I went back home to attend my sister's marriage, had a great time there with family, relatives, and friends. Life seemed meaningful in a lot more ways apart from revolving in the monotony of wake up, get ready, go office, come back to flat, sleep and repeat the schedule the next day.
It was 8th December at 7:55 AM that my flight was scheduled. I woke up early assuming a long travel from Vashi to Santacruz. I was awestruck to find no traffic at all, not even the otherwise most congested roads in Mumbai. Gotta say I was in luck to reach the domestic terminal in 35 minutes. That's what I call a good start. The flight takes roughly 2 hours and 10 mins to reach Kolkata from Mumbai, I had my iPod and a novel to accompany me. The journey went well. Before this, whenever I travelled long distance alone, I always wished there be a nice girl next to me, I guess that's obvious youthful thinking. But surprisingly, I did not think of it this time, in fact, I was so excited to reach home and meet all my family members, relatives and friends at the same time, I could not think of anything else. Life is full of surprises, and we often get something when we did not ask for it. So happened for me too. There was a cute girl sitting next to me in the flight. Oh well. The good start continued...
Marriage is a wonderful event, my "Home, sweet home" feeling was enriched with something even more joyous and inexplicable in words. Sister's marriage means lots of responsibilities to brother, so was for me. The tiredness of waking up early morning literally vanished once I found the load of work to be done. Totally devoted myself in helping dad setting things right. My sister's marriage was on 10th December. The two days went like they had fewer than 24 hours in them. Marriage went well. I went to bring my brother in law from his home, followed by the rituals of a conventional Bengali marriage. It went all very well, busy for me in welcoming guests, and taking care of them.
A friend of mine once told me, "Marriage is a wonderful combination of happiness and sadness in a bride's home". Well, I did not really understand the significance of "Sadness" until the moment to leave my sister at her in-law's home came. I was not sure how to react and it was so damn tough to control my emotions! Being a man, I could never make sense of the saying "I wish there was rain..." but for a moment on that day, on my way back home alone, I wished there were rains.
I came back to Mumbai on 19th Dec night. Back to the city of dreams from the city of joy. Revitalization is the correct word to address my trip to home this time, though going home is a feeling that never gets old, this time, it was different!
In our lives we often come across moments that go on to define our lives. Moments which are compulsions, thrust upon us that eventually goes on to change the way we feel and look about the world around us. Yesterday evening I encountered one such defining moment in our life.
Now its been close to a month I have been to Mumbai and gradually I was getting used to the city- the unexpected showers of rain, vada pao vendors the massive traffic jams that adorns the city in its peak hours and the unusually late sunset in this city of hope which gives one an impression that even the Sun god gives the people that little extra time to work, to fulfil their dreams.
But there was one thing that I was able to skirt for close to 30 days in Mumbai and that is travelling in a train in peak office hours. But not today. It was quite a long day in the field and I was quite exhausted in trying to find out some prospective clients who would be willing to buy the solutions that our company would provide. By evening I was totally sapped of any energy and longed to go back to my guest house at the earliest. Now any layman, who has even stopped over once at the Mumbai airport or station would know that the train is the fastest mode of transportation in this part of the country. Moreover there was an uneasy calmness in the surrounding atmosphere and somehow one sensed that the rain can start pouring at any time without giving the people any time to react. In that case the water-logging would only make the traffic conditions worse. All this compelled me to only one direction and that was the Andheri Railway station.
As I purchased the ticket and entered the hallowed portals of the station a sense of occasion engulfed me. After all I was about to experience something that I have a heard a lot about especially in the last two years in our MBA campus. The Mumbaikars used to assert that one needs a certain amount of passion to travel in the Mumbai locals while some of them even went on to claim that the rigours of travelling in a local train daily makes the people tough from within and that is the main secret behind the success of the people of this city. On the other hand students from other parts of the country who visited Mumbai last year as a part of their summer internship complained that the pressure exerted in the trains were so intense that within a space of 60 days their wardrobe needed a complete overhaul as their trousers had become too broad for their waistline! Things came to such an extent that when I was leaving our college campus our associate dean told me that we all have the minimum level of intelligence to survive in the corporate world but those of us who are going to Mumbai we got to learn how to travel in a train.
