The sun was beating down on me as I walked till the auto. Hot afternoon sun. How I wished I could get up early like everyone else and reach my office when the sun was still a cute red ball on the horizon. Was it now chastising me for not waking up early??
“kanjur maarg??” I asked the auto driver.
“Nahi, sirf IIT main gate tak”
“teek hain” I nodded and got in.
It felt like a refreshing morning ride, while INFACT all around me, people were having their mid-day break.
I got down at the IIT gate, and walked till the bus stop. From here, I had to take a bus till the local train station. While waiting for the bus, once again, I wished I had woken up earlier because the frequency of the buses is much higher in the mornings. and It would have saved me the wait at this goddamn bus stop.
However once inside the bus, I got a vacant seat and started feeling lucky. “ Maybe I wouldn’t have got this seat if I had come here in the morning, it’s so much crowded then!” I tried to reason…
At the local station, a long queue awaited me. Nothing new, it’s an everyday ritual. But today, just as my turn came at the window, the operator decided to take his afternoon break. Believe my luck ! Couldn’t he have given ONE MORE ticket??? Now I had to wait for another operator to come, settle himself, adjust his seat, open his cuff buttons, collar buttons and relax under the fan till he felt like he needed a break, which is when he would start giving the tickets!!
Didn’t I tell you Mumbai teaches you many lessons?? Well, here’s one for a start
Mumbai life lesson #1 : SHIT HAPPENS when you least expect it !
And once on the platform, a local train came. Only, it was going in the other direction. Why is it that the first local train that comes, is always going the other way?
Mumbai life lesson #2 : SHIT HAPPENS more often than you think it does!
Finally, my local train arrived.
“Platform number ek ke local - do bajkar painthees minute ke- Mumbai ke chatrapathi shivaji terminus jaane waali -dheemi local hain. “
I got in and found that it wasn’t very crowded. Which meant that there was just enough space for me to put one foot down. “Crowded” is when you can't put either of your foot down.
At vikhroli, a sadhu boarded the local train. Lotta in his hand, and ashes smeared on his forehead, he pushed his way into the local. I suspected he didn’t have a ticket!
“Where are you from, swami ji ? “ I asked in the most humble tone I could manage.
He did not reply.
“excuse me, swami ji??”
He gave me a serious menacing look.
** gopal has signed off !!
“kanjur maarg??” I asked the auto driver.
“Nahi, sirf IIT main gate tak”
“teek hain” I nodded and got in.
It felt like a refreshing morning ride, while INFACT all around me, people were having their mid-day break.
I got down at the IIT gate, and walked till the bus stop. From here, I had to take a bus till the local train station. While waiting for the bus, once again, I wished I had woken up earlier because the frequency of the buses is much higher in the mornings. and It would have saved me the wait at this goddamn bus stop.
However once inside the bus, I got a vacant seat and started feeling lucky. “ Maybe I wouldn’t have got this seat if I had come here in the morning, it’s so much crowded then!” I tried to reason…
At the local station, a long queue awaited me. Nothing new, it’s an everyday ritual. But today, just as my turn came at the window, the operator decided to take his afternoon break. Believe my luck ! Couldn’t he have given ONE MORE ticket??? Now I had to wait for another operator to come, settle himself, adjust his seat, open his cuff buttons, collar buttons and relax under the fan till he felt like he needed a break, which is when he would start giving the tickets!!
Didn’t I tell you Mumbai teaches you many lessons?? Well, here’s one for a start
Mumbai life lesson #1 : SHIT HAPPENS when you least expect it !
And once on the platform, a local train came. Only, it was going in the other direction. Why is it that the first local train that comes, is always going the other way?
Mumbai life lesson #2 : SHIT HAPPENS more often than you think it does!
Finally, my local train arrived.
“Platform number ek ke local - do bajkar painthees minute ke- Mumbai ke chatrapathi shivaji terminus jaane waali -dheemi local hain. “
I got in and found that it wasn’t very crowded. Which meant that there was just enough space for me to put one foot down. “Crowded” is when you can't put either of your foot down.
At vikhroli, a sadhu boarded the local train. Lotta in his hand, and ashes smeared on his forehead, he pushed his way into the local. I suspected he didn’t have a ticket!
“Where are you from, swami ji ? “ I asked in the most humble tone I could manage.
He did not reply.
“excuse me, swami ji??”
He gave me a serious menacing look.
** gopal has signed off !!
mumbai lesson 2.5 # trying to start a conversation with sadhus and mendicants here is a VERY BAD IDEA.
The local train beats rhythmically , and it rocks you silently as it passes by buildings and factories, garbage dumps and roads, through slums and gutters…
You can actually enjoy the ride if you are lucky enough to be standing( read hanging) at the door. Inside however, it’s so hot and crowded that it would give you a FEEL of what the german concentration camps must have felt like, the gas chambers especially.
I closed my eyes and waited for the time to slip away.
Already one station down. Three more to go.
First it’s Ghatkopar, then vidyavihar… and then, I’d be in KURLA!!
Outside the kurla station, it’s one big MAD market.
You have to go begging the autowallas to take you to your destination. Consider yourself lucky if someone obliges.
“bhai saab, bandra kurla complex aaoge??”
A blank stare. Which means No.
