What A Ride

It was evening and raining heavily as I rushed inside the Borivali station to find an AC local at the platform. The AC local was introduced on 25^th December 2017 and I had not yet taken a ride, so this time I decided to experience it and what a ride I had. I was travelling from Borivali to Mumbai Central. It was the 6.55pm local and yet as time ticked by it didn’t move. What was truly eerie was, as far as I could see inside the train there was no one, not a soul. The AC was on full swing and Mumbai felt like Kashmir. My mind re-winded as I was about to witness another ride as this after 9 years or so. That ride I remember we (Ananya and Me) were travelling from Howrah to Digha in the Duronto Express and our compartment had no souls apart from us in the whole journey. In fact, the bus that the resort had sent from Sankarpur to pick us up also had only us as the only passengers. That was another great experience.

Well coming back to the story and the reality the AC Local finally started at 6:57pm and the doors closed with only me sitting. After a while finally I saw a soul, an RPF Lady Constable walked past me and settled two rows back. And almost in a minute, she was having a conversation which was clearly audible. She must have been speaking to her senior. She was narrating an incident that had happened during the day. A man had entered a women’s coach and she had an altercation with him. The person would not get down and she would not let him stay. Amidst this, another soul was coming forward and finally stopped in front of me asking to show the ticket. It was the TT (Travelling Ticket Examiner) or TC (Ticket Checker). As he finished viewing my ticket, he uttered three words which no one can expect in any local train of The Mumbai Subarban Railway Network, never. He said, Thank You Sir. Can you believe that a Mumbai TC was actually thanking a passenger for showing ticket? Unbelievable. 

Anyway, Andheri had come by that time but not a soul in sight. I was having a feeling of riding in the future as you might have experienced in movies. It was dark outside with heavy rains and an AC fast local at full speed was like I was anywhere in future but not Mumbai, can’t be. The thought sends shivers down your spine and I was experiencing it with the chilled temperature inside.

So gradually Bandra came, Dadar came and finally I stood up as I would get down at the next station, Mumbai Central. I, actually, was up as soon as the local left Dadar. Warming up, you know, I warmed up, took some photos and waited near the closed door. As far as I could see inside the train there was hardly anyone (see the pic). Finally, I got down at my destination only to look back and find the RPF Lady boarding down too.

Well, as I walked ahead, the train left and the rain sound took over I don’t know why but I was only thinking about “Okhil Babu (Okhil Chandra Sen)”, the man who had written a letter to The Indian Railways in 1909 which supposedly led to the introduction of toilets in trains. 😊