[Reader-list] Virar Fast - Train Research Posting

[Zainab Bawa]

Dear All,
I am sharing with all of you my experience of traveling on trains today.
Cheers,
Zainab


Three and a half hours by Virar Fast

Date: 06/05/04
Byculla to Virar and back

This morning I decided to travel with the office crowd to see what happens 
inside the ladies compartment during the morning peak hours. I had a quiet 
journey from Byculla to Virar starting from 6:55 AM in the morning until 
8:40 AM. There were few passengers in the train. Most of them were dozing 
off. A vendor or two entered the compartment, but nothing unique.

Things started happening when the train touched Nalla Sopara station. People 
began getting inside the train so that they could have seats to themselves 
when the train would hit Virar and then head back to Churchgate. A young 
girl came and sat besides me, asking me where I would be getting off. She 
had a suitcase. She was leaving for her village in the evening and was 
carrying the luggage to her office. Her plan was to leave office and head 
straight to the station. She asked me whether she could keep her bag in the 
space below my seat. I consented. She seemed like a very obedient girl, 
someone I would call a ‘good soldier’. I tried to strike a conversation with 
her and asked her whether she was headed towards Churchgate. She replied in 
the affirmative and then asked me, “Are your friends going to join you?” I 
said no. Maybe if I had said yes, she would have moved to another seat. I 
was surprised at the level of obedience she had. Just the other day, one of 
the interviewees had said to me, “You should be stern in trains. Don’t be 
lenient!”

I was curious to know more about train groups and train friends. A lot of my 
interviewees have been talking to me about train friends and train groups, 
people who may not necessarily work in the same office, but travel at the 
same hours daily. I wanted to see for myself what happens in the mornings in 
the trains, what are the conversations like, what is the atmosphere in the 
trains and what happens to this city.

When the train reached Virar, my city was awake, wide awake! I could see 
people standing like alert hunters on the platforms, waiting for their kill, 
I mean, for their train! A lot of them are very skilled at pouncing onto the 
pole of the door and getting inside the stomach of this big animal called 
local train!

At Virar, as the train halted for a few breathing moments, women quickly got 
into the ladies compartment and organized their seats. Some were 
dissatisfied at the seats which they had got. They tried to look around for 
better deals. Some were lucky; they found good seats. Women got into their 
daily groups and began chatting. “What movie did you go for yesterday?” “Oh, 
I had a fight with my boss/colleague in office yesterday and this and this 
happened!” A girl from another group was applying a new shade of lipstick 
while her companion was explaining details and nuances about this new shade. 
Others in the group were asking this savvy girl about her jewellery and tips 
on latest fashion.

I had parked myself by a window seat, watching as many people as I could. As 
the crowd increased by the next three stations, people’s bodies blocked my 
view. There were many women in my chest and face – a lime green kurta, a 
pinkish-orangish kurta, a slim waist, a fat waist – women of various shapes 
and sizes.

The first thing I noticed was that quite a few women who got into the train, 
both at Virar and at the subsequent stations, took out their prayer books 
and began chanting. Women who were standing were also reading their prayer 
book very diligently. I looked around and saw that as these women were 
praying, they managed to have a quiet space around themselves and nobody 
would disturb them in this act. Once the praying was done, the women got 
into their act of either thinking, or standing and dozing, or chatting and 
singing with their train groups. I was curious to notice this. All of these 
women were office-goers, and well educated (most of them would well have 
been more than graduates). I asked myself, ‘what propels these women to 
pray? Is it faith? Is it a daily routine which gives one a sense of 
security? Who is their god or God? Is he/she an anchor as they navigate each 
day of their life?’ I have observed more and more people in this city who 
pray regularly. What are they protecting themselves from? What are their 
wishes and desires which god/God could grant?

As the train was moving towards Churchgate, at each station, women would 
stand by the door, crowd around to get off, and when the station came, like 
sheep (guided by the shepherd of instinct), they would push and squeeze 
their way out. It’s just that these were two-legged sheep!

A group of women (who I could not see because they were seated in the 
section behind me) were playing Antakshari and were singing old songs. They 
seemed totally unperturbed by everything else happening in the compartment. 
I find this to be a very interesting character about the ladies compartment 
– in the same compartment, there are several events happening 
simultaneously. Yet, everyone is concentratedly involved in her own 
activity, whether it is sleeping, singing, chatting with a group of friends, 
or whatever, totally unconcerned with whatever else is happening around. I 
feel that some switch-off takes place inside the head where the antennae are 
shut and the focus is on what is involved in at that time. No one is 
disturbed by everything else happening around, unless there is a huge fight 
which then draws everybody’s attention. I am trying to understand what is 
the cognitive make-up of the human mind when traveling in trains.

Equally undisturbed were the women who were standing and thinking. I could 
observe tired and jaded faces. A sense of monotony was evident on their 
faces, a deep sense of tiredness. I again asked myself, ‘what kind of work 
do these women do in their offices? Most of the times, they are selling 
something to someone – an insurance, a mobile phone, a loan, etc. We have an 
economy of sale and perhaps all that these women do is to run after clients 
and sell them something. What is monotonous and boring in their lives? Is it 
their job, their lifestyle, their current situation? Are they happy people?’ 
At the same time, I could notice women laughing and chattering. They had a 
lot to talk and share. For these women, life currently didn’t seem like a 
cross to bear.

