Travelling by local train!!!

How many of you are daily passengers on local trains and travel by train, to and from your home to your place of work? All I can say is take a bow! Local trains in office time are a sight to reckon. A perfect battleground resembling World War 3. The only difference is in the absence of deadly weapons. Here the people are deadlier than any weapon with their office bags and bare fists to do all the fighting. I consider the people who travel by local trains in peak office hours to be special and if they happen to board or disembark from Bidhannagar, then they are angelic!!! Let me then narrate an experience of mine because traveling by train on peak office hours is an experience that needs telling. It is needed to enlighten the lesser mortals who travel by cars or Whiteliners or even buses.

I was to travel from Bidhannagar to Kalyani on a Friday evening at around 6.30 pm. I calculated the time to reach Kalyani to be around 1hr 15 mins and informed my driver to pick me up from the station at around 7.45pm. Little did I know what awaited me.
The first of my struggles began at the ticket counter. There were four counters catering to the public and each counter had huge serpentine lines that seemed not to make much movement. I stood at the end of one such endless queue which to my despair did not even budge. I switched to a different line after a long wait that seemed to move fast and the moment I stood in the fast moving queue, it slowed down, as if getting a whiff of my switch and being gravely angered by it. To add to my woes, the line that I stood in previously suddenly sprung alive and moved in leaps and bounds making a mockery of my switch. I had to be content with the present sluggish speed of my queue. After about 20 min of mindless jostling I got the chance to buy my ticket and immediately rushed to the platform to board a train to my destination.

By Jove!!! If I said a sea of people waited to board trains at the station, it would be a gross understatement, for I felt the whole of Kolkata was on the Bidhannagar station. It was a perfect manifestation of India’s most prized asset…its population. I waited among this sea of people for my train to arrive and at last it did. But here comes the main part…Before the train could even stop and I could even think of trying to get up, the sea of people that were there crashed onto the train like a tsunami and before I could even blink twice the train was jam packed. The ones, who missed it on the first go, were on the door trying to squeeze themselves into the train which however did not have the place to accommodate one more pair of legs. The crowds thinned down after the train left as most of them were daily passengers and were used to getting up like this. I had hopes on trying to get up on the next. But before the next train could arrive, another sea of people arrived from nowhere and no prizes for guessing, I missed the next train too, and the next, and the next to next. Before long I had missed about 4-5 trains. I then decided to board the subsequent train no matter what. I opened my specs and put it in the case and geared up for my bold endeavour. As soon as the train arrived, I pounced on it like a tiger that is hungry for a week, pounces on its prey. I managed to get my feet on the footboard after a lot of struggle. Well I could get only my feet in as half of my person left dangling outside and I clung to the rod like a drowning man clings onto the last straw. I heard myself saying “Jai Hanuman” innumerable times for I needed the strength of Hanuman to cling on and not hit any electric poles outside. As I now narrate my ordeal, you can assume that I didn’t. All thanks to the King of Monkeys!!!

At the next station which was Dum Dum, the moment the train stopped, I felt a push from outside. Just imagine! There were more people trying to get up on this train even though I was half outside. I think they couldn’t see that there was not the place for even a pin more. Or probably it was a game to them, push and jostle passengers of every train that stops out there and get up on it if you win. If you lose, try the next. Wow! What a way to relax after a hard day’s work! Spurred up by this I too started pushing the people in the train to get further inside so that I didn’t have to keep hanging. People stamped mercilessly at my feet which were graced by the new pair of Reebok shoes I had bought 2 days back and I had to stand there helplessly. More than the pain in my feet I worried about my shoes. I retaliated and stamped some people feeling happy that I avenged the mauling of my shoes. This stampede continued for about 45 min when the train lightened a bit and I went into the compartment, at last away from the door. Phew!

I reached Kalyani around 9 pm, victorious from the war at last, although badly battered and bruised. I was bathed in sweat, mine or someone else, God knows. With that stench on my person I had to wake my driver up from his deep slumber as I was late by an hour and half and he got tired of checking for me after each passing train. At last I reached home and lived to tell the tale to all and sundry. I end my tale with a word of caution for the weak hearted…Beware of local trains at office hours!!! And most importantly…DO NOT TRY THIS AT BIDHANNAGAR STATION!!!

The Necropolis Called Love

I was walking alone, in the necropolis called life,
The innumerable sorrows gave me not a single scope to jive...
Molested by destiny and left to wither in the cold,
Life seemed like a crushed paper, with ink smudged on every fold…
There She stood with a light, illuminating the darkness,
As if to show me the way, out of the wilderness...
She held my hand and walked along showing me the way,
I was too tired to question, and gave in completely to her say...
The soothing touch of her tender arms was balm to my long inflicted wounds,
The look of her expressive eyes made me forget all my blues...
Her presence rejuvenated my vanquished soul,
The touch of her lips watered my heart’s deepest core...
Life suddenly had a reason for me to live again,
With her in my arms, I could take on all pains...
She promised to be by my side when time plays tyrant,
I had hopes of a new life and good times were just in front...
But what was this? A sudden flash of light, and a voice calling on,
Away she faded, together with all my hopes, right into oblivion...
I cried for her, pleading her to stay back,
But there she went, never even bothering to look back...
Why had she come at all into my distressed life, to rekindle hopes of everlasting euphoria?
To show me a dream that never was, an impossible phantasmagoria...
Stranded again at the place am I, where I had been searching for a beginning,
But left am I in the abyss of darkness and wilderness, still waiting....