After My First Night in Mumbai

The lazy sun of Thane woke up very late. Its blazing rays peeped through the window panes of my hotel room and pierced my eyelids. I jumped out of the bed; grabbed my mobile. No missed calls, no message. Oh! It is 6:55 am. Discussing with my travel mate set a plan for the day. ………….. By nine we left the hotel for Dadar. It was my first experience of famous Mumbai Metro Trains. We managed to get a ticket to Dadar from Thane railway station. Thane, one among the first two Indian witnesses of rail service has gone a long way. The train awaited us in Platform 5. Boarded the train and occupied a seat. My friend opted to stand, entrusting me to keep his huge bag. Soon a crowd flowed into the compartment. The hissing python started accelerating with thousands of humans in its belly. It passed station after station with short pauses; spitting a few and swallowing another multitude. It cared for none; nor did my belly mates.

I was jammed to my seat. Struggled and wriggled to stretch my leg. Somehow I was on my feet. One small bag was passed to my standing friend; writhed, twitched and squirmed to move a few steps towards the door. Two bags trapped in the crowd made futile attempts to drag me back. My impatient attempts to move towards the exit too were futile. The heave of my little heart increased its pace. If not able to get down in Dadar ……..????? Several plans flashed through by mind. Suddenly the Python started decelerating again. It came to a halt. The sign board DADAR fell on my retina. ………… ………………………………………. I was on the platform carrying two bags. What happened in between? Tabula rasa. I was told by friend that I was pushed out by the mad crowd. Thanks to the automated urban crowd, I did not have to feel the weight of the heavy bags.

It was almost 11 am. Two more hours left for the arrival of my train to Hyderabad. Trains boomed in and whistled out. Crowds suddenly appeared and vanished with the trains. As the train whizzes out the crowd gets dissolved into the all embracing metro. As I watched the mechanized movement of the crowd Hyderabad Express hissed in and swallowed me.