At each station, women who entered the compartment would inquire with all 
those seated – ‘which station are you getting off?’ Accordingly, they would 
book seats for themselves with the seated person. A couple of women had 
inquired with me as well. The young, obedient girl sitting next to me 
suddenly turned around to me and asked, “Where is the woman who had claimed 
your seat after you got off at Dadar?” For a moment, I failed to understand 
what she was saying to me. I thought she is trying to sell me an insurance 
policy (because I had figured out from her conversations with her office 
companion that she was working in an insurance firm). The word ‘claim’ was 
buzzing in my head for a few moments until she asked me again, “Where is 
that woman who had earlier claimed your seat? There is someone there wanting 
your seat after you get off at Dadar.” I looked at the new claimant and 
promised to give her my seat since the earlier claimant had already found a 
seat for herself. Once again I wondered about the notions of space, claim, 
territoriality – territoriality is a very important part of our mainstream 
culture. Similarly, there is a vital connection between space and claim. I 
was once again struck by the obedience of this girl. She was careful enough 
to ensure that there was no overlap of promises. I am a casual traveler. I 
couldn’t care who asked for my seat and who finally got it. But I realized 
from this incident that there are certain rules of train travel and certain 
commitments which have to be honored. Not everything can be taken for 
granted, especially if you are regular commuter. Then again, who makes these 
rules? There is a deep sense of emergence which I am noticing about trains. 
I am beginning to believe that it is the commuters who make trains what they 
are – there is a strong interaction between commuters and the way trains 
have come to be today. Yet, do the commuters feel a sense of ownership 
towards trains? Do they see trains as belonging to them or do they see it as 
government property?

Stations came and stations went. After a point, some of the seated commuters 
would get up and let the standing commuters sit, with a tacit agreement that 
the latter would get up when the former felt like sitting again. The 
obedient girl got up and offered her seat to a woman who would be getting 
off at Andheri. Another seated commuter got up and offered her seat to 
someone else. She was dressed in a maroon salwar-kameez and wanted to chat 
with someone. She began chatting with a woman who was standing since a long 
while. Both of them discussed the latter’s house cleaning activities. Their 
initial conversation centered around what brush is good for cleaning 
toilets. Then they spoke about cabinets and mirrors. Then they began 
discussing vacation plans where the latter mentioned that she was going off 
to Shimla to escape the heat of Mumbai. Both of them spoke of a colleague 
who had already left for Shimla and they were imagining how she would be 
enjoying herself. Suddenly, the long-standing woman said, “Oh, but isn’t her 
husband posted in Jammu?” indicating that he was in a ‘danger-zone’. The 
seated-now-standing woman responded, “I don’t know. She was murmuring 
something about her husband being in the air force. I could not understand. 
But I have come to know that her husband has relatives close to Jammu and so 
he is enjoying his posting.” “That’s good,” said long-standing woman, “as 
long as both are happy, that’s more than enough.” The seated-now-standing 
woman had a very satisfied look after this conversation. Somehow, she felt a 
sense of security and importance.

The train was delayed between Santacruz and Bandra. The commuters got 
irritated, wondering what was wrong with the train. A lot of them looked at 
their watches and worried about reporting late to work for no fault of their 
own. Others felt that worry would not undo what was happening. They had a 
sense of acceptance of their faces, a look indicating, “we will face the 
consequences as they come”.

I now had to get off. I indicated to my claimant that I was vacating my seat 
and that she could take over from me. All the four persons seated made 
arrangements between themselves and my claimant had a satisfied look on her 
face after she sat down, even though she was sitting in a very uncomfortable 
position. Perhaps that’s what they call ‘something is better than nothing!’

As I got off from the train, I asked myself, ‘are relationships between 
people in this city very superficial? Or is it that life in itself is 
stressful and all that people want is an opportunity to have a good laugh 
and get on with their lives? Who cares about meaning in relationships? What 
makes life meaningful? Are we leading meaningful lives? Do we have the 
leisure, as Walter de la Mare had stated in her poem, to simply stand and 
stare? Would meaningful lives change the character of this city?’ As these 
questions ran through my head, I remembered the importance of cinema houses 
in Mumbai city. Last year, when the cinema houses had gone on strike, I was 
wondering that if these cinema houses would not exist, people in this city 
would go mad. Perhaps cinema is like an antidote which helps us to exist 
inspite of all the stresses that we face. It is not just a means of 
entertainment; it provides a very crucial and valuable space for people in 
this city to unwind. Similarly, the sea in Mumbai provides people with a 
space to relax and simply be. In the absence of the sea, I cannot imagine 
what Mumbai would be.

I find that these days, people in Mumbai are addicted to work. They do not 
want to be inside their homes. Young people are constantly looking for 
avenues to spend more time outside the house. And boredom strikes this city 
too often. Radio and the FM channels, which were once a big craze, are 
waning gradually. People want entertainment, new entertainment, more 
entertainment. Are we bored of ourselves? Or, are we very afraid to simply 
be with ourselves, without any external stimulation?

What’s wrong???

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