[Reader-list] Reading the City through its Railway Stations

[Zainab Bawa]

Understanding the City through its Railway Stations
-
A Train Ride Along Various Western Railway Stations

Today is the day of Ganesh Visarjan which means that the idols of Lord 
Ganesha will be immersed in the sea. It is not a public holiday, but several 
offices remain closed, particularly in the latter half of the day which is 
the time when traffic hassles begin. At 9:00 AM in the morning, the city was 
sleepy eyed, not a regular Mumbai Monday morning. I arrived at Bombay 
Central Station. Gradually I saw people pouring out from the mouth (errr … 
entrance) of the station. Mumbai city is waking up late today.

Having bought the tickets, I proceeded towards the platforms. The aim of 
today’s journey is to get a perspective of various Western Railway 
Stations from the eyes and angle of a commuter inside a train compartment. 
The route I am going to travel to-and-fro is as follows:

Bombay Central – Mahalaxmi – Lower Parel – Elphinstone Road – Dadar 
–
Matunga Road – Mahim – Bandra – Khar Road – Santacruz – Vile Parle 
– Andheri

Both ways, I ferried myself through slow trains. Usually, traveling by slow 
trains along Central Railway is quite a task for me; the pace of time is too 
slow then and I begin to feel irritated after a point. However, today, 
traveling by slow trains to Andheri and back did not seem as much a task. 
Perhaps this is because I am used to this route since the last six years 
now. As I was traveling up and down, I remembered the words of Trupti Nayak, 
one of my interviewees while I was researching on local trains. She had said 
to me, “Train travel is very structured. You know that after Kandivali, 
Borivali station will arrive.” I believe Western Railway is much more 
structured than Central Railway. The certainties are much greater in the 
case of the former than the latter.

Mumbai Central Station: Mumbai Central Station is a unique set-up. It has 
the local train network and the outstation train network. Trains to North 
India arrive and depart from here. But it is much better organized than VT 
station which is also the hub of local trains as well as outstation trains. 
The local train station is on the dull side. It hasn’t changed much ever 
since I have known it from 1997. The same goes with the outstation trains 
platform – except for the introduction of McDonalds here, everything else 
remains the same.
What is very interesting about the Mumbai Central Local Train Station is the 
amount of hoardings advertising underwear for men. Some of the ‘brand’ 
names are Dixcy, Rupa and VIP. The hoardings stand out in your face. No 
other station is as garishly decorated with men’s underwear advertisements 
as this one! Another aspect of the hoardings is the little postcard-size 
boards which always have the latest Bollywood film posters. These are 
present at every railway station, however big or small. The current posters 
at Mumbai Central Station are those of the film ‘Shaque – The 
Mystery’. Shaque appears to be one of the B or C grade Bollywood films. At 
different railway stations, you will find different film announcements 
depending on the type of audience which is sure to patronize them. For 
example, at Sion Station, A grade Bollywood films will be advertised and 
this is partly because of the presence of a Cinestar Multiplex Theatre close 
to the station. I think advertising at railway stations is a matter of 
strategy, strategizing and reaching out to certain specific classes of the 
masses.
When I arrived at Mumbai Central Station after completing my return journey 
from Andheri, I walked through the outstation trains’ platform. An 
interesting development at different railway stations is the establishment 
of UTI (Unit Trust of India) ATM centers. Most stations along Western 
Railway have at least one such UTI ATM center. I call these ATM structures 
‘sophisticated tapris’ (a tapri is a Mumbai slang for a roadside stall 
which sells cheap stuff, mainly food items). Outside each UTI ATM center is 
a security guard belonging to one of the fancy security agencies like TOPS, 
Lion’s, etc. The guard usually looks very bored. But his presence on the 
railway station is a novelty for me. It is also a source of irritation 
because for me, he is clearly an outsider. He is not a part of my 
imagination of a railway station. Further, he does not even fit in the 
landscape of a railway station, a perfect misfit. A railway station is about 
transition. Here is a permanent structure in this realm of fast transitions. 
Perhaps it is the notion of surveillance at the railway station which I am 
unable to digest. I shall have to do something about this irritating 
constipation. Does that mean I have to reconcile with the security guard’s 
presence? I hope not …

