All right ladies, the special train to CST (central line) reaches Kurla station at 9:01 am
Now don't push me this easy-to-get-in train ;)
Now don't push me this easy-to-get-in train ;)
How to get in a crowded train
Getting in a crowded local train in Mumbai isn't that tough really. Of course, experience helps in this case too, after all it's an art and it takes time to master it. But trust me, it's not impossible.
Here are the basics:
1 - If you are thin: Try to be the first one to reach near the door of the train. Others [the ones who are lucky to be much stronger than you] will see to it that you get inside the train so that they are able to.
2 - If you are fat: Hello... why do you think God gifted you those extra kilos? Use them to your advantage. Just push yourself in the train, others in front of you will automatically get in the train. That way, you will do some social work as well.
3 - If you are medium built: Use your judgment. Thin and fat are after all relative terms. Observe the people around you and decide whether you are stronger or weaker than them. Then, as per the situation, choose one of the above categories for yourself.
Hope you board the next train conveniently.
PS - Use the above tactics at your own risk. Don't blame me if you don't succeed. For all you know, I end up boarding the fourth or fifth train that arrives at the station after I reach the platform.
Here are the basics:
1 - If you are thin: Try to be the first one to reach near the door of the train. Others [the ones who are lucky to be much stronger than you] will see to it that you get inside the train so that they are able to.
2 - If you are fat: Hello... why do you think God gifted you those extra kilos? Use them to your advantage. Just push yourself in the train, others in front of you will automatically get in the train. That way, you will do some social work as well.
3 - If you are medium built: Use your judgment. Thin and fat are after all relative terms. Observe the people around you and decide whether you are stronger or weaker than them. Then, as per the situation, choose one of the above categories for yourself.
Hope you board the next train conveniently.
PS - Use the above tactics at your own risk. Don't blame me if you don't succeed. For all you know, I end up boarding the fourth or fifth train that arrives at the station after I reach the platform.
Ladies special local train - time - Goregaon
If you wish to board a ladies special train to Churchgate from Goregaon station, you have two options.
One ladies special train reaches Goregaon station [platform number 2] at 8:24 am. If it's too early for you, you can catch a 9:31 ladies special. The two trains, I suppose, start from Virar and Borivli respectively [not sure though].
The 8:24 train is more crowded than the other one. You have an advantage if you wish to catch the 9:31 train as in case if you miss it, you can take the Goregaon local that starts from Goregaon at around the same time.
If you wish to board a ladies special train to Virar from Goregaon, you again have two options - 6:30 pm and 7:04 pm. Both the trains start from Churchgate.
Do let me know if you need further info on the same.
One ladies special train reaches Goregaon station [platform number 2] at 8:24 am. If it's too early for you, you can catch a 9:31 ladies special. The two trains, I suppose, start from Virar and Borivli respectively [not sure though].
The 8:24 train is more crowded than the other one. You have an advantage if you wish to catch the 9:31 train as in case if you miss it, you can take the Goregaon local that starts from Goregaon at around the same time.
If you wish to board a ladies special train to Virar from Goregaon, you again have two options - 6:30 pm and 7:04 pm. Both the trains start from Churchgate.
Do let me know if you need further info on the same.
Main pehle utrungi types (I'll be the first to get off the train)
Perhaps they never won any running race in their school days. Perhaps they were always the first from the last. These people seem to have just one motto in life – Leave the world behind, be the first one to get off the train.
So they move fervently towards the door of the local train. They don’t care if the train is crowded, if their pointed heels offer acupuncture to many a feet or if their WWF champions type heavy weight body crushes the lean mean creatures around. They are dead serious when they decide, “Main pehle utrungi / utrunga” (I’ll get off first), and who knows they might even drop you dead if you come in their way!
But don’t worry. It’s not tough to recognize and save yourself from these types. If you notice any or all the following, you have spotted them right:
So they move fervently towards the door of the local train. They don’t care if the train is crowded, if their pointed heels offer acupuncture to many a feet or if their WWF champions type heavy weight body crushes the lean mean creatures around. They are dead serious when they decide, “Main pehle utrungi / utrunga” (I’ll get off first), and who knows they might even drop you dead if you come in their way!
But don’t worry. It’s not tough to recognize and save yourself from these types. If you notice any or all the following, you have spotted them right:
- The train is packed like hell with no scope to move even your eyelids. Still you observe a person, just one person, moving her shoulders.
- They generally make sounds like – chh…, chh chh…, shhya…, uff…
- With heavy and big shopping bags, they occupy much greater space than their body’s diameter.
- They manage to ask each and every person in the compartment, “Where would you get off?”, “Are you getting down at the next station?”, “Why are you standing here?”, “Are you travelling for the first time?”, “Do you have a proper train ticket?” etc.
