Train Travails

Here is a piece I wrote long back when I used to travel regularly on the Mumbai Local Train..

The Great teeming mass swarms ahead. The drone of voices, footsteps, the heartbeat of throbbing millions, mellifluous announcements made ceaselessly, the clamor of vendors, the haste of the multitude, the hanging on for dear life, the heaving and pushing, the sluggish movement on the tiny footbridge, the agony of losing a fast, the swearing, the compunction of that extra sleep that caused the missing of the fast…Welcome to Mumbai local station.

Chug chug chug chug… There she comes like a beacon of hope, winding her way and halting with geometric precision impeccably at the same location every time. Whooooosh...a new mass of heaving human bodies extrudes from the train. Great amounts of adrenaline is pumped to board the train and the cacophony grows manifold as seconds tick away and amidst the imprecations uttered, the horn blows and the train moves on. The ones left behind look away disgruntled, to the next opportunity. No, train travel at Mumbai during the rush hour is certainly not for the faint hearted.

Once inside, one heaves a sigh of relief for the toehold available thanking ones stars with the density of people per millimeter square varying according to the station. There is an entire range of humanity and a sea of different faces in different garbs. Fashionably dressed teens, local fisherwomen, tired teachers, smartly dressed office goers in saris, suits, western formals, cheerful students, students poring over their notes for exams, some old grouchy women, girls in love fighting with boyfriends on their mobiles, you name the type of woman, she certainly will be found in this great leveler of people in the women’s compartment. Smells of deos, perfumes, lipsticks, garam samosas, food from dabbas and smells from outside mingle as the train and the people move along..

The hum of voices discussing everything from love affairs, relationships, office gossip to recipes, the fights over the place to stand or seat available, the announcements made about various stations, beggars singing terribly… are heard over the chug chug chug of the train. Vendors selling accessories, magazines, cosmetics, fruits, vegetables, snacks, clothes and much more call ones' attention to their wares in this mini shopping mall. With a phenomenal sense of balance, they carry their bundles through the crowd in the moving train. Stations whiz by as the train moves on with great celerity. Minutes tick by and the somnolent grow alert wiping their sleepy eyes and await the moment when the train halts.

Well, however trying it might get, this experience is one of a kind and the short journey has a life of its own.  However crowded, they may get, they are the lifeline of millions of the commuters they ferry to and fro day after day after day. That is the Great Mumbai train travel.