Regular passengers on the Western Suburban Railway route will realize the pressures of the daily commute – the crowds, the sweat and those battles to secure every inch of space for standing ‘comfortably’. The lucky ones are those who commute to and fro from one point to the other (say Borivli to Churchgate); no botheration of alighting or getting into the train midway which could mean enrolling oneself for another battle for barging into the crowded compartments. As if these daily crusades weren’t enough, the railways have now introduced some rakes which are devoid of the luggage racks. These racks were a boon for keeping luggage while you travel and also holding onto it as you stand closer to the window. This decision was apparently taken (in a haste?) after the July 11 train bombings to deter any terrorist from planting a bag loaded with explosives and risking the lives of many.
locals
A Day I Would Love to Forget!
I don’t know how many of us can foresee an eventful day when we wake up early morning. I couldn’t either and hence this article comes up :-)
It was like everything had to go wrong for me right from the word ‘go’. When I was taking mummy to the hotel from the hospital, the taxi driver took a longer route and I ended up paying out of my shallow pockets. He didn’t have the necessary change to give me too. Then on my way to the office I encountered another driver who did a similar thing by taking a longer route. I guess every one was briefed about taking their passengers on a ‘joy ride’ today by the Taxi Union. By the time my day was over and I met mummy again at the room, I took another taxi ride to the station. This time the driver didn’t have even 2 rupees to pay me the extra change for Rs. 20. So I obliged by fishing out the last penny that I could find from my big bag and yet it was 50ps less which he didn’t mind :-)
