Our family commute during my childhood days was aboard Bajaj
Chetak, huddled close together in a family hug behind ‘PA’. Simple and warm just
the way it used to be in those days.
Years later when I returned to Delhi for work, life threw
many options at me: different and new modes of travel – Office bus, car pool
with seniors and colleagues, DTC bus and Delhi Metro (still under construction).
The preference to the latter was deferred due to obvious reasons. I had to use
the office bus since it was economical and convenient but demanded a lot of
time. I tried utilising the time, catching up with sleep or reading. But the
travel time only kept increasing with the passing years. Therefore I bought my
own car. It did save a lot of time, but I was cut off from the realities and
the patterns developing in our city; alienated behind those closed protected
doors and glasses.
I took a conscious decision of moving away from the city, I
cut my wings. But as life would have it, yet again, life has brought me back
and I travel in the much coveted Delhi Metro now. Even though its services are
fast and prompt, it simple cannot accommodate Delhi’s exploding population. And
now having used it for around three weeks, I have become one of them, one of
those travelers these days, who hold their smartphones in their hands and
choose to be deaf to the moving traffic and commuters. It was so much different
in Mumbai, where people liked talking to strangers on the go, where traveling
was fun and an active part of life. Ever heard of “Train friend” as a concept, it’s
alienating in Delhi. All girls and boys, men and women have blocked their
ears with the headphones, bluetooth and wired for the entire travel time. It
gets uncomfortable to even ask, “Aap kahan uttrengi?”, “Zara side dena, please?.
Uff…You tap their shoulders; they unblock their ears (if they can) and ask “hmm?”….I
wish I could just collect all those earphones and throw them far away to planet
Pluto….But since I can’t….what do I do to relieve the angst from my daily
commute is to listen to music. Even though I see the flip side of this behaviour,
I have to admit “I have become one of
them now”.
