Being an introvert and a very shy person, Ashwin, a young and
independent boy always liked the unvoiced surroundings and a non-crowded space.
He used to avoid public transports and always preferred his own car while
traveling. Staying away from the crowd was then his habit. Sometimes he used to
be proud of his money, his high-level education, standing in society and had a
mercy sentiment for poor and middle-class families.
On a very fine day; a little bit self-righteous Ashwin landed
into Mumbai for one of his friends’, Rohan’s, wedding. Mumbai, with a habit of
accommodating everyone coming to it, welcomed him with a big crowd. Ashwin
stayed at a hotel near Churchgate and was supposed to move down to a place near
Borivali on a very next day for a Wedding ceremony. He was not very keen to be
in Mumbai since he knew that Mumbai was known for holding a big mass, something
which he always had avoided. But he was helpless. Rohan was one of his best
friends during college days and he himself wanted to meet Rohan and wish him
good luck for his future. After spending a night at a high priced hotel, next
day morning Ashwin boarded a Cab and left for the Wedding.
Unfortunately, the Cab got punctured exactly in front of
Churchgate Station. Ashwin was irritated and got down of the cab. While he was
worrying on how should he proceed further, the cab driver suggested him to
either wait for fifteen minutes or to take a local train till Borivali. Ashwin
strongly denied the second option and confirmed his agreement to wait for some
time. While he was waiting, he tried to book another cab online, however, due
to slow network response, it too was taking long. After around fifteen minutes,
driver sadly approached Ashwin and mentioned that another tire too was
completely out of effort. Ashwin was exceedingly annoyed; he messaged few of
his friends to pick him up while none of them replied. Since taxies standing
outside of the station were able to provide service till Bandra only; the
driver was consistently convincing him to take a train. Ashwin was dense and
helpless. Since he had no other alternative, he started walking toward the
Churchgate station along with the driver. The driver helped him to get a ticket
and took him to the platform. The train was peacefully standing there as if it
was waiting for Ashwin to move in. He stepped into the train and sat very
uncomfortably on the seat next to the door. On the following second, the train
started slowly moving and left the Churchgate Station. To his surprise, a guy
who seemed highly educated was sitting on the front seat, facing Ashwin. That
guy was wearing a blazer and was reading something from a file; he was also
carrying a laptop with him.
Ashwin was damn astonished and wondered how come to a guy who
seemed to be qualified and to be from corporate world could travel through a
local train and could be so comfortable in it. He thought may be that guy was
there because of the same situation that Ashwin was going through. Ashwin tried
to be comfortable and started looking at some other people from the same
compartment. He could see another man wearing a better and a costlier blazer
than that guy’s, holding an expensive mobile in his hand and looking out of the
train window. Ashwin was again amazed and looking at these two guys he started
feeling relaxed. To Ashwin’s attention, there was a very simple and a beautiful
girl sitting at the diagonally opposite seat of his. Her big earrings and her
look in Pink Salwar Kameez made him timidly smile. Ashwin was
then much adjusted in the train and started monitoring almost everybody from
the compartment. There was a group of college students standing at the door of
the train and enjoying the slow blowing wind. There were two old men sitting in
the next compartment, which was visible from Ashwin’s place. Those two men were
wearing very average clothes, indicating their weak monetary status, and were
eagerly waiting for the next station which was Marin Lines. After the next
Station’s name was announced, those two got up and got ready to get down by
assertively standing at the door. Ashwin was stunned to see the strength and
the endurance they both had. The train stopped at the Marine Drive, dropped a
mob of people there, picked up another mob and left the Station.
Then the strength of compartment was increased. In that mob,
he came across a girl who was wearing very stylish glasses, a very fancy jeans
and a black colored t-shirt, carrying a bright yellow colored handbag and
boldly standing near the door. The wind coming in was blowing her hair, making
her more attractive. Ashwin stared at her for some time and again get back to
his inspection work. There were people coming in and moving out at each
station. To his realization, the soft sound of the bangles was coming from the
other corner of the compartment, there was a lady sitting there along with a
big bag of hers and with her two kids, whom Ashwin found very cute. The elastic
sound of her bangles, the wind flowing through the windows and doors, presence
of people in the compartment who were working in Corporate Industries and
having almost the same level of education as he had, two beautiful girls in the
same compartment and a company of a gang of college guys happily giggling and
making the ambiance cheerful made him much more relaxed.
He was now enjoying the travel and the untold, unfolded and
invisible company of all his compartment-mates. Stations were passing by and
Ashwin, unknowingly, was getting closer and attached to the ambiance and the
so-called ‘crowd' of the Local Train Dabba. At Bandra, the strength of the
compartment increased drastically. Ashwin could see few ladies standing. The
ladies were seemed to be uneducated .Being courteous; he stood up and gave his
seat to one of them. While he was standing, he could see that few people from
next compartment were sharing their tiffin, some from there were busy in
group-chat and few were putting in earphones and enjoying songs. There were no
traces of any discomfort and all were happily spending time, same as they spend
time at their homes. In next few minutes, Ashwin could hear the announcement on
the name of Borivali station. He realized that it was then a time for him to
get down of the train. He moved to the door, stood there and looked back at the
compartment. There was nothing left behind, but still, there was something
missing. The train stopped at Borivali and as per convention, there was a group
of people trying to enter in. Ashwin managed to come out without any
irritation.
As he came out he saw few of his friends, whom he messaged on
their cell phones to pick him up from Borivali, waiting to receive him for
Rohan’s wedding ceremony. They all headed to a car and a car started. Ashwin
was not willing to come out of the thoughts of a Local Train Dabba. With all rudeness, irritation,
hesitation, arrogance he had started his Local train travel and when he came
out, none of those feelings remained. That short travel taught him all
meaningful things. He understood that the poor-rich split, educated-uneducated
distinction, simple-stylish differences, age level differences were nowhere
present. All people traveling were humans and there was no other noticeable
quality within them. He came to a conclusion that – the city accepts everybody
who comes in and as for how he or she is. There is no criterion to be a Mumbaikar other than to be into Mumbai and to
run with the speed it runs with. It teaches everybody how to be patient, how to
be strong, how to fight and how to stand back even if you fall down. He
understood that the so-called ‘crowd' was formed because of a big kindness, of
one of the chief cities of India, of accepting everybody coming to it. The
Mumbai visit taught him something he might not have understood in his
lifetime. Ashwin was then looking refreshed, satisfied and very happy. And why
shouldn't he be? He achieved
something, he experienced the universally accepted truth, he understood
the meaning of ‘Aamchi Mumbai’.
