A Mumbaikar's Lifeline

Around 7.00 every morning I see people walking briskly, maintaining the pace trying not to run. The bags packed heavy with the essentials that will keep them going for the day. The moving hands try to keep the phone steady, while the eyes were on a lookout for the vehicles to dodge accidents. Some tardy office goer gets into a rickshaw. The brisk walking paces up. This time it was more like running. Seemed like the finish line was approaching. A loud honk nearly startles the people who almost reached the finish line. Suddenly someone shouts,” Side, side Agayi train!”. This triggered the chaos among the people. Some were away from the platform and some were trying to make it on time before the train stopped at its spot.

The station filled with almost a thousand people were now trying to thrust into a train which consisted of only 12 coaches. The train left with people hanging desperately by its door trying not to fall. From the bridge, it looked like a mouth filled with candies and when they got down It looked like thoughts being unleashed out of a suppressed mind and when people jumped inside the train it looked like an army of fire ants who probably captured their bait.

If you live in Mumbai and aren't familiar with these train routines, then you probably don’t know what life in a metro means. Mumbai locals are the lifeline for the working class living in Mumbai. Here affording basic necessities can be quite expensive. Local trains have proved to be handy and convenient for people coming from the middle class and upper-middle-class backgrounds. The City never stops and nor do the trains. It is always hustle for someone new in town especially when it comes to understanding how the local train system works. By the time you know that it is a Bandra train and not CST, you find yourself panicking and fidgeting with m-indicator ( the local train app) standing on platform no 3 of Bandra station. The local trains in Mumbai sometime do test the patience of the daily commuters. You cannot expect a less crowded train but there is always hope in the back of the minds of people. The frustrated faces almost brighten up once in a while when a less crowded train lets them have a comfortable ride

.

I was always unsure about travelling on a local train. And eventually, a time came when my college was just one stop away from where I lived. Unfortunately, on my first day I saw a bunch of people who waited quietly by the platform for the train to arrive and the next moment there was the train and just the people wrestling each other to get inside the train for the “Seat”. The “Seat” is a precious term which is quite often used by the regular train commuters. When a person says,” Aap Kaha pe ho ?” ( where are you getting down at ? ) or a person who is shouting,” Thane seat hai kya yaha ?” ( is anyone getting down at Thane station? ) this means that they are asking for a person's seat who would be getting down at the closest station ( well hopefully ).

Sometimes it's your lucky day. You get a seat as soon as you board the train but on some days it might happen that you will have to stand for all the ten stations before your destination arrives. And there's more that comes in with this hustle and bustle. A normal ride on a Mumbai local would be a lot of people stuffed inside 1 coach, people looking for seats, adjusting on the fourth seat, college and school goers listening to music, liking posts on Facebook, some enjoy their downloaded daily soaps on their phones, a group of ladies sharing their tiffins and office gossips, fruit and jewellery vendors trying to make a sale and a loads of arguments, fights and crying babies.

You see Mumbai locals are in itself a definition of the city that never sleeps. It depicts a part of people’s lives on a daily basis. We meet and see new people. Everyday these trains have something new for us in those crowded coaches. A new story, a new lesson. For me, the everyday journey always kept me grounded. Of course, there are frustrated with life people. Somedays they are sweet and on some days bitter. It shows us the mirror through people’s eyes, just how life does. And no matter how annoyed and irritated people are by the lateness and overcrowded coaches I am sure that the Mumbaikars would not trade this with something that does not reflect their way of life!