My mobile alarm started blaring at 8:05AM. I had to get off my bed now. For I knew this place needs you to be punctual. I was in Mumbai and it was an important day for me. There were a lot of people in the house. Some opined that it would be a cake walk for me while others asked me to be vigilant. There was no shortage of to-do and not-to-do. I had a point to prove, that I can do it; that I am no less than others. Hey... wait a second. No, these preparations were not for the Derivatives and AMFI exams I was going to answer today. The exams were easy. The preparations were for the Journey; the Journey to the exam centre. It was going to be a journey by MUMBAI LOCAL!!!!
If experience is a best teacher then the local train journey should be called a crash course; for it teaches so many things in so little time. It all started from the time I entered the station premises to buy the ticket. I had a Smart Card with me but dint know how to get it recharged. I saw a group of people with similar cards and some INR notes in hand and I knew they had a similar purpose as mine. I spent a couple of minutes observing them. I did not ask so as to avoid flaunting my ignorance. The queue gave me my first crash course learning –“Time cannot be earned; it can only be saved”. People here found different ways to save time. One way was not to stand in the queue. Just hand in your money and smart card to the person at the start of the queue and get your card recharged. I too was tempted to go this smart way but then I remembered that I am still a Goan and have to behave like one; I stood in the queue and got the card recharged. Next I had to stand in another queue to buy the ticket using the smart card. Here I met with another species of chrono-misers. These specimen dint want to stand in the normal ticket queue, they dint want to stand in the coupon ticket queue, they dint even want to stand in the queue for the smart card. They just popped money at the person standing at the queue head of the Smart Card ticket machine and requested him to buy a ticket. Amazing saving of time!!! Some Chacha stood ahead of me in the queue and had to book ticket for his entire family; six adults and three children. The machine allowed only four tickets to be booked at a time. Chacha’s three transactions and my observation skills helped me master the ticket booking procedure. And finally I got my Kalyan-Mumbai C.S.T. return ticket.
The next objective of my mission was to board a train. Now I was faced with a crore rupee question. Should I look for trains going to my left or the ones going to my right? Probably in Mumbai, the brain starts utilising all the resources it can. Mine told me to bring my schooling into use. I had come from Kalyan West and was facing the tracks. So as per my geography teacher, Mrs. Dias, the CST train had to go from my left to right. This was my second learning of the day-“Pay attention in the class. You may never know when it can come in handy”. The next thing was to find the right platform. This time I could not afford to learn by observation. I decided to ask. One uncle told me to run to platform 3, where the 10:50 fast was supposed to arrive in two minutes. I checked my watch; it was already 11:04AM. I decided not to load my brain with the irony of the situation and let it focus on finding the shortest path to platform 3. I reached platform 3; my sweat had started its body-cooling job and my lungs were pumping hard for air. I could see at least a million people waiting for the train. I asked an uncle and made sure I was on the right track. The Trainosaur arrived and swept the million people in its belly in just a couple of seconds. I was scared as I thought of a remote possibility – may be the Trainosaur and the million people in its belly would turn to me and start laughing at my inability to join them. I was not going to get mortified so I decided to jump in. My cerebral system, which was at its most active state, searched for a small opening in the crowd and made me push in. As soon as I was in the train, I was greeted with a surprise- the train had a huge amount of vacant space inside. In a way the local was a true representative of Mumbai city – “It had a huge heart with a place for everyone”. And that was my third learning.
The train started and I struck a conversation with a gentleman standing next to me. Thane was the next station. The train stopped and a zillion people flew in. I then realised that I was not the only believer of “the place for everyone” learning. When the train started again I discovered that my new acquaintance and I were fifty feet away. The next discovery was that he had not moved an inch; it was only me who was pushed from one end of the bogie to the other. It took me a couple of stations more to learn the art of not losing your feet in the local. When I was successfully able to handle the Dadar station crowd without moving an inch, I could say I had received my next lesson -“If someone pushes you, apply Newton’s third law and push back”.
In the meanwhile some fight had taken place at the far end. I got curious but my 5feet 10 inch height prevented me from getting a clear view. I looked around and saw no one was interested in the fight. I quickly hid my curiosity to make sure they don’t come to know that I was a newbie for the local. I had to do it. What if they come to know I was not a Mumbaikar? What if there are some M.N.S. supporters in the train? What if they throw me out of the train? And what if the train is running when they throw me out? I was successfully able to avoid their suspicion.
I’d been in the train for an hour, standing right trough. Probably one guy noticed it and offered me a seat. I quickly parked myself thus letting my bums relieve my tired legs. When I looked around the guy was nowhere to be seen. I thanked him in my heart. Suddenly my brain, which had been on an overdrive today, made me conscious of the fact that two simultaneous events had happened. First, the guy gave me a seat. Second, he is not to be seen around. This could mean either he was really a good guy or my pocket, which normally holds my wallet, is now empty. I quickly checked my pocket. My brain’s warning was not a waste. My pocket was empty; my wallet was gone!!! Wait.. hold on... No.. I think it is there... I’d put it in my bag. Let me check... Husshhh... It was there in my bag. I felt my other pockets to check my mobile and smart card. All were safe and sound. The guy was indeed nice.
Another fight broke out. But this time I was wiser. I just ignored it and focused on the newspaper the person sitting next to me was reading. One headline read “What use is a non-functioning fan in a train?” That was the first time I noticed the fans in my train. They were working; all of them. May be the government had taken some action and repaired the fans overnight. Mumbai is fast, I thought.
I’d got a seat, thanks to the nice guy, after an hour’s standing. I’d been sitting for just a couple of minutes that a person next to me got up and moved towards the door. I became more comfortable in my seat and I remembered a famous saying in Hindi “Bhagwaan deta hai toh chappar phaad ke”. As I rejoiced the saying and my good fate, couple of more people got up. The train stopped and I saw everyone getting up and moving towards the door. I peeped out. A board was staring at me. It read “Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus”. I had reached the CST. Probably the nice guy was not so nice after all. He just did what he had to do - reach the door first and save time.
I sat alone in the empty train for some time as I realised the last learning of my journey -“Everyone tries to move ahead, and so should you. If you don’t move at the right time, you’ll be left behind, alone.”
Epilogue: I managed to reach the exam centre on time. I cleared both the exams. I took another fast train from CST to Kalyan. It was yet another eventful Journey.
