Three cheers to the Mumbai local

Whatever it is, I stand by my previous thought - this city has a quintessential charm! So let me pick the first charming thing about the city that every newcomer always raises a toast to - Mumbai locals!

As I crossed the 3 suburban railway lines to reach office I couldn’t help but notice that there were thousands others who did the same. But it was only me who was worried, everyone else was busy doing something on the journey. Everytime I had a confused look while switching the railway lines, in would come a good samaritan and narrate the plethora of options that lay before me. It isn’t really exciting to listen to someone talking in the native tongue - "1017 ko andheri se fast local jaati hain, usase dadar chale jaana, phir central line mein switch maaro aur Kurla jaakar wahan se Panvel chale jana. Itna mushkil nahin hain". You thought that the native tongue was marathi...no its locals! Mumbaikars eat, sleep and breathe locals ;).

Any other city probably would just have 2 options with respect to a local train - time and destination. Mumbai's railway network has probably the largest set of reserve words I ever thought was possible - fast, slow, central/main line, western line, harbour line, 12 car, 9 car, ladies special. The introduction of metro is just gonna add to the list I guess.

The cities that allow you to switch between the railway networks, example - Kurla, Dadar; one should probably hold a contest here at peak hours to check who manages to actually walk down or up the foot over bridge. Because in the 2 weeks that i tried you cannot choose to walk, you glide with the wave of passengers along. And if you glide in the wrong direction, no choice, curse your stars and start again!

Inspite of all this, its probably the best network I have ever seen. Every single point on the map is connected by the rail network with the trains running on perfect time. A 0717 hrs means just that, its never 0720 hrs. There is a train every other minute although you get a feeling that the rush in each of them is much more than the previous one.

The sheer magnitude of people travelling by the Mumbai railways can overwhelm you. As a newcomer you would detest the close proximity with which people travel. You wish you could be in a place where the density of population was lesser and the crowds thinner. But just when you are about to miss a train and are running towards it, out come many hands to pull
you in and remind you that this proximity is what keeps people human here!

What's best about Mumbai?

The victorian buildings:Nothing beats this one. I loved those buildings at their first sight, the stone walls, huge wooden doors, those french windows, corridors that seem to be never ending...... if i ever stay anywhere between CST and churchgate, I would take a walk everyday to imbibe the sheer magnanimity that these old age buildings seem to disperse.

Trains:Just when you thought that there isn’t an iota of space to keep another pair of feet, in come hoards of people and they still manage to fit in. You may curse and abuse the system but you could never miss that commuter who has a bag pack on his bag and a newspaper which he reads in leisure as if seated in a five-star dining room. You need to just look around to find a thousand faces that make you appreciate everything you have rather than cribbing about what you don’t!

Yeah! I know there are issues that plague this city but manmade issues cannot stop me from adoring a city that spells life and dreams for millions of people!

~ from the eyes of a newbie