hair ruffled, legs trembling, spine aching and hands numb, when I got down, I realized those who helped me must also have suffered similar pain-and while I was free of it since I had alighted, they might still have to suffer for those who wanted to get down at next station. And none of those good souls said anything harsh or sarcastic to me. They offered unselfish help. In fact, they were better off not helping me because that way they wouldn’t have had to make those adjustments for me to move. Still, they chose otherwise. I feel so grateful to them! I had lost hope of getting down before Virar but they made it possible for me. One may argue that they had to suffer only for a small duration and what’s the big deal but the point is they had no reason to help me and they still did. And anyone who has traveled in a crowded Virar train knows how painful sixty seconds standing in an uncomfortable position can be. Years later, I will forget the incident but I will remember that in this fast, professional, businesslike, I-couldn’t-care-less kind of city, some strangers went out of their way just to make life less difficult for me.
Wife is not from Mumbai and hates Mumbai to the core. I love the city. Both of us keep arguing about the pros and cons of the city. Our argument is endless and I know that I will never win this argument. Though I do know that after last Friday’s experience, I am a point ahead!
Last Friday was no different. I wanted to reach at a decent hour so left about an hour early from office. There is no direct train from Vashi to Kandivli so I took an Andheri train. When I reached Andheri, I thought of catching a rickshaw to Kandivli. Just then, I noticed that on the next platform, there was a Virar train starting from Andheri.
Sometimes, having choices is bad. More so when life presents you a choice you aren’t familiar with. Virar trains are generally dreaded by an average Mumbaikar but since this one was starting from Andheri and was empty, I decided to give it a chance. As it is, if I took an Auto, I wouldn’t have reached in less than an hour and here was an opportunity to reach Kandivli in 20 minutes flat! I jumped in….
Kandivli is the fourth station after Andheri and all went ok till the first two stations. The crowd started building but I was ok. I was carrying some luggage (one bag of clothes and a laptop) so I stood close to the door and told myself to get ready to get down.
The third station saw tremendous crowd getting in. Suddenly, the compartment was as crowded as it could be. Those who have traveled in really crowded Mumbai trains will be able to picturise this. It was so crowded I could hardly move. There were only three people standing between me and the door but there was no way anyone of us could move even a millimeter.
Kandivli came and went. I loved the ‘whooshing’ sound it made when it passed by! Next was Borivali and I thought may be being a junction, more people would get down there (including me). Just then someone told me that Borivali will come on the other side which meant if I had to get down, I had to move to the door on the other side! Another lovely ‘Whooshing’ sound….
Next is Dahisar and I had lost all hopes of getting down. At this rate, I thought I would only be able to get down at Virar. With the weight of the bags, my hands had started hurting but there was no choice. It was so crowded that if you breathed hard, your belly ended up kissing at least three others…
All this while, my fellow passengers were at their accommodative best. They were confident that they will be able to make me get down at Dahisar. The three guys that stood between the door and me were trying their best to push me closer to the door. Sometimes I could move; sometimes my luggage. With about a minute of pressing their bellies hard inside, standing on one toe, suffering the edges of my luggage, they made sure I reached the door and got down at Dahisar. Hair ruffled, legs trembling, spine aching and hands numb, when I got down, I realized those who helped me must also have suffered similar pain-and while I was free of it since I had alighted, they might still have to suffer for those who wanted to get down at next station. And none of those good souls said anything harsh or sarcastic to me. They offered unselfish help. In fact, they were better off not helping me because that way they wouldn’t have had to make those adjustments for me to move. Still, they chose otherwise. I feel so grateful to them! I had lost hope of getting down before Virar but they made it possible for me. One may argue that they had to suffer only for a small duration and what’s the big deal but the point is they had no reason to help me and they still did. And anyone who has traveled in a crowded Virar train knows how painful sixty seconds standing in an uncomfortable position can be. Years later, I will forget the incident but I will remember that in this fast, professional, businesslike, I-couldn’t-care-less kind of city, some strangers went out of their way just to make life less difficult for me.
Wife is not from Mumbai and hates Mumbai to the core. I love the city. Both of us keep arguing about the pros and cons of the city. Our argument is endless and I know that I will never win this argument. Though I do know that after last Friday’s experience, I am a point ahead!
posted by Leziblogger at 10:08 AM
2 Comments:
Even I am not from Mumbai but after traveling in locals, could relate to the post very well.
Sometimes people are very friendly and sometimes they'll just try to cut your throat. I have seen this specially in ladies compartment. And it's more difficult to move b'coz of small children whose heads you can not see from a distance and try to move in that direction.
Many pros & cons but I'll take this as a pro. :-)
Know what, when I narrated this experience at home, ladies@home had the same opinion. I was told that the ladies compartment is unfriendly to the point of being hostile!!
Now, I don't want to initiate a man v/s woman debate but it will be worth to understand why this is the case.
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