For past 1 week every time I get those 30 minutes on my usual train a flurry of thoughts rush through my head as i draft each and every sentence with utmost precision that would soon become a blog post (a blog that has been ignored for long)
I love those 30 minutes i get everyday , the phone network doesn't work, i chose not to carry my laptop and even among those strangers i feel at peace. As i rush up the elevator every morning i see the same old gentleman scanning the boys , a girl in her early twenties scans the females who sometimes stand on the other side and is replaced by a middle aged lady, these are the only constants in those 35 minutes i spend everyday on my journey from home to work.
During the peak hours the coaches are jammed till the door and if you are somewhere back in the que its advisable to let the first train go or if those 5 minutes of wait for another train is unavoidable/unbearable be prepared to be crushed against the glass ,probably get a stare or two for mistakenly stamping on somebody's foot. But if you are a middle class Indian(just like me ) chances are you already used to this.
This Struggle gets over as soon as the train arrives at MG road station , its like nobody travels beyond that point !!I usually get a place to sit as soon we cross this station except for the times when some moron decides to push me behind and grab that one place for which i have been standing for past 5 stops whereas he got in at the last one , well I give a cold look ( to which he is mostly oblivious ) and move on. The funny part is everyone around knows that he did was wrong except for himself. Now few of you may get question why i used HIM and not HER , well i never experienced this will girls , if aunties do this its ignored because they obviously need the seat more then me.
In these 30 Min's i also get to experience the diversity our country is so proud of , this variety includes locals(of course) , people from far off states of North India and north east India, locals but originally from a nearby state ,farmers and daily wagers , government employees , lawyers , school and college students , expats , noisy kids, big families, Travelers , loud smelly -no etiquette kinds , phone photography lovers, and last us the daily commuters. There are few faces i wave at just because i see them often ,more then i see my best friend or my mom.
My favorite kind of commuters are the oldies, they remind me of my parents and the fact that we all are just passengers in this journey called life . I dislike those bunch of college kids the most who tend to use Bro both as prefix and suffix for almost every sentence e.g Bro, listen to this song bro, its kick ass bro - The Bro listens and responds " Bro, what a song Bro" I am going to add it to my play list , thanks bro".. I have heard this conversation so many times that now as soon i hear this word i start hunting for my earphones in that giant bag of mine.
Its amazing to think that i spend 10 hours every month with set of complete strangers and still most of us never try to engage in a conversation or two , all of us even though scanning through each others faces are so lost in our thoughts or in our phones that we forget how enriching a conversation may turn out to be( I am included in this list).So many times i get the urge to ask the person sitting next to me " whats your story ?" but either the train reaches the destination or the thought never becomes an action.
I love seeing those new faces every single day and wonder how i have never seen 2 faces alike , a small temporary world gets created every single day and ends because everyone reached their destination , isn't it beautiful?
Even when you do not actually share your life with these people you do share a destination, certain hours and the bond of fellow commuter.
****
I love those 30 minutes i get everyday , the phone network doesn't work, i chose not to carry my laptop and even among those strangers i feel at peace. As i rush up the elevator every morning i see the same old gentleman scanning the boys , a girl in her early twenties scans the females who sometimes stand on the other side and is replaced by a middle aged lady, these are the only constants in those 35 minutes i spend everyday on my journey from home to work.
During the peak hours the coaches are jammed till the door and if you are somewhere back in the que its advisable to let the first train go or if those 5 minutes of wait for another train is unavoidable/unbearable be prepared to be crushed against the glass ,probably get a stare or two for mistakenly stamping on somebody's foot. But if you are a middle class Indian(just like me ) chances are you already used to this.
This Struggle gets over as soon as the train arrives at MG road station , its like nobody travels beyond that point !!I usually get a place to sit as soon we cross this station except for the times when some moron decides to push me behind and grab that one place for which i have been standing for past 5 stops whereas he got in at the last one , well I give a cold look ( to which he is mostly oblivious ) and move on. The funny part is everyone around knows that he did was wrong except for himself. Now few of you may get question why i used HIM and not HER , well i never experienced this will girls , if aunties do this its ignored because they obviously need the seat more then me.
In these 30 Min's i also get to experience the diversity our country is so proud of , this variety includes locals(of course) , people from far off states of North India and north east India, locals but originally from a nearby state ,farmers and daily wagers , government employees , lawyers , school and college students , expats , noisy kids, big families, Travelers , loud smelly -no etiquette kinds , phone photography lovers, and last us the daily commuters. There are few faces i wave at just because i see them often ,more then i see my best friend or my mom.
My favorite kind of commuters are the oldies, they remind me of my parents and the fact that we all are just passengers in this journey called life . I dislike those bunch of college kids the most who tend to use Bro both as prefix and suffix for almost every sentence e.g Bro, listen to this song bro, its kick ass bro - The Bro listens and responds " Bro, what a song Bro" I am going to add it to my play list , thanks bro".. I have heard this conversation so many times that now as soon i hear this word i start hunting for my earphones in that giant bag of mine.
Its amazing to think that i spend 10 hours every month with set of complete strangers and still most of us never try to engage in a conversation or two , all of us even though scanning through each others faces are so lost in our thoughts or in our phones that we forget how enriching a conversation may turn out to be( I am included in this list).So many times i get the urge to ask the person sitting next to me " whats your story ?" but either the train reaches the destination or the thought never becomes an action.
I love seeing those new faces every single day and wonder how i have never seen 2 faces alike , a small temporary world gets created every single day and ends because everyone reached their destination , isn't it beautiful?
Even when you do not actually share your life with these people you do share a destination, certain hours and the bond of fellow commuter.
****