“bhai saab, bandra kurla complex ?? “
No response. not even a blank stare. He didn’t even turn his head, started his auto and pushed ahead…
Mumbai lesson # 3 : Auto wallas here, have loads of attitude. so much that even the bollywood movie stars could borrow some of it from them !!
“BHAI SAHAB, BANDRA KURLA COMPLEX ???????”
“ baait”
he had the expression of disdain and haughtiness. As if HE is the one who’s paying for my trip.
,
Mumbai lesson #4 : if you want to reach your office and save your skin from the sun’s heat. You’d better learn to put up with the drivers “attitude”.
How nice it felt to be in the my office building! After all the travel in the heat and dust of Mumbai. It feels like a lease of new life, and the air conditioned cool of the building makes your forget all the hardships you went through to reach there.
Well, I was late for office. QUITE late.
So late that some people already started leaving.
But No issues, I had always been among the last to arrive and the first to leave.
Be it College, work, ceremonies – whatever. (The only exception being movies. If I miss the titles, I will go watch the movie again! )
Now, as I walked to my cabin, I wondered why my colleague was giving me THAT look. (?) Wait, I think I told her that I would come early today. Shit, I had some work to do !
and NOW I have some serious explaining to do. What would I tell her??...........
Mumbai lesson #5 : take a job where you could come in at three and leave at five. And nobody gives a damn.
But where you can’t find one, my job could be a close substitute
Santa Cruz.
A stranger to bombay might be forgiven for wondering if it's penelope cruz's brother. well you never know, maybe it WAS actually named after some Mr. Santa Cruz. Like so many other places in Bombay named after people like Hiranandani, Lokandwala…
This evening, I saw a huge poster at the local station there, in the memory of those killed in the july 11th blasts. It happened HERE. The bomb ripped apart a whole compartment, killing hundreds of commuters.
Often while traveling in the rush hour crowded local trains, i wondered… what if… a bomb goes off in this bogie this very moment ? What if… there’s a bomb ticking away in one of those bags ? It’s been over ten months since those dreadful bombings happened, but even today I constantly come across several grim reminders of them – an occasional announcement urging commuters to look out for suspicious bags or unclaimed things, a tattered poster which reads “ Be watchful for suspicious people” or “ instead of looking out through the window, look out for people who look suspicious – issued in public interest by so and so”. On an impulse, I always look around for suspicious looking people. And guess what, EVERYONE looks suspicious. The guy sitting next to me could be a suicide bomber, and the guy standing over there – it could RDX in his bag.
I searched on flicker for pics of Bombay blasts, and guess what I found?
Pictures of Bombay socialites partying! Having a blast!
I wonder what I will find if I search for Bombay bombs.
pics of hot babes, perhaps…
Vexed with the crowd, i decided to take a bus to kurla. A bright red double decked BEST bus. I went and sat down in the upper deck. Sitting up there, I could feel the altitude. and it was a little unnerving, because i knew the laws of physics made it easier for a double decked bus to topple.
BEST, the Bombay city transport, stands for Bombay Electrical Supply and Transport. Whoever it was, who thought of merging electric supply with transport must have had a lot of foresight. Because, a ride in these busses infact does give you a shock !
But don’t go by the name. When it comes to service, BEST is just the opposite – WORST.
I got down at the IIT gate and walked the full 2 kilometres to the hostel. No more traffic, no more crowds, no more Noises – just a calm and deserted road lined with trees...
And by the time I reached my room, I am so tired and exhausted that I don’t even have the energy to pick something from the floor.
I only seem to have just enough energy to blog about it : )
This evening, I saw a huge poster at the local station there, in the memory of those killed in the july 11th blasts. It happened HERE. The bomb ripped apart a whole compartment, killing hundreds of commuters.
Often while traveling in the rush hour crowded local trains, i wondered… what if… a bomb goes off in this bogie this very moment ? What if… there’s a bomb ticking away in one of those bags ? It’s been over ten months since those dreadful bombings happened, but even today I constantly come across several grim reminders of them – an occasional announcement urging commuters to look out for suspicious bags or unclaimed things, a tattered poster which reads “ Be watchful for suspicious people” or “ instead of looking out through the window, look out for people who look suspicious – issued in public interest by so and so”. On an impulse, I always look around for suspicious looking people. And guess what, EVERYONE looks suspicious. The guy sitting next to me could be a suicide bomber, and the guy standing over there – it could RDX in his bag.
I searched on flicker for pics of Bombay blasts, and guess what I found?
Pictures of Bombay socialites partying! Having a blast!
I wonder what I will find if I search for Bombay bombs.
pics of hot babes, perhaps…
Vexed with the crowd, i decided to take a bus to kurla. A bright red double decked BEST bus. I went and sat down in the upper deck. Sitting up there, I could feel the altitude. and it was a little unnerving, because i knew the laws of physics made it easier for a double decked bus to topple.
BEST, the Bombay city transport, stands for Bombay Electrical Supply and Transport. Whoever it was, who thought of merging electric supply with transport must have had a lot of foresight. Because, a ride in these busses infact does give you a shock !
But don’t go by the name. When it comes to service, BEST is just the opposite – WORST.
I got down at the IIT gate and walked the full 2 kilometres to the hostel. No more traffic, no more crowds, no more Noises – just a calm and deserted road lined with trees...
And by the time I reached my room, I am so tired and exhausted that I don’t even have the energy to pick something from the floor.
I only seem to have just enough energy to blog about it : )
