Now that claim is a real paradox in itself, b'cos 'well'-travelled actually means long hours spent in stuffy hot sleeper compartments, uncomfortable bus journeys and unending waits at bus-stations and railway-stations to top up with. Still its not been such a bad experience after all.
Was in Mumbai last weekend on my way to Hyderabad - Mumbai, the place where I survived my 3 prime years! I reached Borivali bang early in the morning at 4 and wondered why we did have mornings at all...
Borivali Stn at 4:15 AM
So there I cursed the railways for being on time, gathered my super-light luggage and got down sleepy eyed on the platform. That was when nostalgia took over. These very platforms were my arena, some 15 months back. A prized seat in the 8:25 AM Churchgate local was some feat which I achieved almost every weekday without fail. And the sweaty 1 hr ride was heavily punctuated with brief naps, newspaper readings and boisterous discussions with fellow travellers.
Digresssion: The assorted mix of fellow passengers was really something to write about. Our daily group included a DGM in a top paints company, a practice manager in the top recruitment consultancy, an AVP Finance in an FMCG major, a fresh management trainee, a full-time Equity Analyst, an ad-professional etc and a few others. Such a diversified crowd, and many of them so well-set that they could've afforded a C class luxury car. Yet there was one common denominator that bound us all - the overstuffed 1st Class compartment in the 8:25 Churchgate Local. The discussions we had ranged from Stocks, politics, recent news, cricket, scandals, and occasionally even the anatomy of the latest item gals! Funny how this behaved as an extended family, or extended buddies group for the 1 hr journey every week day!
The local train compartment at 4:50 AM (you should see the rush in the 8:25 local)
Glad that I moved out of Mumbai and bid adieu to the local train nightmares. But those were some days....
Recently I just got upgraded! That means, off late I've started travelling by air too and Air Dhakkan has really got me frustated quite a times.
(Going back to my current story now) So having landed at the Borivali station, I took up a local half an hour later to Vile Parle. (This station too remains fondly in my memories having been the landing point for my college in Juhu). From Vile Parle it was a quick rick-ride to the Mumbai domestic airport.
Having reached there a good 2 hours early I decided to doze off in the comfortable seats - much better in contrast to the butt-crushing wooden planks at the railway platform.
The airport at 5 AM
The Airport at 7 AM
I was welcomed by a large, cozy, sparsely populated lobby in the beginnning. As the crowd grew, the Airport lobby started resembling no less than Dadar Station at peak office hours! There were queues everywhere, with Spice Jet and Air Dhakkan taking the cake. There were people were banging into each other's luggages, pushing within queues, small kids crying aloud and airline officials frantically trying to locate missing passengers. All in all, a very chaotic affair but entertaining too :-). I was pleasantly surprised by the new-look Airport, but the crowd really was something to watch out for.
The Airport Lobby at 7 AM on a Monday Morning. Dadar Station has huge competition!
Then, landing at Hyderabad around 10, I reached home and within some time I was ready to go pay a visit to my 5-day jail - The OFFICE !
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