All the arguments, counter arguments and words of wisdom were ringing in my ears as I made my way to the appropriate station wherein I will get the train that will take me from Andheri to Goregaon. The first thing that came to my mind in the station was the concept of demand and supply. If anybody wanted to give a visual illustration of a situation in which demand exceeded supply then they should take a snapshot of a Mumbai local. One after the other trains keep coming after every three minutes but at every instant it appeared that the demand for a train is perennially more than the supply.
In the meanwhile a train arrived in my station as well. A sense of occasion got to me. I was dumbstruck at the mere sight of the people in every compartment. What was even more intriguing was the mastery with which the people in the station managed to squeeze into a train which seemed packed to the capacity in the first place. Now for the benefit of those hapless mortals who have not had the privilege of being in a Mumbai train, I would like to clarify one thing. What we call as being inside a train is equivalent of being inside the crease in cricket, wherein even if a millimetre of your bat or any part of the body is inside the crease you are declared ‘safe’, similarly if even a millimetre of your toe is inside the train you would be considered perfectly safe to travel in that train.
As the train left the station with dozens of people somehow clinging on that locomotive vehicle the theory of Survival of the Fittest crossed my mind. Now suppose if a couple has spent a good part of their lives by balancing themselves in a seemingly precarious and dangerous situation (while hanging from the train) one can safely assume that their off-springs would do one better. So in the evolution of mankind the next significant leap would see human beings would have a magnetic field in built within their palms and toes that would enable them to travel in Mumbai locals by merely touching the body of the train. It is needless to be added that this new improved version of human beings would be born right here, in the city of hope.
Before my mind could think any further the next train arrived and with it started the next fascinating aspect of the train ride i.e. boarding the train. We often heard that Time waits for nobody. Well this adage holds true for even the locals in Mumbai. Irrespective of the time of the day, the station and the flow of people the train would halt for a solitary minute, who knows, maybe it is the Mumbai railways’ way of providing a ‘level platform’ to anyone who wishes to board a train. So the preparation begins even before the train stops as people starts taking position. This time I managed to control my nerves and started jostling with the others for getting a peep inside the compartment. By the time the train stopped I saw to my dismay that most of the other contenders had already secured their entry and even this attempt of mine would result in a bitter disappointment. But as I turned half back to beat a hasty retreat I realised that there were at least three layers of people behind me who were confident of making it within the compartment. So if not for my sake, but at least for the sake of others I started to push madly at those people who have already secured the right of being a passenger in that train. After what seemed like hours of endless push I finally managed to drag myself within the train.
Soon the train started moving. Standing near the exit I realised that the platform at Goregaon would be on the other side and what was worse is that there was only one stop in between. So in essence I had to continue my pushing for the next five minutes or so, so that I can make some headway towards the exit door through this seemingly invincible chain of human body. However amidst all the pushing I saw that there was a sense of satisfaction and mutual admiration of all the passengers towards one another as everyone silently acknowledged that it is no mean task to enter a Mumbai local during the peak hours a feat comparable to getting admission in the IITs for engineering o IIMs for MBA.
As the train entered the Goregaon station I felt a massive thrust behind me which eventually led me out of the train. A sweet sense of satisfaction enveloped me as I realised that finally I have passed the qualification test en-route to be inducted as a Mumbaikar. A smug glow of self congratulation was written all over my face as I made my way out of the station and this journey convinced me that a ride in a Mumbai local should feature in every body’s Top 5 things to do in life list.
Sitting in the cosy comfort of an auto while returning home I wondered if this is what gives fillip to the lesser mortals that they can do the impossible. I mean if they can do the impossible of travelling in the local trains with seeming ease than there is no reason as to why they cannot achieve success in other areas of their life. So from that perspective the train ride might well be the seed that turns the city into an odyssey of hope.
Whatever it is one thing is for sure i.e. I will go back for a similar ride in the future just to ascertain whether that journey was indeed a reality or a midsummer’s night dream.