Wednesday, September 12, 2007

A day of life in Mumbai..

Words: 901 Reading Time: 3 mins 45 secs

My day in Mumbai begins with the Nokia phone besides my pillow ringing in full volume to try and break that beautiful sleep and dream in progress. With an irritating chime to wake me up from the weirdest sleep, i scamper around to search that disturbing sound. The moment I snooze the alarm, my eyes are again shut with the thoughts that i will get up in 5 mins again.. yup the snooze works for 10 mins but being an true indian need to keep that time integrity of 5 mins...
The best part being that the cell phone does not restrict you to the number of snoozes u can enable with the alarm.. When i finally don't get up.. dad has to then finally wake me up after 20 mins.. thats when I realize that I am late ..!!
Going through the daily morning chores and getting on the table for breakfast is the next ultimate goal.. ready in 30 mins its time to strap up the laces to go out on a literal war... a war cry before leaving out of house completes it..
The first signs of a war starts at the bus stop where a few other people alongwith me are waiting to be lucky and try and board the next bus that would take them to the railway station. The bus arrives at the bus stop... no one moves a step.. neither on the bus stop nor in the bus.. theres no place to get in the bus, ultimately 3 people are already struggling on the doors. A look at the watch and a small curse in their minds all people on the stop look at the road for another bus to arrive. "maybe that might be empty" is what everyone wishes for.. Another 10 mins & 2 buses zoom past the bus stop as the driver has assumed that no one would even try to get in and no sense in stopping the bus.
A 3rd bus arrives which has some space left in its steps to accommodate a couple of persons. Me and one more lucky guy got the chance to stand in the door and somehow manage to get to the railway station.. You seriously got to believe your luck, in case you happen to stand in the door and sway according to the G-Force acting upon you and successfully reaching your destination..
Well, this was half done.. The big challenge stands in front of you now,
the local train.

I happen to wait on the platform for the 8.10 Churchgate Fast, the train timing which I generally prefer to take. Amidst several others waiting for the train which is already late is a good experience, to watch each one of them getting ready for the jump they have to take to secure a comfortable place in the train, its somewhat resembles to soldiers loading their guns before the actual attack takes place.. Suddenly theres this voice on the speakers on the platform blurring and trying to tell something, the lady voice which ultimately announces of the arrival of the 8.10 train to be on the opposite platform than the regular one. To even lessen the pain, the voice apologizes to the travelers for the inconvenience caused because of the sudden change of platform, which I find strange because it has become common. First you change the platform and then apologize...

Finally, I happen to arrive on the respective platform somehow managing the thronged crowds on the already small overhead bridges meant to commute between the various platforms. The train arrives by the time I reach the respective coach position.. The juggling with the persons in front of you while running for your respective coach gives a good aerobic session early in the morning..

As soon as the train chugs in, the people on the platform jump into the coaches to catch a seat, in most cases there are no seats vacant, thanks to the people already travelling from the earlier stations.. Eventually, one needs to get in between the standing position between the seats so as to avoid himself from being eembodied in the rush that would be gathering in the gangway in the consecutive stations.

I somehow got hold of my bag which was caught hold in the struggling people trying to enter the train. I almost got successfuly past the gangway and stood just at its corner, still observing other commuters scrampling through the door.


Within 5 minutes the train started out with a thump, giving a jerk to everyone standing. As soon as the train starts, everyone's hands raise a gesture praying to the almighty, maybe in an attempt to help them reach their destination succesfully.

Standing in the local train is very much similar to an exercise, with adjusting at every moment according to the movements of the train as well as the people surrounding me. Nevertheless to mention, the fans which never work help you to sweat out like water flowing in mumbai during the monsoons. I happen sweat out in litres during this workout session..

After bearing it all for 40 - 50 minutes, I do manage to get a seat and relax a bit, only to my amazement that my destination station is the next 2nd station... Losing good number of calories is a good start to the mornings in one's life in Mumbai...
To be Contd...

3 comments:

Kaushal said...

Kya detail diya hai baap........maja aya read karke....i had a similar article.....its more shittier catching a train from Bhaayandar than from Borivali...U bet !

CSM said...

Yup.. agreed.. bhaayandar must be the worse.. still can be managed at borivali..

Unknown said...

Hey i liked ur article...gives a realistic view of mumbai life...when is Part II coming?? coming soon eh? ;)