The 'Confus' Mumbai Local

Before I really begin, here are a few things I think I should clarify.

No, 'confus' is not a word. I've been using it with a select group of people since 2010, so forgive me for getting habituated to using it.

What select group?
Well, my batch of IT students at St. Xavier's College, Fort.
Why?
Our IT professor was a man of many talents. English wasn't one of them. Neither was a sense of dressing. He would use words that he'd invented himself so frequently that we'd begin to doubt our own knowledge of vocabulary. Although, most of the words he used were derivations of actual English words. 'Confus', in this case being a derivative of the word 'confused'. And I'm pretty sure that's what he meant, too. Except that that's not what he used to say.

"Did I make you the confus?"

- things he would say.

Anyway, I seem to have drifted away, again, by the looks of it. So, I'll get back to the confusing nature of train travel in the city, and tell you about The Confus (what we used to call him) a little later.

Firstly, I am of the opinion that local trains are the best way to travel in Mumbai. Most other means of public, or even private transport for that matter have to face the wrath of this ever present evil that we affectionately call traffic. *sigh* 

The Bombay Suburban Railway has the highest passenger density of any urban railway system in the world.

That really isn't all that hard to believe, given our population. On an average day, this system carries 7.24 million passengers. If you're a regular traveller, I bet you've already started picturing all those people cramped into a local train, people hanging out of the train, holding on to it with all they've got.

If you aren't a train person, I'd love to take you to Dadar station on any weekday between 6 pm to 8 pm. Just watching the expression on your face as the drama unfolds would be more than entertaining.

Now coming to the Confusing part.

In any local train, there are six main categories of compartments, each having it's own set of advantages and disadvantages.

1. General

For anyone and everyone. More commonly known as 'Aaaam Aaadmi'. (That 'Aaaam' makes me crave for mangoes.)

2. Ladies Compartment

It's a little obvious, no?

3. Luggage Compartment

4. General First Class

5. Ladies First Class

6. Handicapped Compartment

Any seasoned traveller will agree with me when I say that the Ladies Compartments are among the most under-utilised compartments in any local. Even during peak hours, there is always place in the Ladies compartment, while people are packed like sardines inside the General compartment. And don't even get me started on those few trains that run, called Ladies' Specials. Like under utilised coaches weren't enough.
I'm not against having special compartments for women. Yes, train travel is a very touchy affair, especially during peak hours, so it's completely justified. But too much of anything is bad, especially when the same area can be utilised in a much more constructive manner to ease the density during peak hours. For any Economics students out there, I'd like to compare it to the Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility. In plain words, it states that, "The more you have of a thing,  the less you want more of it."
While I'm talking about Economics, let me also point out that the Mumbai Suburban Railway system is one of the cheapest transport systems in the world.

Personally, I love travelling by local trains. I'd choose them over any other form of public transport any day. It feels like you're a part of something much bigger than yourself. A system, that works efficiently to make sure that you, and all those people sitting around you in that train reach their workplace on time. Yes, there are delays. Trains even leave before time. But given the passenger density and the crush load, that really isn't something I would crib about. I've been travelling on local trains for about 3 years now, beginning 2010, when I joined St. Xavier's College in Fort. And I've been travelling ever since. There is really never a dull moment. You either become a part of, or an audience to, the daily grind of countless commuters on a daily basis. 

Kurla Station, for example, offers me a king's reception every morning, on my way to college. A thousand people trying to jump into the train before it even stops, before letting anyone get out. The result is a hundred mid air collisions, followed by an unbelievably crowded Foot Over Bridge.
All in days's work, for the millions of people using this wonderful system for their daily commute.

Kurla Railway Station on an early morning.

Confessions of a bored engineering student

If you're going to ask me why I wrote this, I should tell you that I have an SPA board practical exam tomorrow.

If you know me well enough, I needn't say any more.
If not, well, I'm an engineering student.
Constant and recurring boredom is a known side effect of most educational courses, especially among teenagers.
Why? A common explanation is the "Too cool for School!" ideology.
I begin to think that there is more to it than that. As teenagers, our minds are on overdrive.
Well, of course! Which 50 year old wants to know about what's happening in the life of all his 1000+ Facebook friends? Leave alone Twitter, Instagram and all the other social interactive platforms.
We feel more inclined to fulfilling our social 'responsibilities', than focusing on 'what really matters'.

Social Responsibilities:

1. Acquire the latest intelligence about your close friends, enemies even. 

Some call this activity gossiping. There is much more to it, trust me. Sleuths could learn a lot from the intelligence gathering techniques of teenagers. Not to be sexist or anything, but especially teenage girls.  

2. Social Interaction.

         Most people I know will make it a point to check their Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and the countless other networking platforms way more religiously than anything else. This probably comes under the first header, but it deserves a mention of its own. Most teenagers spend an average of 2-3 hours hooked on to their smartphones looking for the latest updates in their online lives. That takes me to my next point.. 

3. The Smartphone.

The dawn of the smartphone has revolutionized the everyday life of us, teenagers. Most parents would claim that it’s one of the biggest distractions and quite honestly, they’re absolutely right.

When was the last time you went more than a day without checking your smartphone? The most I’ve gone without checking it is about 3 hours. My first semester exam, that.

Smartphones have given wings to the networking capabilities of teens (much like Red Bull gives wings to everything else). We don’t have to wait to get home and switch on our good old PC in order to get the latest updates. It’s all in the palm of our hands. The launch of IM applications like WhatsApp is leading to the death of our traditional SMS messaging. And why not? Technology is what leads us forward, right?

Moving on to the topic of Smartphone addiction, I’d say that we’re all addicted to our smartphones. And that is just putting it mildly. If you’d like to explore extremities, let me introduce you to a typical BlackBerry user. I am yet to meet one that lets their phone out of their hand, even. Their addiction is more BBM related than the phone itself. Because honestly, what’s in a BlackBerry apart from that? And maybe the lovely physical Qwerty keyboard?

I’m drifting off topic again. I do that a lot. I begin somewhere, and end up somewhere else. Yes, I’m a drifter. If only I lived in Tokyo!  

Okay, that was lame. Like most other jokes I make.

On that abrupt note, I'm going to end this little post.

Have a productive day ahead.
No, seriously. I'm sure you have something productive to do. Get up and go do it.