My Day out in Mumbai
Got the flavour of Mumbai travel in my own way. An experience worth remembering but not to be repeated ;-)
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Task: To receive my uncle from a village close to Kalyan at around 4:30 PM, 20 June 2012.
Reached Mankhurd station at 3:30 PM (Thanks to rickshaw walas of Anushakti nagar. I had to wait for more than 20 mins). As usual long queue at the counter and finally boarded the train at around 3:50 PM. Able to find a comfortable seat and as usual got buried into deep thoughts. As expected, missed Kurla station where I have to get train to Kalyan but reached two stations ahead, GTB nagar. Then had to wait for 10 mins to get the return train and finally reached kurla at around 4:35 PM. While waiting for the train to Kalyan, at around 4:45 PM I saw a huge mass of people moving fast on tracks. Suddenly they stopped moving when they came close to me. Only then I found there was a poor train buried inside them. I realized by then I can never reach Kalyan. Surprisingly the "Spirit of Mumbai" worked then. My fellow Mumbaites seeing my poor condition decided to help. Suddenly a tunnel developed amidst that huge mass made up of humans large enough to fit my size exactly. The tunnel closed from back side as I moved in and reached some dead end whose coordinates with respect to train are beyond my knowledge. I dared to look ahead and found a smiling face so close and enquired helplessly
"When will this reach Kalyan?"
With a big grin the face answered
"Don't worry! Still lot of time!"
That bright face which I am unsure whether it belongs to any human body since I am unable attach any human body around with that tilt angle and position of the face. In fact the faces around outnumbered the bodies. I asked again to that mystical bodiless face
"How long this crowd will remain?"
With a lot of care in eyes the face answered
"Relax! Just after two stations the train will be almost empty"
I started to analyse the motion of the train based on inertial laws taught to me from school days judging the arrival of that "Second station Salvation". The second station arrived much longer than I anticipated or probably the time got terribly dilated due to strong stink of sweat. The train never reached the stage of "almost empty". However now I can see daylight through some gaps and a thin body associated to that bright face clearing my doubts. I guess the comfort I experienced through the rest of my journey must be more than spending a holiday in a yacht at Caribbean island. Finally I reached the much awaited Kalyan station. Hired a rickshaw, went to the village where my uncle was eagerly waiting and brought him to Kalyan station. Then started the second part of the story...
The return train was not that empty as I predicted but in comparison to my onward journey the prediction was not that bad either. I can comfortably stand but my uncle was not. The "Sprit of Mumbai" provided him a seat and made sure he was comfort enough. The train reached Kurla unbelievably faster than I can presume. Probably when you are experiencing the lifeline of Mumbai you can never correlate the duration with the spin of earth and your watch appears faulty. We got down at Kurla station and my cell phone buzzed. My wife on other side
"Where are you?"
"We just got down at Kurla"
"Okay! Take care!"
Next we saw a huge mass moving up the foot over bridge (FOB) with no legs visible defying the laws of gravity. We decided to join the mass since no other option was viable. The mass after reaching the top dispersed in all directions like water from a sprinkler. We stopped amidst and enquired a bypasser, the way which enable us to reach Chembur since it was pre decided from Kurla we will fetch a rickshaw back to home.
"Go straight and get down from left side"
We obeyed and found our self in another platform with no sign of EXIT. Again we asked a bypasser
"Where is the EXIT?"
"Oh! You got down the wrong side. Instead of getting down from left walk through the path way in right and that will get you out of station"
We did the same and indeed he was correct. We came out into a dark place with no sign of any technological miracles we developed past two centuries. Again we asked a bypasser (rather he was the only human we can see in that remote place)
"Where can we get a rickshaw?"
"You won't get rickshaw from here. Climb up again. Instead of turning right get down from left and walk straight and climb up the next FOB which will lead you to an EXIT from where you can fetch rickshaw"
I picked up the baggage again and started climbing. My uncle patiently asked me,
"Have you never been to this station?"
