The new Airlines - Kingfisher,Jet..etc
Ever wondered why the latecomers at the airports get a special treatment by the airline staff, ushering them to the aircraft...escorting them will be even better. This action is akin to penalizing the people who come on time and are made to stand in the long Q. Some times, i feel i should be the one who should not reach the airport on time and get a free escort to get me to the aircraft in the least possible time!
hypocrisy...
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
The Mumbai railway station....and the art of catching a train!
I had thought of trying again and writing here after the good response i got on my earlier blog at the saloon....the venue this time being the Mumbai railway station. Not a particular one, but specifically the old central and western lines put together. The new ones in New-Mumbai are much better and leave less peculiarities to observe...hence are too boring to observe....
You have not "seen" Mumbai if you have not been to one of its railway stations and "felt" it, if you have not travel led by one of the suburban trains.
The approach -
It all starts with the approach...even before you reach a railway station...so as to prepare you for the worst, the approach to the station gives you a 'trailer' of the things to come. If you are using a public transport to reach a station you have had the experience itself. However, if you manage to be the lucky ones to take an auto rickshaw to the station then the maneuvering the little black and yellow thing needs to do can put a F1 expert to shame. So as to be not left defeated the hurdles have a mind of there own and keep coming in form of cycles, hurrying pedestrians (unmindful of the vehicle approaching them), street vendors in full bloom, potholes, traffic police (odd to list them as hurdles, but at the station approach most of them are) etc.
The Ticket Counters -
The only sign of the counters and where they are located is the 'Q'. Have you ever tried to locate a ticket counter in Mumbai late at night where the Q is conspicuous by its absence. I found it mighty difficult on late night as there were no signs of its location, specially if you are on the first platform of say Thane station.
The Platform:
This is the hotbed of all activity at the station. All people in Mumbai, specially at the station, show a strange sense of urgency found nowhere else in the world. The urgency is with or without the indication of an arriving train. The invisible force which overtakes the senses of a normal human being seem to be originating from the station and covers a kilometer range around the station. The urgency is contiguous and one cannot escape its in an individualistic manner. Else someone else will bump on to you and give you a weired look as if you have done the gravest of sins you could ever commit.
Newcomers to Mumbai are very easy to spot on the platform. They are the most lost lot there and get a good quota of the looks defined earlier. They go in opposite direction wherever it is not desired. They are at a complete loss at knowing the directions first and add to that the complication of spotting the fast and the slow ones on top of that!.
The directions on the Mumbai platforms are not a thing to write home about. They are also the ones conspicuous by their absence. The newcomer does not know how to decipher the sign language of the Mumbaikars - how to know a first class from a general bogie...where it will come on the platform ( then separating the ones meant for ladies and the ones where one can get in). evenings are even worse as one does not know whether the ladies compartment has been now made a general one based on the time limit printed on it!
The 'Paperwala's or the bookstalls are the ones who make a quick buck in the morning as every mumbaikar reads ( or at least pretends to do so)! There is a special skill to be aquired to read the newly bought newspaper to be read in the train. the fold is special as there is no space of anyone to open the paper once he/she is inside the train! Its what the atmosphere teaches you quickly!
Catching the train
One has to be prepared for this one both mentally and physically - like one has to for a marathone to start. The physical part comes with practice but one tends to loose it mentally onece in a while...specially after a bad day at work!
The stance is important...where you stand, how you take a start when the train starts rolling in, how you catch the door pole and manage not to get a loose grip on it ( your life is in danger here)...no margin for error and the competition is immense....
Once the door pole is in your grip...there is a mental sense of relief for a fleeting moment as you have done the hard work for getting a good start and it has paid off....then the momentum of the crowd behind you and the train itself takes you thru the remaining motions.
The direction of the train, determines which seats get taken first...windows ( except during the monsoon...) are the preferred ones and that too facing the engine ... followed by other windows ...followed by the seats in engine direction...etc to follow
The door positions are critical and get taken as quickly as the window ones. These are special positions for the people who want to get out at stations which are very difficult to get out on. So one can have an empty seat inside, but the hot favorites can still be the standing position at the door...which incidentally does not close...ever...
You only get a sigh of relief...or attempt one...once the train has moved...and it does move very quickly...15 to 10 seconds at each station is not much when you know that atleast a 1000 people are trying to get in or out in that time....
