How good is your Cutting Chai?

Cutting chai is irresistible if you are from Mumbai. Be it a chai tapri near our offices or a tea stall at a railway station, we do observe but love to ignore the unclean glasses, the houseflies and all that I need not mention. After all, nothing beats the magic of cutting chai.

Now the big news is that the tea stalls at railway stations have come under a scanner. As per today’s TOI report, railway staff has collected samples of tea, tealeaves, tea powder and milk from stalls at several railway stations. Hopefully in a week’s time, we’ll come to know how adulterated (or clean) the tea we drink is. But what if the report says that it’s all unadulterated. What about the way the glasses in which tea is served are cleaned?

All said and done, one thing’s for clear – if we are used to having the chai ki chuski at the railway / roadside tea stalls, we will never be able to resist the urge. It’s like telling cigarette smokers that smoking is injurious to health!

Time for my tea break! Do let me know if you have / will continue to have tea from the stalls no matter what.

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12-coach local trains in Navi Mumbai?

For the past few months, work is in full swing on platforms of Navi Mumbai stations. It gives a great delight to see one end of the platforms being extended.

In fact, whenever I happen to be at Vashi, Seawoods or Koparkhairane stations, I see the workers sweating it out in sweltering heat! Looks like the authorities are leaving no stone unturned in ensuring that Navi Mumbai platforms can accommodate 12-coach trains. When would the 12-coach services start in Navi Mumbai is not known to me, but with the steady work, I'm hoping it won't take very long.

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Stations between Churchgate and Borivali-Virar-Dahanu

As a kid I used to try and memorize the names of the railway stations while traveling with my parents from Goregaon to Mumbai Central. After every few minutes I would ask them what would be the next station and then try to remember the exact order - Goregaon, then Jogeshwari, then Andheri...

The other day, I saw a kid traveling with his mom in a local train doing exactly the same thing. And then, ever since I shifted to Navi Mumbai, I would end up reading the names of the stations in the list pasted on the ceiling just above the footboard. Now, many trains do not have that list. So I thought I'd list out the stations in the right order so that you can refer to it whenever you plan to travel on a route you don't take frequently.

Here's the list of stations between Churchgate and Borivali-Virar-Dahanu for your handy reference and I hope it helps you:

PS 1 - Stations in red arewhere the fast trains halt.
PS 2 - If you intend to have this list on your site, kindly link back.

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