- They try to show that they are facing the maximum problem in the crowded train
So, keep these tips handy and have a safe journey. May you not come across the Main pehle utrungi types!
Travelling to Navi Mumbai
It's amazing how all that we feel about our things is so relative. Travelling beyond Bandra until now was like a real long journey for me. And now, when I need to travel to New Bombay a.k.a. Navi Mumbai, this journey in the western suburbs seems like child's play.
Must learn the tricks of boarding and getting off Navi Mumbai trains soon. Any tips?
Must learn the tricks of boarding and getting off Navi Mumbai trains soon. Any tips?
When the train changes tracks, it affects the blind passengers
The other day I had another encounter with something on the Mumbai local that still gives me goosebumps. I was seated in the ladies compartment of a fast train. A blind innocent-looking man got in the compartment at Bandra and was standing near the foot board. No one told him to take the compartment for the physically challenged perhaps because the train wasn't much crowded.
Now, when a fast train to Borivali halts at Andheri station the platform mostly comes on the right hand side. And the man was rightly standing on the right hand side. I was busy playing golf on my cellphone when, after some time, the lady beside me said that it seems that the man is going to get off. As she said so, she looked on the door on the right side. And then it was all very sudden.
I noticed that the train is coming to a halt and the man is standing alone on that side. All the other females had shifted towards the door on the left as the train had changed tracks somewhere before Andheri station. All I remember are the unclear words of that female, and that there was not a single second to waste. By the time I rushed and reached to the man, he had already opened his blind stick and he was trying to feel the platform and get off...
Thank God and the female who noticed him that I could pull him just at the right time. Suddenly every single female realised what could have happened. Then all helped him get off on the platform, the one which unfortunately was on the other side for him.
Who would have thought that even a train changing tracks can be so dangerous for some. What if the man had been travelling alone? What if no one had noticed?
Few things still make me think:
Now, when a fast train to Borivali halts at Andheri station the platform mostly comes on the right hand side. And the man was rightly standing on the right hand side. I was busy playing golf on my cellphone when, after some time, the lady beside me said that it seems that the man is going to get off. As she said so, she looked on the door on the right side. And then it was all very sudden.
I noticed that the train is coming to a halt and the man is standing alone on that side. All the other females had shifted towards the door on the left as the train had changed tracks somewhere before Andheri station. All I remember are the unclear words of that female, and that there was not a single second to waste. By the time I rushed and reached to the man, he had already opened his blind stick and he was trying to feel the platform and get off...
Thank God and the female who noticed him that I could pull him just at the right time. Suddenly every single female realised what could have happened. Then all helped him get off on the platform, the one which unfortunately was on the other side for him.
Who would have thought that even a train changing tracks can be so dangerous for some. What if the man had been travelling alone? What if no one had noticed?
Few things still make me think:
- How come the females who moved to the other door didn't notice that there's a blind man trying to get off on the wrong side?
- Why did the female who noticed it didn't rush to help him?
Everything boils down to the same thing - we need to be more alert and careful while travelling, for the benefit of ourselves and our fellow passengers.
Graffiti is back
My last to last post spoke about all the goodness in the local train these days. Not any more this time. Saw the bad graffiti and phone numbers scribbled in many compartments recently. Grrr... Literacy is good, but some use it only for such stupid things.
See someone around you feeling sick? PLEASE HELP
If you ever see someone fainting or feeling sick or someone who just met with an accident, in your train or on the road or just anywhere, for God sake don't simply think, "He'll be fine" and walk away. I urge you to raise an alarm or do whatever you can do to help without wasting a single second. Last night, perhaps a woman could have been saved if people around her had come to her help before it was too late.
We talk about the spirit of Mumbai all the time... when some people saw a woman in a train last night and she was just not well, I hear they simply went and sat somewhere away from her. I heard she got in the train at Elphinstone Road and it was only at Andheri that some nice people, as soon as they came to know about it, pressed the panic button and helped her out. And I must tell you, thanks to the men who got in the ladies compartment when it became general compartment at night (and of course also a few nice ladies) at least some effort was made. What happened to the others who were watching her since Elphinstone Road? For those who ignored her... she is no longer with us, may be she could have been saved. Let's be nice people, we are humans with a heart and soul, right?
We talk about the spirit of Mumbai all the time... when some people saw a woman in a train last night and she was just not well, I hear they simply went and sat somewhere away from her. I heard she got in the train at Elphinstone Road and it was only at Andheri that some nice people, as soon as they came to know about it, pressed the panic button and helped her out. And I must tell you, thanks to the men who got in the ladies compartment when it became general compartment at night (and of course also a few nice ladies) at least some effort was made. What happened to the others who were watching her since Elphinstone Road? For those who ignored her... she is no longer with us, may be she could have been saved. Let's be nice people, we are humans with a heart and soul, right?
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