Speed Breakers

An Eight lane express way. Speeds of close to 100 kmph. The roar of the wind drowning out all other noises. Hair flying like crazy. And all of a sudden, out of nowhere, you hit a speed breaker! And you hit the brakes hard!

Apply that situation to personal life, where everything is smooth sailing until, suddenly, some news or event or incident throws your life out of gear momentarily. And leaves you confused and irritated. You are at a loss as to what to do and roam around aimlessly, lost deep in thought. It has happened to me quite a few times. Have anyone of you felt like that before?

Dealing with these speed breakers takes time. As you assess the situation, brood over it for some time, talk it out with friends or family, or just do anything which takes your mind away from the event.

But some speed breakers just refuse to go away. These road blocks come at regular intervals. And you just don't know how to deal with them! Leaving you confused and irritated.

aaja nachle!

Dance!

You may be twinkle toed or you may have two left feet. Your hips may certainly don't lie that you are a smashing dancer or your hips may indeed be lying indicating that you are flat footed!

Michael Jackson or Mithun Chakraborty, dancing is super fun. I never imagined i would be saying this as earlier I was a very shy dancer and would just shake a leg here and there, do some bhangra and then just retreat! But things have changed and how!

I still probably am the worst dancer but i really don't care. I know just two three steps which I can keep performing all the time! This was evident at today's SP Anniversary party ( Happy Anniversary to all :D ) But while dancing, the whole world seems to just melt away! You can just let your hair down and enjoy! That's the best part about dancing. It allows you to be yourself without thinking about what others will say or think. Most of the time, while doing any work or performing any activity, we think about how the other person will act, say or feel. But not when you are dancing like crazy on the dance floor!

All worries seem to disappear, you are high without any intake of any damn thing and its the best way to de-stress and unwind!

So, a request to all you non dancers out there - (i was one amongst you earlier) - We may not exactly set the dance floor on fire, but we can certainly enjoy our dance without feeling conscious of anything! Just try it once and feel the magic!

P.S. My 5 favourite dance numbers (you can add your own!)

1) Ishq tera tadpave - Sukhbir
2) Beedi - Omkara
3) Dekha na hai re socha na hai re - Bombay to Goa
4) I am a disco dancer!!! ;)
5) Koi kahe kehta rahe - Dil Chahta hai

Baithi kya Borivli, jaati kya Wadala? – An ode to the Mumbai Local!

A sauna or a trading room, a kitchen or a massage centre? An akhada or a card playing room, a can of beans or a lifeline? A bazaar or a den of thieves, a newspaper or a bhajan mandli? A discussion forum or a breakfast table? A pain or a panacea??

Ladies and Gentlemen, put your hands together for this multifaceted personality – the strange creature called the Mumbai Local Train or just local for us Mumbaikars. Love it or hate it, you just can’t ignore the Mumbai local.

I was travelling by train today from home to college when suddenly I felt like writing about our local trains.

Various thoughts were running in my head as to how I should go about writing this.

For close to seven years now, I have been going up and down and up and down along with thousands of other co-passengers and have been through all of the above situations described above.

Our trains are more popularly known by a few numbers and alphabets – the 9.10 CST, the 7.57 K, the 5.20 D and you get an idea! So much so that entire groups have been formed based on the time of the train and the destination. And you really start to enjoy their company as you see familiar faces every day. You may not know most of their names but acknowledge their presence with a smile. (Beautifully captured in the closing scenes of A Wednesday!)

I have boarded a train absolutely clueless but when I alighted at my destination, I knew a lot about stock markets and could give you a few excellent tips myself and you which could lead you to believe that I am the Oracle of Ghatkopar. I knew about the latest political manoeuvrings and had Bollywood gossip served fresh and hot! Oh and just drop in a word on yesterday’s cricket match and it’s like lighting a match to an oil tanker. The whole compartment will explode and all the cricket experts will argue furiously that Dhoni should have sent Yuvraj up the order and why Harbhajan should have bowled round the wicket to Kevin Pietersen. Yes! If you don’t mind all the pushing and the shoving and people stomping on your feet, then it would be quite an enjoyable ride. In fact, one of the best ways to prepare for a GD or an interview, would be to take a first class ticket, initiate a conversation, sit back and you will come back an enlightened person!

There are several other unforgettable memories associated with travelling in our trains – the card playing group, the bhajan singling mandli, the vegetable cutting housewives on the way back home, the compartment to compartment salesman (I swear that if you want to learn how to sell, just listen to them make their pitch to the people – it’s fantastic!) and of course the minor altercations due to the inevitable pushing and shoving. I remember the most amusing thing would be people from the other end of the compartment making their wisecrack comments about the fights going on!

I remember the great times we had travelling to college as a group. Discussions, debates, leg-pulling, sometimes just plain nonsense, sometimes serious and sensible. But travelling alone is also equally interesting. However strange it may sound to you, this is the one time when you are alone with your thoughts, pondering about the day that was about to begin or reflecting on the day that was on the way back home. It also gave you some time to catch up with the latest news (if you were bored of the conversation around!) by reading the newspaper or the latest novel. Oh! If you really want to master the art of reading a newspaper, you should catch the morning train while going to work. (The multiple folds of the paper and the unbelievable positioning of the paper in spite of the lack of room).

Earlier when I used to travel, I used to marvel at how people could sleep in the train in such heat and with so much noise around. However, I now am a certified practioner of sleeping in trains. A half hour nap and you end up feeling refreshed! The sleep just comes automatically, which may be due to the rocking motion of the train. And it is equally amazing that people seemingly fast asleep get up without any alarm just as their destination is approaching! (Though there have been several times when I have missed my stop!)

There are problems too – the delays, the crowd, the long ticket lines, breakdown during rains which most people are familiar with and yet we tend to shrug it off.

Because we know that the local train symbolises our city – nonstop, fast paced, efficient and single minded. Selfish on the outside, but always willing to help whenever needed. The only mode of transport that connects our ever growing city and keeps the cosmopolitan culture going. The local does not distinguish between religion, caste, sex. You can find the peon and his boss travelling together, the student and the professor, the doctor and the patient. It is a great leveller and in the biggest democracy in the world – one of its most well known symbols.

Some links

Watch this excellent documentary by BBC on our suburban railway system.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/documentaries/features/bombay-railway.shtml