Me and My Mumbai Local

10.30ST /  10.26PL
10.28 on a week-day morning. The 10.26PL train is as usual delayed. The arrival of this local consistently matches with its counter part 10.30ST, the local that I await. Punctually delayed by 3 mins, my ST local gracefully makes an entry at 10.33.A bunch of hungry passengers, decked in Formals-Semi-Formals and Casuals hog on to it.
Once in, the wise and lazy look for vacant seats, while the young and energetic occupy the entrance standings. I belong to the latter category. The permission to stand at the entrance comes with a set of Rights and Duties.

• Familiarity with the quantum of crowd getting in and out at each stop is warranted.
• By-standers are duty bound to pave way for inflow and outflow of passengers at each station.
• The ability to put on, with some minor stampede, keeping the “Cleanliness Mantra” at bay, is a “must” factor. This ability undergoes a litmus test, when vegetable vendors place their huge-healthy cargoes at your feet.
• Cribbing and exchange of angry looks is strictly prohibited for a peaceful journey of one and all. The height of tolerance comes, when, at each station you have passengers standing behind u, tapping at your shoulder, only to know if you are getting down at the next station. If the answer is affirmative, you are spared, else the next in line co-passengers get the right to make their way ahead of you. A temporary impediment experienced at each stop.
  
  As against all this, one enjoys sufficient privileges for being in the latter category. Primarily, free-flowing breeze when the train is in momentum as compared to stuffy interiors. The golden touch of the mid morning-pre-afternoon sunrays on bright sunny days. During Monsoon, in the absence of heavy rains, the pleasantries of the weather are a treat to experience. If this is not all, watching the common Indian Street families busy with their day today chores isn’t a bad site either. Clothes are put to dry in between the tracks, letting Mother Nature dry them. School goers walk alongside the tracks glancing at each train passing by. For these school goers and families dwelling along the tracks, the site of a noisy train passing by, is not unusual. Yet they acknowledge it, by giving a glance. The best part would be to watch the trains change tracks. The intertwined tracks make the locals change direction at an astonishing pace. May sound silly, but interesting to note that the destination of the trains lies in its tracks.
  
  Amidst all the liveliness and distractions, I reach my destination station, only to get back in the late evening hours (night to be precise). Evening Scene is different, calm and peaceful. Golden sunrays get replaced by silver lunar beams. Wayside families have resided home, street lights, on roads, shine bright, announcing the busy-ness in them. Clothes put to dry in the morning must have dried; their absence from the tracks indicates it. The crowd inside the train is less pushy and more tired.
  After all, the same crowd-cum-co-passenger needs to board a local next morning……