I was waiting on the platform at Dadar to get onto a local, when it struck me how similar it is to living and surviving in Mumbai. Strangely, none of stations where the local train runs witnesses that level of a fight as in Dadar station.
The crowd was electric in communication. We could sense that the train was going to rush in even before we even saw the train. The train was still a blur when these guys ran and merged to become a brief blur themselves as they flung and miraculously attached themselves onto the train. The throng starts fighting like a swarm of blind bees trying to get into the hive. There is plenty of space but there is a stampede as you feel and become part of the woosh of flowing through the bottle neck of the gate. We are in. A pause as everyone savours the victory on a still stationary train. Looking at the platform I see a face who just gave up expecting the next train to be a wee bit more emptier. That's when the similarity seeped into me like warm honey on a edge cindered toast of experience.
Everyone who comes, lives, or aspires in Mumbai gets somewhere. Some fight so hard that they get a eyelash-blink's worth of savage satisfaction. These are the blurs that jump onto a speeding train risking life, limb, and perhaps a great deal more. The great leveler of a city - Mumbai soon scythes them into the sea of 'others' as the rest get on the train. I'm sure the moment of triumph is worth it all. Else no one would do all that. Every three minutes. On every platform. As a train zips through like through the innards of a metronome.
The common denominator like me fights to get through the gate. We all reach where we want. In careers, hopes, and aspirations... And what else not. All in good time.
It's not like the one waiting for the next chance on the platform is left behind. He/she too gets there. Perhaps. By then, however, those who take the tide of opportunity have swept so far ahead, it is quite impossible to catch up. These unreachble specs will have reached the Borivali equivalents in what they seek from the city by the time the bystander takes the plunge.
The crowd was electric in communication. We could sense that the train was going to rush in even before we even saw the train. The train was still a blur when these guys ran and merged to become a brief blur themselves as they flung and miraculously attached themselves onto the train. The throng starts fighting like a swarm of blind bees trying to get into the hive. There is plenty of space but there is a stampede as you feel and become part of the woosh of flowing through the bottle neck of the gate. We are in. A pause as everyone savours the victory on a still stationary train. Looking at the platform I see a face who just gave up expecting the next train to be a wee bit more emptier. That's when the similarity seeped into me like warm honey on a edge cindered toast of experience.
Everyone who comes, lives, or aspires in Mumbai gets somewhere. Some fight so hard that they get a eyelash-blink's worth of savage satisfaction. These are the blurs that jump onto a speeding train risking life, limb, and perhaps a great deal more. The great leveler of a city - Mumbai soon scythes them into the sea of 'others' as the rest get on the train. I'm sure the moment of triumph is worth it all. Else no one would do all that. Every three minutes. On every platform. As a train zips through like through the innards of a metronome.
The common denominator like me fights to get through the gate. We all reach where we want. In careers, hopes, and aspirations... And what else not. All in good time.
It's not like the one waiting for the next chance on the platform is left behind. He/she too gets there. Perhaps. By then, however, those who take the tide of opportunity have swept so far ahead, it is quite impossible to catch up. These unreachble specs will have reached the Borivali equivalents in what they seek from the city by the time the bystander takes the plunge.
