Mumbai... Local trains and that all!!

Dear all,

Today i am very enthusiastic to share my experiences with Mumbai. My first trip to the place was as amazing and adventurous, as i could have ever thought of. This was more of an orientation to Mumbai, with travel in local train, bus, auto and almost all the public modes of transport. But let me tell you, if you are going to Mumbai and not travelling in local train, then you are missing half the fun. With people of all classes travelling in this train, you will definitely be overwhelmed by the trust that hawkers have with people. These hawkers selling things ranging from ear-rings to bangles, just hand over the box full of ornaments to people and move around the whole train. People enjoy looking and admiring these ornaments and take some when he is back. I don't know why this striked me but i believe it is the faith that hawkers have in strange people.. People were very friendly to me and since i was unaware of the place, they took quite care of me and showed me the exact way where to get down and how to go.. It was amazing. For the first time, i did not feel i am away from my home- place and i felt secure... But one thought kept pondering my mind, that why is then Mumbai infamous for just propogating Marathi culture and being animist to people from outside especially U.P and Bihar... There could be two reasons: Either the trip was too short to get the other feeling of insecurity or it is all just politically made up.. I was seated and was looking and suddenly my attention was caught by big bunch of women flocking in the train..each one of them was managing to get in the train somehow.. And suddenly i felt the whole of India has migrated to Mumbai today..and is in the local train.. Local women were helping each other by adjusting as many people as they possibly could have in the seat.. It was somehow a nice feeling for me but i truely understand how annoying it will be so annoying for the local people who have to travel daily like that..
Especially the day when people would mostly use the local train - Sunday, there comes this MEGA BLOCK, where in tracks are cleaned and so the number of local trains running on the tracks is reduced.. I was also stuck in the process and the initial barrier to getting the local train was the LONG QUEUE.. And as i stood in the queue, there was a lunch break and then i was told that the train is going to leave and the next would come after an hour due to the same MEGA BLOCK... I started cursing MEGA BLOCK like anything but suddenly i was again made felt that how homely Mumbai can make you.. A woman came to my rescue and she got this bunch of coupons from other counter and told me to come along with her... I resisted a little but since i had no choice and i did not want to wait in the long queue and then for an hour for the train, i just moved along with her.. She validated these coupons and we finally catched the local train, which was just about to leave.. Aaahh!!

Finally, i guess my Mumbai trip will just remind me of these local trains!! And since it was just a two day trip, couldn't see the other side of it..

But one very beautiful thing about this trip was that i met my sweet dear darling sister after almost 2 and a half year... I love you my sweet sis..