One is oblivious to the sweat and smell around you as you will not be sure if it is your own...the Deodorant you wore home is nowhere to be smelt! The bags get thrown on to the top storage area...or get passed on ...with the tiffins. The monsoons are a bit of torture as you add the wetness to all the above....The nerves are flared up in the evening and not a day passes without witnessing a fight or two...on reasons which are difficult to fathom!
and then you open your paper to read it...of say the fold of paper which you can manage to look at...
You have not "seen" Mumbai if you have not been to one of its railway stations and "felt" it, if you have not travel led by one of the suburban trains.
The approach -
It all starts with the approach...even before you reach a railway station...so as to prepare you for the worst, the approach to the station gives you a 'trailer' of the things to come. If you are using a public transport to reach a station you have had the experience itself. However, if you manage to be the lucky ones to take an auto rickshaw to the station then the maneuvering the little black and yellow thing needs to do can put a F1 expert to shame. So as to be not left defeated the hurdles have a mind of there own and keep coming in form of cycles, hurrying pedestrians (unmindful of the vehicle approaching them), street vendors in full bloom, potholes, traffic police (odd to list them as hurdles, but at the station approach most of them are) etc.
The Ticket Counters -
The only sign of the counters and where they are located is the 'Q'. Have you ever tried to locate a ticket counter in Mumbai late at night where the Q is conspicuous by its absence. I found it mighty difficult on late night as there were no signs of its location, specially if you are on the first platform of say Thane station.
The Platform:
This is the hotbed of all activity at the station. All people in Mumbai, specially at the station, show a strange sense of urgency found nowhere else in the world. The urgency is with or without the indication of an arriving train. The invisible force which overtakes the senses of a normal human being seem to be originating from the station and covers a kilometer range around the station. The urgency is contiguous and one cannot escape its in an individualistic manner. Else someone else will bump on to you and give you a weired look as if you have done the gravest of sins you could ever commit.
Newcomers to Mumbai are very easy to spot on the platform. They are the most lost lot there and get a good quota of the looks defined earlier. They go in opposite direction wherever it is not desired. They are at a complete loss at knowing the directions first and add to that the complication of spotting the fast and the slow ones on top of that!.
The directions on the Mumbai platforms are not a thing to write home about. They are also the ones conspicuous by their absence. The newcomer does not know how to decipher the sign language of the Mumbaikars - how to know a first class from a general bogie...where it will come on the platform ( then separating the ones meant for ladies and the ones where one can get in). evenings are even worse as one does not know whether the ladies compartment has been now made a general one based on the time limit printed on it!
The 'Paperwala's or the bookstalls are the ones who make a quick buck in the morning as every mumbaikar reads ( or at least pretends to do so)! There is a special skill to be aquired to read the newly bought newspaper to be read in the train. the fold is special as there is no space of anyone to open the paper once he/she is inside the train! Its what the atmosphere teaches you quickly!
Catching the train
One has to be prepared for this one both mentally and physically - like one has to for a marathone to start. The physical part comes with practice but one tends to loose it mentally onece in a while...specially after a bad day at work!
The stance is important...where you stand, how you take a start when the train starts rolling in, how you catch the door pole and manage not to get a loose grip on it ( your life is in danger here)...no margin for error and the competition is immense....
Once the door pole is in your grip...there is a mental sense of relief for a fleeting moment as you have done the hard work for getting a good start and it has paid off....then the momentum of the crowd behind you and the train itself takes you thru the remaining motions.
The direction of the train, determines which seats get taken first...windows ( except during the monsoon...) are the preferred ones and that too facing the engine ... followed by other windows ...followed by the seats in engine direction...etc to follow
The door positions are critical and get taken as quickly as the window ones. These are special positions for the people who want to get out at stations which are very difficult to get out on. So one can have an empty seat inside, but the hot favorites can still be the standing position at the door...which incidentally does not close...ever...
You only get a sigh of relief...or attempt one...once the train has moved...and it does move very quickly...15 to 10 seconds at each station is not much when you know that atleast a 1000 people are trying to get in or out in that time....
One is oblivious to the sweat and smell around you as you will not be sure if it is your own...the Deodorant you wore home is nowhere to be smelt! The bags get thrown on to the top storage area...or get passed on ...with the tiffins. The monsoons are a bit of torture as you add the wetness to all the above....The nerves are flared up in the evening and not a day passes without witnessing a fight or two...on reasons which are difficult to fathom!
and then you open your paper to read it...of say the fold of paper which you can manage to look at...
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