After an entire year, I thought it would feel different. On the contrary, I seemed to pick up from exactly where I had left it. It was homecoming no doubt. I was back home in the real sense, chugging along in a local train. Exactly after one year.
My subconscious self seemed to take charge the minute I stepped across the threshold of the station. My feet knew where to head. I didn't even need to look around. My reflexes were still attuned to the system. Only, the Western Railways have shifted the ticket counter at Andheri station, so I had to use the thumb rule - follow the crowd! The Western Railways have, in their quest to modernise and thus improve the infrastructure, brought in a few changes here and there. For the better, I'd say. In a regular commuter's signature style, I acted smart. Skipped the ticket queue, bought coupons and headed toward the Coupon Vending Machine (CVM), known as 'punching machine' in common parlance. In retrospect, I feel the latter is a more appropriate term because what the machine actually does is stamp your ticket coupons. It is not a vending machine.
I felt a strange surge of energy abound within. In a jiffy I reached the foot over bridge and was on my way to the platform. Seemed like the good old days were back. The same mad rush all around. The heat, the sweat, the dust. Indifferent faces, scurrying feet. Nudging, pushing, cursing. Sweet memories, may I call them?
In a couple of minutes the train arrived; needlessly but out of habit the women lunged forward trying to get in first. (I do not travel in the general compartment, as a rule.) Twenty of them - it was a lean hour- at the same time. No big deal really. I've dealt with more than fifty at a time in my heyday, and I'm absolutely confident of repeating the feat now. It's just that I have more comfortable alternatives at my disposal these days. However, in a city like Bombay you have to give it to the local trains for their unmatched speed and convenience, not to mention the economy. It is not for nothing that the local trains are the lifeline of the commercial capital of this country. It would not be an exaggeration to say that the city survives on them. I owe my graduation to them, by the way. The crowd can be intimidating initially. Okay, that was putting it very mildly. The peak hour crowd can give you fits, make you numb; you may even pass out. Totally depends upon your mental fortitude. I was dumbstruck, and had sweaty palms on my first day. But you get used to it in no time. You push, you tug, you swear. You travel, you live. You thrive, you relish.
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