The Mumbai Locals

The first thing that comes to a person’s mind when he thinks about the Mumbai local trains is the crowded compartments that are packed to brim and looks as if people are overflowing from the compartments, but after a couple of years I am accustomed to this life and I must admit its really a very efficient mode of public transport. The services start at 4am in the morning and goes on till 1.40 am the next morning which leaves only round about 2 hours without the services. The trains are usually jam packed and u have to actually squeeze yourself in to the compartment and be abused a dozen times, once I was jam packed in this local so bad that I could feel the phone vibrating in my pocket but I could not manage to get my hand to the phone it was so damn packed, and incase u have someone who’s taller than u standing in front of u then u will die of the stench of his sweat and there’s no means to escape and if a lady is travelling in the second compartment then u have to be very careful not to even touch her as u will be bashed. Pickpockets are a big menace during the rush hours and because of this even if your hand brushes a person’s bum by mistake u will be frowned at, I have seen people rubbing themselves to a person standing next to him as his hand is unable to reach the specific body part and many a times u will see people in funny poses like I have seen a person who had another person’s leg tightly squeezed between his own legs. I recently had a two month internship for which I used to regularly catch the 6:16 Virar and after a few days even the fellow travelers were no more strangers and I knew precisely where everyone would get down this reminded of my school going days when I used to go in an auto with other kids and we became fellow travelers. There’s something in the locals that makes u feel good when a guy who tries to catch a running train a fellow travelers lends out his hand to pull him up regardless of the fact that he himself doesn’t have enough space to stand, whenever the train’s packed and a guy stands up from his seat and offers it to someone and that person in turn offers it to you in case u are eyeing at the seat, the regulars having a suitcase placed between them and playing out cards, organizing events inside the trains etc. for many people this bonding becomes a second home I have seen people reserve a whole booth for their friends who then join form the next station and then they have a blast. Its also the best place to catch sleep but u need to be alert when your station comes I almost missed mine once. The heavenly feeling of travelling in a train comes when u stand on the footboard at night on a fast train which is travelling from dadar to Mumbai central because that’s when most of the trains touch breakneck speeds and the cool air slaps against your face. But as good the trains are so are the mishaps once I saw a man go down the train in front of me and he broke his leg so bad that he had to drag himself onto the platform before the next train could come a terrifying site and so horrible that I feared travelling in locals for over a week but this has now become a part and parcel of life for mumbaikars sadly. The best part about the trains is that u wont ever feel lonely even if u r depressed catch a borivali fast or a virar fast u will be so involved in finding your own standing space properly that u will forget every tensions of life. Mumbai wouldn’t have been what it is today if it weren’t for the trains.