I didn't dare to upgrade him with the knowledge of the number of times I had been to this station accompanied by my friends or my dear wife, rather resorted
"I am confused"
We got down from the infamous left side stairs the second time and walked straight. Climbed up the next FOB after reaching the top I was glad to see the dead end on right side and the far left the "EXIT" sign board. We got out and I was filled with joy to see rickshaws plying. I caught a smart young guy probably a college student and asked
"Where is the rickshaw stand?"
He read my face for a moment and asked
"Where do you want to go?"
"Chembur"
"You got down at the wrong side. You need to get out from the other side of the station"
"Won't a rickshaw take us to Chembur from here?"
"No"
He is indeed correct and the only option is to walk back the path which led us to this meet this intelligent guy who can read my face and find our way to reach the "other side". The boy understood the situation and helped us again. Pointing a FOB, he said
"Climb up! Walk straight and get down the other side! Don't turn anywhere else"
I think he had to mention the last sentence after reading my face. Thankfully we followed his advice walking towards the "other side". My cell phone buzzed again and then I heard the familiar voice enquiring from other end
"Where are you now?"
"Kurla"
"WHAT? STILL IN KURLA?"
"Trying to find our way out of Kurla station"
"Why? Any problem?"
"Nothing! Will let you know when we reach home! Bye"
"Okay! Bye!"
At last we reached the "other end". Next we got our turn to fetch a rickshaw to home after spending ten minutes in a queue. While standing in queue I recollected once my friend quoted
"In Bombay half of your life time goes in travelling and one fourth goes in queues"
If I go by his statement, then with respect to my scale of happenings, I need at least two life times to do something else other than these. Finally we got the rickshaw and we were half the way traveling, my uncle suddenly asked with suspicion,
"Are we going in the right direction"
This time I decided to answer the truth,
"I hope so! Bombay rickshaw walas are smarter! They know all places"
I was correct this time. Very soon I was able to see familiar places and finally reached our sweet home at 10:00 PM. Explained the adventures to my dear wife who burst out laughing hearing the story.
Got the flavour of Mumbai travel in my own way. An experience worth remembering but not to be repeated ;-)-----------------------------------------------------------------
Task: To receive my uncle from a village close to Kalyan at around 4:30 PM, 20 June 2012.
Reached Mankhurd station at 3:30 PM (Thanks to rickshaw walas of Anushakti nagar. I had to wait for more than 20 mins). As usual long queue at the counter and finally boarded the train at around 3:50 PM. Able to find a comfortable seat and as usual got buried into deep thoughts. As expected, missed Kurla station where I have to get train to Kalyan but reached two stations ahead, GTB nagar. Then had to wait for 10 mins to get the return train and finally reached kurla at around 4:35 PM. While waiting for the train to Kalyan, at around 4:45 PM I saw a huge mass of people moving fast on tracks. Suddenly they stopped moving when they came close to me. Only then I found there was a poor train buried inside them. I realized by then I can never reach Kalyan. Surprisingly the "Spirit of Mumbai" worked then. My fellow Mumbaites seeing my poor condition decided to help. Suddenly a tunnel developed amidst that huge mass made up of humans large enough to fit my size exactly. The tunnel closed from back side as I moved in and reached some dead end whose coordinates with respect to train are beyond my knowledge. I dared to look ahead and found a smiling face so close and enquired helplessly
"When will this reach Kalyan?"
With a big grin the face answered
"Don't worry! Still lot of time!"
That bright face which I am unsure whether it belongs to any human body since I am unable attach any human body around with that tilt angle and position of the face. In fact the faces around outnumbered the bodies. I asked again to that mystical bodiless face
"How long this crowd will remain?"
With a lot of care in eyes the face answered
"Relax! Just after two stations the train will be almost empty"
I started to analyse the motion of the train based on inertial laws taught to me from school days judging the arrival of that "Second station Salvation". The second station arrived much longer than I anticipated or probably the time got terribly dilated due to strong stink of sweat. The train never reached the stage of "almost empty". However now I can see daylight through some gaps and a thin body associated to that bright face clearing my doubts. I guess the comfort I experienced through the rest of my journey must be more than spending a holiday in a yacht at Caribbean island. Finally I reached the much awaited Kalyan station. Hired a rickshaw, went to the village where my uncle was eagerly waiting and brought him to Kalyan station. Then started the second part of the story...
