Lessons from life
Aditi Sinha
Before I delve into the account I wish to pen down, a little introduction of my background will help readers understand why and how I chose to write about something that everybody sees but fails to notice. I’m a Master’s level student of Economics and I came to Bombay a month ago to pursue a summer internship. Destiny had it that my office was 15 railway stations removed from my accommodation. For the first few days I travelled completely in a trance without sparing a thought for the journey itself and I would’ve happily gone back to college had not this “extraordinary” incident shook me and had me writing this article.
One day I was sitting right near the window in an overcrowded train. But the nightmare began when my station started nearing and try as I might, I couldn’t inch my way towards the door. Somehow I was able to position myself in line with those who had to alight at the same station as mine by the time my turn to alight came, the crowd outside had lost its patience to see people getting down and in the absence of any immense physical strength in me, I was pushed back to where I came from.
Mumbai’s local trains
This woke me up from the reverie that I was in and opened my eyes to the precision and grit which made the Mumbai local train the huge success that it is and the salvation of millions of commuters. Just as with the “dabbawalla’s” of Mumbai, local trains also offer far-reaching lessons worthy of being studied at Harvard or the like. First in this list is space management. Every inch of space in the compartment (and above it too) is utilised to the fullest and I know it goes against the laws of chemistry to propose that solids expand but just when you’d think the compartment is full to its extensive limit, the limit expands with a new entrant!
Once in, one still has to be dynamic and mobile. This brings in the concept of time management or what the Japanese would call ‘Just in time’ management. There is an efficient shuffling and reshuffling of people near the door such that one reaches there only just in time of alighting and does not block space unnecessarily. What assumes prime importance in such close call situations is to have bullet-like precision towards your goal and an armour of determination that no bullet can penetrate.
Even though I’m obsessed with optimisation by virtue of being an economist I was shamed to be told, albeit in slightly different terms that the ones used here, by a fisherwoman that it is a waste of resource to board a long distance train for a medium distance and that not being able to alight in such a case was inevitable.
Valuable tips
Last but not the least in my list of lessons is perfect information crucial for the right implementation of all the above strategies. The sequence of stations and the sides to which platforms come as well as minor calculations as and when the train changes tracks is to be handled with care. There is no room for errors and the unrelenting crowd does not give you a second chance. But all’s not dreary and competitive in this saga of a journey. Mumbai is very unpredictable when you might find friends in strangers. My stint is nearing completion and I take home lots of fond memories of the city that never sleeps and its most integral element — the local trains.
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