A Favorite

One of my favorite sights is watching a train trundling into its final destination at night; twinkling platform lights welcoming tired passengers and motormen alike; Windows in a little office at the beginning of platform three glow like warm beacons of friendly light, saying "Welcome home, hope your journey was good".... From my vantage point at the door, it's a lovely feeling...and it suddenly makes up for everything else....

The only other time I feel like this is during take off on a flight. Love it! Talking about that is another blog altogether!!

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WARNING : Strong political feelings ahead! Bring some patience along esp. if you are not pro-Congress :)

AARRGH!!

The 12 Coach train suddenly transformed into a 9 Coach without warning. It was not amusing to run a mini marathon in high heels through a crowded Bandra station just to get a toehold in the train. Managed to, anyway (i.e to get a toehold and run the marathon). Was lucky enough to scrape through the Doorway Mafia and voila! a place materialised for me to put both feet on the ground with no Jackie Chan like stunts involved. Always helps watching his movies, I guess!

Anyway, leaning against the 'wall' in the passage, I had two women next to me for company (duh! Had to have women : ladies compartment, after all!!) They appeared to be having a pleasant conversation till one of them suddenly started a self righteous tirade, raving and ranting against Sonia Gandhi. This lady had her Top Ten countdown describing why Mrs. G should not be PM, and how disgusting the whole thing was. The No.1 reason was "What has she done for the country?"

At this point, I had had enough. It was a good thing we pro-congress loyalists are not trained like Shiv Sainiks are...but at that moment, I really wanted to whack the pontificating lady with my little PET water bottle and tell her with indignation that 99.9999% of the country's politicians had never done anything for the country - so that should disqualify ALL of them from being PM.

Sadly, it was probably her Guardian Angel watching over her (the offensive train lady, not Mrs.G) that the train was so crowded and I was not in a position to move my hand to lift the damn bottle. I was stuck! Surrounded by scary looking women who would probably stamp my toes or nudge me dangerously close to the door if I even budged an inch.

I wisely stayed put, thinking about Jackie Chan instead. That put a grin on my face which led to some more glares from the doorway mafia. Quickly wiped that smirk off and thought of my Mr.Right instead. My heart skipped a beat along with the wheels of the train and my co-passengers faded into the twilight as thoughts of Mr.R flooded in like sunlight on a cloudy day....Just thinking about him brings out the poet in me.....Sigh, I miss him.

Anyway...that was an eventful journey. A murder was prevented by the thoughts of Mr.R ; must keep that in mind for future reference. The offensive ladies got off without me noticing. Good for them. And keeps me out of jail for the moment.

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Ah! Feels like heaven. Woke at an indecently late hour (8.15 am :0). Churchgate, Office and the now slushy trains (post the rains) are a distant nightmare. It's good to be at home in the middle of the week. I remember school when we used to have a mid-week holiday on Thursday. Why can't offices follow the same principle? (They could also give us the weekend off, in addition to Thursdays.........)

You know, there are some days when I have strangest feeling, and it has always happened when I'm travelling to work either by train or bus... It doesn't matter if I'm sandwiched between a million (ok, ok, maybe fewer than a million - but it feels that way!) other irritated commuters or if I'm in a peaceful contract bus - it's this very sudden feeling which totally engulfs me - I feel at that moment two things : one, it brings to mind prisoners being taken somewhere together- either to work or somewhere else, like Concentration Camps. The second image that inevitable comes to mind is chickens or other animals packed together to be taken for slaughter.....There is no escape in both cases.....

Now, after much analysis (since I've felt this way often enough to be concerned!), I still have not reached a conclusion whether it's the commute that bothers me or the destination! Would I still feel this way if I lived in South Mumbai and could just walk to work? Or would I continue to feel like I'm on my way to be tortured??? Hmmmmm........ I wonder if anybody else feels this way or is it just me?

Anyway, no more thinking about office (unless I get more calls other than the two I have already received about some file that they can't find on my PC : haven't they heard of the 'Search' option??) and this love-hate relationship that I have with trains. Today, I shall enjoy the peace and not be concerned about missing this train or that. Tomorrow is another day. I have to get my pass renewed, buy rain shoes, dig out my favorite red umbrella.....But all that can wait. Time for a much deserved siesta, a magazine or two, perhaps a walk in the rain....Bliss!