I had to visit a family friend at Versova and ordinarily, I would have dreaded the long journey. I stay in Dombivli!!!
But then isn’t there a Metro rail from Ghatkopar to Versova? I have heard so many talking about it… Life has become much easier because of the Metro Rail is what all long distance travelers (read Andheri travelers in particular) have said! Now it was my turn to travel by the much talked about Metro Rail. I was looking forward to it!
Right from the time I got off at Ghatkopar station to the time I entered the Metro Rail platform I was full of excitement. I asked for a few directions and there I was on the platform of the Metro Rail. Now this is something I really want to talk about.
Something that proved that the much talked about Metro Rail is a wonder! There was no crowding on the station. No teeming masses of frustrated people waiting for their train. Instead there were short queues of four to five persons managed by a pretty attendant in uniform. Phew!!! This was decent! I looked on in speechless wonder. With people moving about in expectation, I knew that the train was arriving. Soon the lovely train slid into the station. The doors magically opened and everyone, yes everyone walked in decently. This was very soothing to my frangled nerves!
I found myself a seat and settled down. The AC was at the right temperature, so everyone was comfortable. Stations passed by and in just ten or so, we reached Andheri. I thought of my brother and also friends who used to travel to Andheri, the old-fashioned way. What a long, tiring, anxiety-filled journey they used to have! And what about those instances of train-rage that they had to face day-in and day-out as they travelled to Andheri? Now all that was to be no more! This journey to Andheri now is nothing short of a miracle to such travel-weary passengers. My station Versova was the last one on the route so I had some time to look around me and observe my fellow-travelers. All were relaxed, and yes decent. By decent, I don’t mean just their attire but their overall conduct on the train. Contrast this with our journey on the local trains. You will not survive if you are decent there!
Foul language, yells, shrieks, pushing, fighting and tearing someone’s hair off their scalp is all what one can expect there. And then we look down on people who behave like that! But haven’t we behaved like that some time or the other? So what strips us of our decency? It’s the type of travel that is offered to regular commuters you and me. So often we read in the newspapers of situations wherein people have lost their lives due to train-rage! But then who is to blame? Not always the people who indulge in train-rage, but the lack of facilities for decent travel for the millions in progressing India.
As I relaxed in my coach on the Metro Rail, I wished the government was more pro-active in this matter. I wished such train services existed everywhere so that we glorified humans could behave like human beings and not worse than the animals of our planet!
The Metro Rail seems promising. So I wait in expectation….Perhaps, in the near future with Metro Rails everywhere, we will regain our decency!!!
– Janice D’souza
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