Mumbai ki bheeed!!!!

Each time any of my friends visit my place in Mumbai…they end up saying…you don’t have the right to say that you stay in Mumbai…reason being my workplace is 5 minutes walk from my home. I don’t have to travel in locals everyday. My only share of local train journeys happen at weekends on my choice…this Saturday too I left for Mumbai Central to go to the Blind School. After the classes I left for Sidhdhi Vinayak…most of the times I visit either Mahalakshmi or Sidhdhi Vinayak Temple whenever I go to the Blind School.

But this time my visit to Sidhdhi Vinayak was a happening one! The moment I stepped out of the temple the eventful evening was waiting for me!! It started with me looking for a cab to the Dadar station for about 25 minutes…finally when I found one, the cab driver was in no mood to pass his time in a jam and asked me get down half way and then I enjoyed my LONG walk to the station in that “OH WOW!!! Whatta rain”!!! though I carried my umbrella but it wasn’t that useful…so I handed it over to an old aunty who needed it more than me and enjoyed the rains on my way to the station. The moment I reached Dadar Station…PHEWWWWWWW…all enjoyment of walking in the rains vanished like…like…how I wish I was good in writing metaphors like Abhinav!! Anyways the scene at the station seemed a bit different from the usual one…seemed like trains were delayed for some reson…at that time I got a call from my roomie saying that some colleague of hers has heard a rumor about a blast in Goregaon…I took a step back dropped the idea of taking a train…later it was announced that due to some technical fault all the trains will go only till Andheri…I somehow managed to get into the next train…the scene inside the Ladies Compartment was…I dunno what to call it…all high pitched sounds coming from everywhere…ladies screaming and shouting, trying to push and failing miserably!! There wasn’t even an IOTA of an inch to move around!! Everyone stood there with their hair pulled!! And WOW these two random firangs taking snaps from their digicam!! Quite an amusing sight for them I guess!! And yes…some of the “camera friendly” females stopped their screaming and gave a smile with their hair pulled…no choice…there wasn’t much space to move their hands and set their hair!!!


The train finally landed in Andheri…and GAWD!!! All I could see around was people, people and people!!!!! They were flooding from all directions…it took me almost 30 minutes to walk to the nearest bridge…I looked down from the bridge…nothing else but PEOPLE!!! Inside the station…outside the station…EAST and WEST…everywhere…seldom do I like to be alone…but this one was an OVERDOSE of having people around…it was getting onto me!!! more so because of the thought that there are hundreds and hundreds of people around you and still you are Alone...all alone...i think thats the best and worst thing about amchi Mumbai!!

Outside the station…buses , rickshaws all jam packed…i had no way but to go back to the station and check for the trains to Borivali…I stood there in between the flooding of people and found that a train is leaving for Borivali every 15 minutes…no scope for me getting into the first train…took a chance and dared to get into the 2nd one…but only my umbrella managed to get in…I was pulled out by some hefty lady who took my place… and there I stood in complete shock and disbelief and also the sorrow of losing my umbrella…the only PINK possession I had…by the time the 3rd train arrived …I was determined to get into it…when it arrived, AHDHERI was written in the front…people said “yeh train me mat chadho…yeh borivali nahi jayegi!!” I felt sad and stepped back…the next moment I heard some random guy shouting…”AREY YEH TRAIN BORIVALI JAYEGIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” all I realized after that was “I was into the train!!”

I met another group of girls in there who were coming from Churchgate….they offered me a seat, water to drink and some snacks! I sat there…tired and exhausted…wondering about the different people you meet in your life, good and bad, happy and sad…some pulling you and taking your place…some giving you a hand and offering you their place…I finally reached Borivali after an hour and a half…took a rick and FINALLY reached home at 11:30…I sat down feeling amused of having a “first hand” experience about Mumbai…its’ BHEED….quite an eventful day!!!