Mumbai will never be short of stories. And each Mumbaikar will always have one every hour. Here's mine represented in the form of a collection of tweets during my three-hour local train journey to office today (produced in chronological order so you can get a feel of the 'ordeal'):
- Faaaaantastic morning... Till I reached the station. Central Railway continues its 'khed hai'/'regret the incovenience' announcements.
- Trains continue to be in the 'delayed' or 'cancelled' mode in Central Line. Those travelling,plan accordingly. #MumbaiTrains
- "Yaatriyon ko honewali asuvidha ke liye hame khed hai." Sounds very re-assuring and genuine,coming from a pre-recorded voice.#MumbaiTrains
- Shouts,arguments&abuses in the train. Kalyan v/s Dombivli. Thank you, Central Railway. Couldn't have had a better start.#MumbaiTrains
- One of the 'best' counter-argument points I've heard. "I am more educated than you." All happening in my train. #MumbaiTrains
- What is it about arguments inside a first-class compartment where people suddenly start arguing in English? #MumbaiTrains
- So people in FC compartments switch to arguing in English to prove that they are 'educated.' #irony#MumbaiTrains
- If u ever wanted to witness a diverse India,just travel in a Mumbai local train during peak hrs. Abuses fly in all languages.#MumbaiTrains
- Highly interesting when the arguments in a train turn into an 'us versus them' debate. Us=Kalyan Maharashtrains;them=Domb Maharashtrains
- Peace in first class for the time being but i can hear abuses from the adjoining second class compartment now.
- All the audience lacked in the verbal warfare in this first class compartment was a pair of boxing gloves. #MumbaiTrains
- Ahaa! White flags. The 2 'educated' folks have moved on from arguing to discussing the delay in train. In Marathi, of course.#MumbaiTrains
- I should have obeyed my instincts. Should have! Should have gone to Khandala in stead.
- Stuck b/w Mumbra&Kalwa in a packed train for more than 1 hour. On a normal day,I'd be having my double half-fry in office now.#MumbaiTrains
- Tempers flared.Fists raised.All because of delayed trains.Tempers cooled.White flags raised.New friends made.All because of delayed trains.
- Train just snailed its way to Thane.1 'arguer' got off;not before shaking hands with his erstwhile rival "chala saaheb.bhetuya."#Mumbai
- And not surprisingly, there were 4 Tata employees, including me, of the 6 seated folks to get off at VT.
- VT! After 182 mins and 37 seconds of arguments, abuses, verbal cat and dog fights, peace talks & handshakes, my train tweetathon ends.