2. Next Station... Dadar.

The beauty of the commute in the Maximum City Mumbai is recognised well. I am afraid if I am sounding sarcastic but it’s indeed a diverse fun altogether to traverse around.

Some days back, I had an invite to attend a premiere show at a theatre that is around 19 kms from where I abide. I had to reach at sharp 2000 and the earliest I could start from home was at 1855.

For someone residing in another city of the world, it could be a 30-40 minute drive or ride. However, in Mumbai, Google maps also fumble during the peak hours. There was no way I could take the roadway. My instinct wasn’t allowing either.

The fastest way I could think was to rick it up from home to the nearest railway station which is approximately 1.2 kms. The parallel thought framed a calculation that resulted in anticipating 6 minutes to cover this distance in Rick (a 3-wheeled public transport) and to add to it, a couple of more minutes in finding it and 2 more in the transaction. So all in all, an investment of 10 minutes. I had to trade this off with jumping on the pilot seat of a 2-wheeled baby. I was at the station entrance at 1900.

The next negotiation to be done was at the ticket window. Since I don’t frequent with the rail route, I do not possess a pass and hence I had to queue up. Although I love the fact that no one can beat the time taken to cover the distances within the city, at times I linger over the minute apprehensions to commute in train. The railways have all the rights to hate me for not loving them but they always embrace me with open arms and wide doors. I truly love their generosity.

Naturally, after quite a few months I was thrilled as I stepped into the compartment and while doing that, I was meticulously warned by the announcer to watch out the distance between the foot board and the platform.

Besides this, before the arrival of the next station – a lady with sweet voice would convey the name and repeat it in 3 languages. Intermittently, I was also being cautioned to take care of my belongings and beware of the petty crime.

I had all the opportunity to crib about the state of the public transport. However, it was so cool that adequate instructions were furnished to take care of one own self. I am sure no one is perfect but to warn others to be careful about the imperfections is incredible. Isn’t it?

On a tangent, I was observing the fellow passengers absorbed in their phones, chats, looking around and also, a couple of them running their businesses by means of selling some stuff. I believed all of this to be a regular stuff which was a seldom occurrence for me. I was travelling for a leisure outcome whereas there may be many for which all this is a part of their life and yet, they were apparently satisfied about it. They might have accepted the reality; it is not a small task nonetheless.

With multiple experiences of love, excitement, empathy, care and beyond, it was time for me to get down to switch to another train as the saccharine vocal sound made an admittance into my ears – Next Station Dadar, अगला स्टेशन दादर, पुढील स्टेशन दादर.