A Crowded Day

:: WARNING : Long Post Ahead ::

Mumbai.... 8.15 pm

Yes i've reached Mumbai.... and most of the last twenty-four hours have passed with what we get in plenty in India - the crowd.....

Yeah.... With the festive season just completed, crowd is what you get anywhere you go.... The trains from Rajasthan to Mumbai are always jam-packed, no matter what point of time it is..... But during the time of festivals and weddings, they are just a bit better than Indian jails.... You don't even get tickets in the TATKAAL SERVICE (meaning Emergency Service.... the booking starts 5 whole days before the date of journey..... Crap !!! Emergency doesn't tell you that I'm coming after 5 days.... Get your tickets ready.... Wow !!! What if it did....) So its the dalaals (read :: ticket agents) who make all the money out of it..... So i visited one of the dalaals to arrange a ticket since i had to go to Mumbai with my sister's son..... He came to my place to celebrate Diwali.... Somehow a ticket was arranged.... But it was booked with some random name and some random age....

Rahul.... 21 yrs.... That was going to be my identity in the train..... That agent made me a year elder..... He gave me a new name..... And he charged 250 bucks extra on a 300 bucks ticket.....

I had to get a general ticket for my nephew and say a penalty inside the train..... as there was 'NO ROOM' (read :: no more booking permitted, not even wait listed tickets) in the train.....

We got a general ticket and boarded the 9:54 pm Suryanagari Express..... I got a 'Side Middle' berth.... (* who told Lalu Yadav to apply his brains here.... This is the most uncomfortable berth..... One person can't sleep there comfortably and we two people had to adjust in there....)

Fortunately, there was a family in the same compartment whose one seat was in another coach.... I dunno whether I was fortunate or they were..... I agreed coz it wasn't a Side berth..... We moved our luggage to the other coach and got settled there....

Damn !!! It was crowded like hell.... All one could see was either people or luggage..... People were sleeping or sitting everywhere.... in the passage, in the space between the berths on the floor and even near the toilets..... I would cancel my journey rather than travelling this way.....

There was hardly any place to move comfortably..... We still had to..... There were 14 people already present in the compartment meant for 9 guys.... And we two made that figure to 16.... That meant almost 2 people per seat.....

Honorable (is he....???) Railways Minister Lalu Yadav should've increased the number of trains rather than increasing the number of berths in a compartment.... (dumb guy....!!!)

I can't sleep in train.... I rarely sleep.... So i made my nephew sleep..... He slept within no time.... I decided to lay down in that cramped place rather than getting bored sitting idle all night..... I couldn't sleep.... Only i know how i passed the night.....

The time passed very slowly..... There's a morning after every night..... There was still around 6 hours of journey left..... The day isn't as boring as the night.... Even if you don't have good company (* not necessarily girls.....) its easier to 'kill' time during the day as you get people to talk to.....

The time passed away.... Soon i got down at Borivali.... Again to board another train..... This time it was the local train to a suburb where my sis lived..... Crowded it was again..... When will the Mumbai locals get crowd-free....??? After a few hours, it was time to get back to Mumbai..... Another train.... Yuck !!! I hate this....

I left two trains.... I was wasting time.... So i decided to get into the next one, no matter how crowed it was..... I did the same.... It was crowded.... Yet i managed.....

After some time, i'm getting bored and tired of the train experience.... So i decided to blog it.... And here i am.... typing this piece of blog on my cellphone.... (* ya.... believe me, i'm doing it on my cellphone....)

Tomorrow, i've to go back to my place.... Yeah...!!! You guessed it right.... BY A TRAIN....!!! This time i got the ticket using the TATKAAL SERVICE..... I'm going to travel on my own name and i'll be of my own age..... But i expect a less crowded train and some good company in the train.....

Here i hang up.... (* remember.... its my cellphone....)

So guys.... Wish me a Happy n Less-Crowded Journey....!!!