Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Push....

The word Push generally rings amorous sounds in some ears or may sound like a marketing strategy to others...But push in this context refers to the strategy or tactic to get in or get out of a crowded local train in Mumbai at peak rush hours.
In the last decade or so, the in-flow of people to Mumbai has increased considerably. Work is the prime reason for people to come to Mumbai. And work is the prime reason to travel within the city.
Its 8 AM in the morning. There is a huge crowd of people on platform no.5 of Borivali railway station. One wonders what is going on? Is it Gokulashtami? No, they are standing there to get in the starting fast train from Borivali to Churchgate. Every is looking far away eagerly awaiting the train. As soon as the train is spotted, everyone becomes alert as if militants are going to enter the platform.
The train slowly crawls into the platform. People have started jumping off the train even before it has stopped. The huge crowd starts jumping in the train as soon as it stops or is about to stop. Mad rush. Screaming passengers. "Hey hey! Arre jaane dena...Arre uttar ne dena...arre DHAKKA dena....DHAKKA mat de....Beech mein kyun khada hai......." These are some kinds of verbal confrontations one gets to hear.
Cool..everyonesin...Train is filled or rather over filled on the first stop itself. God knows how would people from other station get in. Train starts its journey. 15 minutes later comes Andheri station with another huge crowd waiting to get it. Train stops, people fall off the doors and people push inside the train. Some hang on the doors and windows while some sit on the roof of the train. It is really amazing that how the local trains of Mumbai carry load above their normal capacity.
Well as mentioned earlier, the tactic is PUSH, yes PUSH yourself PUSH the front person ahead and PUSH the back person backward. Its all science. Sometimes one does not push but others push you. So you need to take advantage of such Pushes to get in and get out of the train. But take care, dont fall off the train...

Friday, June 29, 2007

Window Seat

Window seat in a bus or a train has become a fascination for me ever since i started travelling. My first encounter with a window seat goes back to my kindergarten days in Gyan Kendra... Gyan Kendra, a relatively new school at that time was small and also a co-ed as against the hug convent schools in our area... Anyways, like all KG children, i used to be a nervous wreck to go to school but didn't utter a word and went thru all the rituals... One of the key motivation to go attend was travelling by our school bus..Even though the journey was just a km...it seemed like an eternity to me...Theory of relativity i guess...
Our bus used to be heavily crowded (population explosion)...The first time i got a window seat...i just kept staring at world passing by....A feeling of winning over the world...Going ahead fast!! Breeze blowing on my face...it was heaven. Sometimes i would get the window seat and sometimes i would not. But whenever i did get it, the journey was as exciting as the water splash ride in esselworld!!
Then the big jump to primay school....change of school timings to afternoon...getting up late.
4 years of torture...Don't remember anything i learnt except for Time, addition, calculation, k,kh,gha in hindi and marathi...Could have learnt these in much less time actually...anyways lets not divert from our window seat.... Getting a window seat in my primary school days was very tough...The timings were utter rubbish...Afternoon School...Oh Christ!! Waste time in the morning and then go to school...come home late evening..and then study!! School bus was getting crowded...not becoz more children were coming in...but the size of the children was growing!!
I was growing in height but not in size...bahut slim and thin like a paper...And for me to fight for a window seat with the heavy weights already occupying the window seat was not advisable and so i took the more easier route and sat on the isle seats....Suddenly i realized that isle seats are also not that bad..infact the advantage of getting down fast were not there in a window seat.... Four years (of struggle) passed... Welcome to the world of grown-ups thats wat i thought of Secondary school!! Secondary school was from 5th to 10th standard... In 5th standard one has the first opportunity to look closely at elder girls of 9th & 10th wearing short skirts and we start asking questions for which we seek answers and learn a lot about oneself and others!!
Anyways i unsubscribed to the school bus and started travelling with my elder bro in our pride BEST buses!! There was one BEST bus no.266 plying from Lokhandwala to Gyan kendra which was a double decker but an aeroplane for me!! Sitting on the front side window on the top was the best thing to experience in my whole of secondary school!! Plus to meet a lot of people who were many times of our age...an experience of the outside world to say so....
But during the fag end of my school days...i rarely travelled by a bus or any other transport and relied on my legs... taking a walk to the school and back seemed to be the best thing in my last year of school.....

In junior college...joined Mithibai... It was 5-6 kms away from my home but to travel by bus was a herculean task!! Bus no.79 which i used to catch was as crowded as a virar fast...and obvisouly no window seat in it....

Spent 5 years fighting and struggling to get in and then get out of the bus...and this continued when i started travelling in trains during my post graduation.

Out of college, now am working....I now stand on the doorside of our very dependable Mumbai Local trains and feel the rush of the breeze on my face taking me back into my school days when i used sit on the window seat.......