Inside the train – from Mumbai Central to Andheri: The train chugged 
along. We arrived at Mahalaxmi station which I have always drawn parallels 
with a Chinchpokli or a Currey Road station along Central Railway. However, 
these days, Mahalaxmi Station has its own esteem and prominence. It is 
becoming the young executives’ railway station. Geographically, Mahalxmi 
station is one of the entry routes to Worli and Parel, both of which are 
upcoming hubs of advertising and media agencies, therefore the increasing 
executives’ crowd. Mahalxmi is also infamously famous for the death of 
Nadia, filmmaker Kaizaad Gustad’s assistant. She died here at Mahalxmi 
station during the shoot of the film ‘Mumbai Central’. But I guess this 
incident/accident is not a very critical part of people’s memory of their 
railway station. It therefore becomes interesting to examine how a railway 
station is part of people’s everyday memory. What kinds of memories are 
these? Are these ultra-short term memories given that the transitions are 
rapid and the speed is like that of a bullet? What role does ‘time’ play 
in the development of these memories bearing in mind that ‘time’ is a 
unique conception and practice at the railway station?
>From Mahalaxmi, the train proceeded to Lower Parel and Elphinstone Road 
stations. Both these stations are pretty much like the Siamese Twins. The 
feel at these two stations is that of Maharashtra and Marathi Culture. As 
you pass by these stations, you notice the old chawls of Mumbai, the notions 
and practices of locality and neighbourhoods, a way of life where time plays 
a very different role and priorities are organized not around individuals 
but around communities. Lower Parel is another station which is the hub of 
transport of peoples working in advertising and media corporations. Further, 
the sale of mill land in this area is giving rise to new enterprises and 
shifts. Lower Parel is now the new horse bet i.e. it is touted to become a 
posh area, like another South Mumbai. Bacchi Karkaria in one of her pieces 
in the Times of India had condescendingly stated that while once Chinchpokli 
was seen as a squalor area, the potential of Lalbaug and Parel becoming 
plush neighbourhoods and localities will now give a different connotation, 
flavor and feel to the idea of living at Chinchpokli. It will now no longer 
be associated with squalor, but might just become a light joke and a new 
parlance in the language of the city! Talk about imaginations, media and the 
generation and practice of city!
We reach Dadar. Western Railway Dadar station is a complete contrast to 
Central Railway Dadar station. In one of my early meetings with a friend who 
has a business in hoardings, he had mentioned that advertising space for 
hoardings is very expensive along Western railway. Yet MNCs want to 
advertise along these stations because of the kind of crowd using these 
stations and the potential visibility of their products and services. At 
Dadar Western Railway Station, you will currently find the entire station 
full of Sony Max hoardings. I am coming to believe that Sony Television has 
a monopoly over this station and also perhaps at Kurla station. The latest 
Sony television serials are advertised here in full spring. The changes in 
the hoardings are devoutly periodic. For instance, when Sony launched the 
serial ‘Yeh Meri Life Hai’, the hoardings stayed on for about two weeks 
and immediately thereafter, they switched to putting up hoardings 
propagating ‘Saakshi’, another new serial launched on weekends on Sony. 
These days, Sony Max is advertising its season of Amitabh Bachan films. The 
strategy of advertising along this station is based on ‘visibility’. The 
hoardings are very prominent, large in size and lettering, brightly 
coloured, suspended from the ceiling at very regular intervals, with the 
idea that in case you haven’t noticed them while standing at the station, 
you will definitely have fleeting glimpses of them as your train starts 
speeding away from the station. Thus, the placement of the hoardings is 
right from the start of the platform to the absolute end. In this way, 
whether you are departing from the station or arriving, you will see these 
hoardings irrespective. A lot of this now reminds of me things which Naomi 
Klein had pointed out in her famous book ‘No Logo’. What then becomes 
interesting is the very notion and exercise of ‘space’ in an urban 
setting. While physical space is rapidly shrinking, every aspect of that 
physical space is being captured by MNCs and it translates into staking 
claim on our personal spaces. These hoardings and advertisements are very 
surreptitious tactics of territoriality on our everyday memories, taking us 
away from our locality and transporting us to an arena of the globe. The 
globe is then presented as a market, a market of various kinds of products 
which claim to fill us with happiness and fulfill our aspirations. And my 
fear is that this illusion is harmful in ways which damage not only our 
locality, but also our ecology and threatens our very existence. We are not 
only drugged, but are damned and doomed! (Where is Jesus? I hope he is not 
being taken away from the Cross and put up on one of those hoardings …)
>From Dadar, we move to Matunga Road station which has always been a dry and 
dull station. It has its parallels with Khar station in terms of anatomy, 
but Khar belongs to a different genre because it is home to another kind of 
elite in the city. Mahim junction is an interesting station. It is the 
middle-classes’ locality and neighbourhood, but has its own vibrancy. Food 
stalls are aplenty here. People normally hang around here in groups because 
Mahim is a classical old community in the city. Mahim in fact is one of the 
seven islands that this city was once made up of (the islands have now been 
