MUMBAI: LIKE OR DON’T LIKE IT, BUT YOU’LL LOVE IT.

Coming to Mumbai was a decision which was taken with a lot of thought. Hope for a better education quality was the first point. And the rest followed. Pune was an option but…… frankly speaking patterns and prejudices do scare the hell out of me. The image of Pune which resembles to some UNDISPUTED CHAMPION in the field of education makes me cynical. Ask anyone where they want to go for study? And the answer you get is a cliché. And you definitely know who I am talking about. Of course the glorious town of Pune with its archaic tradition of producing or to say MANUFACTURING (Sorry! But preparing for CAT leaves an impression on you ) so called Graduates year after year compelles you to have a second thought about it. No offence to Pune’s Education system. It is among the best we have in India. But my experiences says ‘Never to follow the crowd, If your aim is to lead them.’ So Mumbai was finalized.

Well my first day in Mumbai. I arrived at Dadar, and hugely underestimated the station’s size. There are two railway lines at Dadar, one WESTERN and the other CENTRAL. My train arrived on the central sration. As I had to go to Malad, which apparently comes on the Western line, I needed go to Western line station. But my dear friends, there no thing in the world which tells whether you are standing at the Western line station or the Central line station. The only thing I knew was that local train to Malad leaves from platform #1. I thought it would be a piece of cake to go from platform #4 to #1. but the moment I reached the crossing bridge you realized the it is not as easy as it seems. With a bag in each hand, I could barely make my way through the crowd which seemed to be in all the hurry of world. They seem to rush as if their life depended on it. No one even seemed to notice me. I was perspiring as anything. But who cares. The only reliving thing I saw was the board showing ‘Platform # 1 here’. I was in a state of Euphoria after successfully arriving at my destined platform. The joy was also because I reached in one piece.

But it was not over yet. All my dreams shattered the moment I realized that I had erroneously arrived at platform # 1 of CENTRAL STATION. Apparently what I thought as the end of the Station from the crossing bridge was not its end. If you continue walking down the bridge you come across a new world. The world called as the WESTERN LINE STATION. And I say again, There is no way in this world to know whether you are standing at Central station or the Western station (only way is that you already know it or you ask someone). But I was too sure of my decision to make sure whether I was at the right station or not. So I had to restart my journey from platform # 1 of Central line to Platform # 1 of Western line. And mind you it in not as easy as it seems. You have to climb all the way to the bridge, which is made extremely difficult by the crowd. Then again face the crowd on the bridge and again make your way through the crowd to the destined platform. And if you are unfortunate enough to carry luggage, you are doomed. Anyhow I made my way to the platform (and the right one this time). Fortunately there was not much crowd in the train. I thanked God that me and my luggage found a place to STAND in the train. But my bad time was not over yet. Another intresting thing about Local Trains is that you are not sure on which side of the train the Platform will come. On my journey I observed that some platforms come on the left side of the train and some arrive on the right side. Then it struck me that if Malad platform comes on the Right side, I will again have to cross the bridge because I wanted to go to Malad (West). Apparently the railway line divides the areas in two parts WEST and EAST. The tracks run North-South. Malad comes north of Dadar. So if the platform happen to come to the right side. I will again have to cross the bridge. But this time I had a backup plan. I had estimated my remaining energy which was as low as 40%. So I decided to hire a Coolie this time. Ha, I can beat the system. But thanks to the railway authority that Malad platform came on the Left side, and I didn’t had to cross the bridge, again. I took a rikshaw which was another laborious task. Now the rishawwalas here get to decide whether they want to take a passenger to his/her destination or not. If you think that you can TELL a rikshawwala to take you to so and so place, you are hugely wrong. You have to ASK a rikshawwala that whether he will take you to so and so place or not. Rikshawwala don’t need you , on the contrary you need them. Sorry! But that’s the way it is here. I had to ASK at least 9 rikshawwala to take me to Pawan Baug. And from that day 10 became my lucky number. At last I reached home. All sweaty and thank God in One Piece. But all this does not make you hate the city more, but silently it makes you to fall in LOVE with this city. You cant help it. The more you try to hate it. The more you will find it close to your heart. There is a charm, a charisma which you cant resist. It tests your tolerance but rewards you if you pass. Struggling each time only to get entry in the Bus, having a hard time getting out of the Local are the examples of the daunting tasks you perform. But you really cant help falling in love with Mumbai. In the struggle to survive, this city brings out the best in you. The spirit of Mumbai is praiseworthy. So LIKE OR DON’T LIKE IT, BUT YOU’LL LOVE MUMBAI..