The India Map

While chatting with one of my friends I was suddenly reminded of this India map which was in our house during my childhood days.

I think I was probably in the the 2nd or 3rd grade. We were in Nagpur then. Appa had just become a sports coach- specialising in Handball. Appa bought a huge India map and we neatly pasted it on the back of the bedroom door. It had everything we would require for our studies - states, capitals, union territories, cities, regions, roads, rail routes, rivers & oceans, distances etc etc. Helped us in history, geography, civics and current affairs. Like its Google now, almost every query on India would lead me to the map. Especially on Sundays would spends hours trying to study it. At different times of the year the reason of interest would be different. During tests & exams it would be study related, sometime in March it would be the route our train will take to reach Chennai, Coimbatore and ultimately Udumalpet (a small town in Coimbatore district in Tamilnadu) etc etc. From the day I could remember appa would travel to places near and far...defence bases...army, navy and of course air force. Once the map was up, one day appa started marking all the routes he had taken till date as a part of his official and personal travel, using a red sketch pen. Over the next week or so, about 40-50% of the map had red lines going in various directions. Then on any new route he took was updated on the map with a lot of enthusiasm & urgency. Most of them would be an extension of the already travelled routes but some were also new ones.

One day I realised this huge map of India had red lines criss-crossing in all directions covering all cities where you had rail routes or roads to...big and small. That day I was happy and surprised. Happy as if a major task was achieved and surprised at the amount of travel appa had done within say a decade. Envious too...as I still have memories connected to some trips of his...sunrise at Darjeeling, an explosion at Vizag, sand dunes of Jaisalmer and the rock gardens of Chandigarh.

Within about 4 years of buying the map, all of a sudden it seemed useless. In 1988, appa was transferred to Kharagpur, in West Bengal. We packed our bags and moved leaving the map behind....

Habit!

hab·it
n.
1. a. A recurrent, often unconscious pattern of behavior that is acquired through frequent repetition.
b. An established disposition of the mind or character.
2. Customary manner or practice: a person of ascetic habits.
3. An addiction, especially to a narcotic drug.
4. Physical constitution.
5. Characteristic appearance, form, or manner of growth, especially of a plant or crystal.

As the definition goes habit is something you acquire over a long period of time....by possibly doing the same thing again and again. And everybody have their own habits...some good and some bad. I too developed my habits while growing up...some good and some bad. Slowly I realised that given we were shifting places with dad getting transferred and later me shifting places at work etc etc some habits get dropped off. And you acquire some new habits. Even I did.... And its very interesting to note when this happens!!!

About three months back we moved to Mumbai and later to Thane as a part of our job. During the period when we were in the process of figuring out where to stay, how we will travel etc. Convinced that this was the best bet we signed the papers and moved in. With every passing day our travel routine evolved....what time to leave the house, which bus to board, which train to catch, where to stand etc.

And the whole sequence has become a habit now...in not even 45 days....I'm amazed..... So much so that even if one part of the sequence doesn't go according to plan I get frustrated...

Habit...

The Mumbai Marathon - Are you game?

I have moved into Thane (Mumbai suburbs for the uninitiated) hardly a month back. Thane was earmarked as the place for my residence during the current stint in Mumbai. (Previous one was for a year in 2006).

And in this short time life has already settled down to a routine. Day starts with a walk (to warm up for the day) to catch (rather try and catch) the bus @ 7.55 am. In roughly half an hour we alight to reach the obstacle course! A 500 meter walk followed by climbing and alighting 25 steps on either side. Walking up and down these steps, when I look down its scores of legs at a furious pace and when I look up its a swarm of heads ( or umbrellas depending on the monsoon...Keeps reminding me of the mass exodus scenes from the Hollywood flicks). And if its raining you can expect a steeplechase....jumping past those water pools to avoid your shoes getting damaged. After all this it looks like you have reached the starting of a marathon race! In between all this we are constantly keep looking at the watch (like a typical marathoner tracking his time and difference between his & the current world record!).

At roughly 8.30 am we have officially joined the rate race for the day...we are in platform no. 3 waiting for the 8.52 slow local (time it leaves for CST). Over the week or so when we did our dry runs to decide on Thane and later test runs to see what time we reach, we decided that this particular train was the best suited for us. Being a slow local, the train stops at all stations. At around 8.40 or so the train arrives. We like the rest of the crowd eagerly lunge once again like the marathoners taking position. As the train whizzes past and the Ist class coach nears me I gear up, try, dodge and muscle my way through and get into it.
As I get in I look for vacant seats (don’t worry they are almost never empty!!!) and if lucky get to sit on one. If not then look for the most convenient space given it was going to get packed in the coming few stations. This particular part of the trip is good for the calf, thigh and shoulder muscles. Wondering how? It’s a standing of over an hour in the most trying conditions and trying to hold on to the overhead hanger. (or whatever they call it)

The time is around 9.30 am and you have been standing for almost 45 mins. You would be experiencing pain in your heels and knees (like a long distance runner). What makes some of us happy is the so called calorie burn!!! We would have reached closer to Dadar and the train starts getting emptied. We get to sit and recuperate. In another 15 mins we are at Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus (formerly known as Victoria Terminus). Getting out of the train like lakhs of others do we walk towards our next mode of journey, the almost legendary Mumbai cab! Its another almost a 750 meter walk. May sound small but given the just completed train leg it looks like a lot. We get into the cab…relieved that we have successfully completed one leg of the journey…planning the return leg for the day.

As I have been talking right from the beginning this whole experience reminds me a typical marathon right from warm up etc with traces of steeplechase built into it!!!

The Mumbai Marathon - Are you game?

My Limousines in Mumbai

Have 72 - 96 alloy wheels...9 -12 different compartments and sections. Travel at 60 - 80 kmph. Wondering what they are? The great Mumbai local trains...

For the record, the system carries more than 6.1 million commuters on a daily basis and constitutes more than half of the total daily passenger capacity of the Indian Railways itself. It has the highest passenger density of any urban railway system in the world. And the entire economy seems to move around them!!!!

In December 2005 when I first ventured into Mumbai to work with JWT, I had dared to take on the might of the Mumbai workforce traveling by these trains, by taking a few trips from Kanjur Marg (the station closest to Powai on the central line) to Currey Road (where I need to alight for JWT). Did learn a few ropes, but by the time I could master them I moved back to Bangalore on personal reasons. Just when I was forgetting my experiences of that stint, here I was back in the city of dreams as some call it.

After much of huffing & puffing I have moved into Hiranandani Estate, Thane. Its hardly a month and am already getting tuned to having my life revolve around the local trains. Every day there is something to think about, what time to leave, which train to take, which one to board, where to stand to get in etc. A few trips and a friend of mine dubs it the best natural way to keep fit!!!! And everyday the challenge is will I get a place to sit and how early will that be.....

Today after a break the skies opened up and the great Mumbai Monsoon is on!!! Lets see what the monsoon train journeys have in store for us.....