The return train was not that empty as I predicted but in comparison to my onward journey the prediction was not that bad either. I can comfortably stand but my uncle was not. The "Sprit of Mumbai" provided him a seat and made sure he was comfort enough. The train reached Kurla unbelievably faster than I can presume. Probably when you are experiencing the lifeline of Mumbai you can never correlate the duration with the spin of earth and your watch appears faulty. We got down at Kurla station and my cell phone buzzed. My wife on other side
"Where are you?"
"We just got down at Kurla"
"Okay! Take care!"
Next we saw a huge mass moving up the foot over bridge (FOB) with no legs visible defying the laws of gravity. We decided to join the mass since no other option was viable. The mass after reaching the top dispersed in all directions like water from a sprinkler. We stopped amidst and enquired a bypasser, the way which enable us to reach Chembur since it was pre decided from Kurla we will fetch a rickshaw back to home.
"Go straight and get down from left side"
We obeyed and found our self in another platform with no sign of EXIT. Again we asked a bypasser
"Where is the EXIT?"
"Oh! You got down the wrong side. Instead of getting down from left walk through the path way in right and that will get you out of station"
We did the same and indeed he was correct. We came out into a dark place with no sign of any technological miracles we developed past two centuries. Again we asked a bypasser (rather he was the only human we can see in that remote place)
"Where can we get a rickshaw?"
"You won't get rickshaw from here. Climb up again. Instead of turning right get down from left and walk straight and climb up the next FOB which will lead you to an EXIT from where you can fetch rickshaw"
I picked up the baggage again and started climbing. My uncle patiently asked me,
"Have you never been to this station?"
I didn't dare to upgrade him with the knowledge of the number of times I had been to this station accompanied by my friends or my dear wife, rather resorted
"I am confused"
We got down from the infamous left side stairs the second time and walked straight. Climbed up the next FOB after reaching the top I was glad to see the dead end on right side and the far left the "EXIT" sign board. We got out and I was filled with joy to see rickshaws plying. I caught a smart young guy probably a college student and asked
"Where is the rickshaw stand?"
He read my face for a moment and asked
"Where do you want to go?"
"Chembur"
"You got down at the wrong side. You need to get out from the other side of the station"
"Won't a rickshaw take us to Chembur from here?"
"No"
He is indeed correct and the only option is to walk back the path which led us to this meet this intelligent guy who can read my face and find our way to reach the "other side". The boy understood the situation and helped us again. Pointing a FOB, he said
"Climb up! Walk straight and get down the other side! Don't turn anywhere else"
I think he had to mention the last sentence after reading my face. Thankfully we followed his advice walking towards the "other side". My cell phone buzzed again and then I heard the familiar voice enquiring from other end
"Where are you now?"
"Kurla"
"WHAT? STILL IN KURLA?"
"Trying to find our way out of Kurla station"
"Why? Any problem?"
"Nothing! Will let you know when we reach home! Bye"
"Okay! Bye!"
At last we reached the "other end". Next we got our turn to fetch a rickshaw to home after spending ten minutes in a queue. While standing in queue I recollected once my friend quoted
"In Bombay half of your life time goes in travelling and one fourth goes in queues"
If I go by his statement, then with respect to my scale of happenings, I need at least two life times to do something else other than these. Finally we got the rickshaw and we were half the way traveling, my uncle suddenly asked with suspicion,
"Are we going in the right direction"
This time I decided to answer the truth,
"I hope so! Bombay rickshaw walas are smarter! They know all places"
I was correct this time. Very soon I was able to see familiar places and finally reached our sweet home at 10:00 PM. Explained the adventures to my dear wife who burst out laughing hearing the story.
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