Having lived in the suburbs, going to college here and even working here, I have avoided the local trains like a plague.
Agreed in a huge city like Mumbai the trains are the fastest and cheapest way to travel. But the condition of the trains have deteriorated to an unrepairable extent.
I am sure when the Britishers introduced the local trains in Mumbai, they musn’t have thought that the population in this place was going to expand by leaps and bounds.
Recently decided to go into town to watch a film. Caught the 6:30 fast train in the evening thinking that the rush hour traffic would be heading the other way. But guess again!!
To begin with the ladies compartment was already full and the group of women at Andheri had to budge our ways in. Now as that wasn’t comfortable enough there were women who wanted to make you all the more uncomfortable by shouting and yelling at others who were stepping in their space.
The first stop Bandra and you were literally pushed out because you never got a chance to get in in the first place. However Dadar was worse. The train barely stopped at that most crowded station for like 30 seconds and more than half the crowd that wanted to get off were left stranded in the train.
So they all moved to the other side to get off at Mumbai Central. The tempers were a little more flared this time and there was some more aggressive pushing and bad-mouthing.
The journey thereon was peaceful to say the least.
Well, can’t really blame anyone for the state of affairs our city is in today. It is probably high time the government did think of taking extreme measures given the ever-populating crowd that makes up Mumbai.
As for the local trains, I feel genuinely sorry for people who have to travel in them on a daily basis. Sorry buddy, life sucks.