THAT one train ride

I've been on Bombay locals before, lots of times. And almost all my experiences have been good. Waiting, ready like an Olympic runner about to go for the Gold, managing to get to the door when your stop comes and getting off without leaving a limb or two behind, yep! I've had it easy for the past 3 years of 'Bombay Local Train Travel.'

But this time! It was the first time I actually went through what Sanjyot had always warned me about...'THE bombay local train travel.' :O I make it sound, well, scary I guess, but for someone like me it was one of the most harrowing experiences of me life!!!

So Maya and I are waiting there on the platform for said local to come which will take us to Dadar and even she points out, "Shit! there are a lot of people here!" to which I reply with a nod. I mean, how bad can it really get? Like really?!?!?

I soon found out.

Said local stopped, we both positioned ourselves somewhere near the front and the madness began! God only knows, or I'm pretty sure He was scratching His head at this point, who-pushed-who-shoved-where-squeezed-how all the women got onto the train! See, I was always surprised at the capacity of these tin cans, but it's usually a kind of bewilderment that you don't pay much attention to. But at that time...my eyes were thrown open in wonder and it actually hit me, "SHIT! How did we manage to do this!?" And most of these women do this on a daily basis!

So we had to stand there for some 20 mins before our station arrived and it was 20 mins of standing in the weirdest fashion possible, something I didn't think my body was capable of ( see figure.01)

fig.01

We finally (FINALLY!) reached Dadar and our next mission: catch the train to Pune. 10 mins were spent trying to find the platform and during that time the memory of people and sweat and being jam-packed in a moving train was replaying in my head. So, by the time we reached platform 6 my face looked something like figure.02.

fig.02

It was hot and I felt like throwing up. The remainder of the journey was alright. Except for the unhappy realization that my tonsils had acted up(again) and I'd most probably be sick for the rest of the week.

Aaackh well!