‘reclaimed’). Mahim station has its own form of organization and 
disorganization. Women are seen with their friends and groups here. You will 
find them anxiously running around the station because they are hassled 
about their train. Or you will find them supremely relaxed and joking about. 
I am coming to believe that women and the railway station have a very 
different relationship. Men can be zombies when it comes to the railway 
station. Women present diverse practices, ideas, imaginations and 
conceptions.
BANDRA – here is the absolute lifestyle station. Bandra is a very, very 
old station. The paint at the station is nearly worn out and perhaps without 
the hoardings, the atmosphere at the station would be completely different. 
It is a rushed station at every point in the day. Different crowds are its 
users. The morning consists of the office-goers and the collegians. The late 
hours of morning and mid-day consist of late office-goers and late 
collegians. At this hour, you will also find women traveling for family 
affairs. Bandra station also has the Harbour Line platform which a 
completely different crowd uses. The Harbour Line platform is located at the 
far end of the station, almost kept separate for a separate category of 
people. By the early evening, you will find the crowd consisting of people 
arriving here from college. By 5 PM, this station is teeming with people. 
But despite the rush, the crowd is very disciplined. There is a strange 
thread of organization running here.
Bandra is again the hub of MNC advertising. Lifestyle products are hugely 
advertised here. These days, the hoardings are advertising the new Orange 
phone from which you can watch Television Clips (talk about how mobile 
phones are becoming everyday devices!). Like Dadar, the hoardings around 
this station are also changed periodically and regularly. Bandra is a 
lifestyle neighbourhood anyway. Even the class of people using the station 
is the upwardly mobile group. Those from the middle classes aspire to reach 
the level of upward mobility, particularly the youth. These days, the target 
of all MNCs and the Global Market is the youth in the city. Talk about 
vulnerability and gullibility – are these two the different or the same 
sides of the volatile dollar?
Khar, Santacruz, Vile Parle and Andheri is a route where we can trace 
patterns of middle-class consumption and neighbourhoods. Excepting Vile 
Parle, the other three are areas which combine the old and the new. Khar, 
Santacruz and Andheri are not just urban neighbourhoods. They consist of old 
villages of fishermen in the city. Similarly, people living in these areas 
consist of age-old residents and the mobile new ones. These localities 
represent the aspirations of the people to move towards the ideal of gaadi, 
duplex makaan and lifestyle, something along the likes of the Great American 
Family Dream. Amenities, services and products are being customized to serve 
the individual – yet, who is this individual and whether his 
individuality/identity is dependant on this kind of customization? What is 
individuality?
Khar Station is a bland station. The real drama takes place outside the 
station. By the evening, Khar is a deserted station. Most people frequent to 
Bandra. In terms of safety, Khar is not the most ideal station. The pace of 
time along Khar station is also slow and slack by late evening. In a sense, 
Khar represents an extension of Bandra, like moving along the same spectrum.
Santacruz Station is again a crowded station by the day and the evening. 
Afternoons are fine here, though there is a distinct crowd here in the 
afternoons in terms of mummies and babies. Santacruz (West) is lifestyle 
while Santacruz (East) is relaxed. Both these localities are sharply 
contrasting. Hence the station is both, a point of meeting and departure 
for/of the different categories of crowds.
Vile Parle is a fun station. Again, Vile Parle is the route towards Andheri 
and it is also like a spectrum along the same line. Consumption is a sharp 
feature here. Vile Parle and Andheri has its unique crowd which it boasts 
of. Presence of colleges like Mithibai and NM and localities like Irla, JVPD 
Scheme moving towards Link Road, Seven Bungalows, Yari Road and Lokhandwala 
Complex are evidences to the consumption patterns in the form of products 
and Multiplex Cinema Halls. Vile Parle (East) is a different ball game. 
Essentially, Vile Parle is a Gujarati neighbourhood and hence, food is a 
delicacy of this area. Step out of the station and there’s food for 
everybody’s pockets. The station itself has its own unique pace.
ANDHERI – it is a mad station in summary. While the railway station is one 
site, it cannot be distanced from the bus depot which is almost tied to the 
station like the umbilical cord. In the mornings, crowds throng from Andheri 
station to the bus depot and in the evenings, crowds emerge from the bus 
depot and become users of the station. During monsoons, Andheri is a dreaded 
station. Yet, it is one station you cannot ignore. The station witnesses 
organization and disorganization at various points in the day. Also, there 
are clear sites and locations of organization and disorganization. Hoardings 
are an important form of advertising here too. But the advertisements are 
clearly job related. For instance, the current hoardings are advertising 
careers in a Citibank Company called ‘E-Serve’. E-Serve promises nine 
levels of fast growth and a brilliant career involving foreign trips. At the 
time of the IT Boom, Andheri station was laced with advertisements about 
computer courses and the promise of how an IT Job would be the most 
appropriate step in fulfilling your aspirations of a comfortable life. 
Andheri is again a youth station like Bandra. It is the office executives’ 
station as well as of the middle classes hailing from Virar, Nala Sopara, 
Bhayendar, Mira Road and Dahisar.

I got off at Andheri Station and started walking around the station. It is a 
corporate office culture station here. Young men are dressed in formals, 
with a tie and their badges suspended from around their necks. It is a clear 
indication that in today’s time, your identity is linked to either where 
you are working or what you are working as. Thus, in order to appear a fit 
in the crowd, I need to ensure that I have a decent MNC job. The initial 
stages of ‘growth’ involve ‘where you are working’ and gradually, 
you progress to how many prestigious places you have worked with and what is 
your position and ‘value’ in the market. What’s also important to note 
is that the car loan market will have several buyers in Andheri area, the 
idea being that you start with train travel and as you reach the top rungs 
of the corporate ladder (and the movement is very quick these days), you 
purchase a car. If you are in Mumbai, check out the traffic outside Andheri 
Station (West). It is a driver’s nightmare.

Executive Summary (pun intended): Today was an eye-opening trip. I believe 
its importance lay in perspective – watching a railway station and 
conceiving the neighbourhood from inside the train compartment and, 
gradually reading the city. Transformations in the urban are rapid – it is 
not simply in terms of the exterior or the structure; rather, the changes 
lie also in attitudes, lifestyles, habits and patterns. The ultimate dream 
that is being marketed today is exactly the same as the ‘Great American 
Family Dream’. The question is whether this is The Dream? What of 
locality? What of the past? What of heritage? Is all of this being buried in 
the grave of globalization? Most importantly, is the intention to establish 
a monoculture, some sort of a UNIFORM CIVILIZATION (pun intended!)?

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