Travelling with "OTHERS"





Every time I travel to a new city/country, I always check for the best possible transport options available there. If it is a country capital, I generally get the pleasure of traveling in metros. Often wondered if people visiting India/Delhi for the first would find our Metro convinient enough. Not that I have not seen tourists travelling in Metro, though its an occasional sighting. Also had a first hand experience of people staring at you when travelling with "goras". In fact, my niece was so nonchalant about the whole experience, it made me wonder if her India travel check list included "ignore stares and occasional pushovers". What amazed her was the amount of attention she was getting in this country. Well yes, you are a girl and a "gora", what else would you expect.

We were lucky for traveling on non-peak hours. So we didn't really encounter maddening rush. I had seen, in the past, people standing in a corner looking at the crowd. Their lost look made me wonder if the travel website sounded the alarms as so what can they expect while using public transport in India. Or may they were just being adventurous and landed themselves here. When you chat with these tourists they dont seem to be bothered. Mostly are surprised by the efficiency of Delhi metro system. They believe India has the capability but lacks the will to do things. Some are just happy with the system and some are surprised at the efficiency of the system.

The standards differ. Tourists from America or Europe feel India really needs to improve. They often wonder how can people survive in such a chaos. But those who come from lesser privileged countries such as African nations are happy to experience the efficient public transport system. I happened to speak with two women, who were pen-pals and had decided to visit India together. While the Australian lady had some valuable inputs on how to improve the Delhi metro. The African lady was very pleased with the existing system. It was a great experience for her. In her home country public transport is still not the best experience.

I have spoken to many tourists who are very comfortable traveling in Delhi metro.

Everyone knows Rajeev Chowk station is overcrowded at all times. There is not one time during the day when you can expect lesser crowd on stations. It was usual crowded morning. I looked out of the window the platform was brimming with people. I saw her standing there right at the back of the queue. My experience told me she would not be able to board this metro. Passengers alighting from the metro will make it impossible for her to board. Then I saw her pushing her way through. I was amazed. She was being pushed around by passengers. One girl rather frail in her appearance uttered the abusive word in Hindi. To her utter astonishment our Afro-American co-passenger understood the word. What followed was a sight of dismayed passengers unable to believe what they heard. Our lady in question was shouting on top of her lungs, “What are you doing Baba. What is the problem with you. Did you just abuse me by calling me a ‘Kallu’?. What was that you just called me?”. If space would have permitted, I would have been rolling on floor laughing. My first thought was “Serves her right, how dare she use the Hindi word to abuse someone”. The poor girl was petrified. She half expected a slap to follow those words. Her face had turned white. She was unable to speak.

What are the odds, one may ask. The Indian girl is short, thin and at a loss of words. On the other hand, our Afro-American passenger is at least six feet tall, athletic built and with stare that can almost reduce you to ashes with imaginary laser beam.

That very moment I saw my little Indian friend collapse in fear. She fainted. While other passengers scrambled to help her, the Afro-American lady pulled a face in disbelief and alighted from the metro.

Someone from general coach called out; “You can get up now. She has left the train. You are safe!”.

Sizing up

Travelling in a public transport like Metro can sometimes enlighten you with greater sense of public opinion. Its been a while since I have been reading articles about increase in obesity in India. The statistics suggest that a large part of our population will be diabetic by 2020, thanks to our lifestyle changes. I know fighting bulge is a difficult task from my personal experience. But then Indian curry is such a great cuisine that everyone is across the world enjoys it. Also, our sweets are great to feast on. But gaining those extra pounds can have a lot more damning effect than earlier times. Being chubby was a considered healthy by my grandmother. She applauded mom's culinary abilities just because we were eating a lot. She was the last person to be bothered with the effect of food on health.

Today things are different. You cannot have those extra pounds with out having the feeling of guilt. Almost everywhere and in everything you are judged by your appearance. Yes, it has something to do with the clothes you wear. But it has a lot to do with your body weight. Almost everyday I hear one conversation which has weight as the main discussion topic. It may range from best possible diet methods to why Indian food is so bad for health. This conversation is not limited to young girls these days. Everyone seems to be following this trend. The difference may be boys/men would like to flaunt their gym skills and schedule.

A typical conversation would start with, "Oh! you have lost weight. How did you do it. I just can't give up on my love for food". The answer to this question will be, "No. I haven't lost weight. Though I am trying to experiment with a new diet regime and have starting walking a lot. I try to take stairs whenever possible. May be I look different because of my new dress. Or may be those extra hours at the gym are showing. But, I definitely think, I have not lost any weight".

I am sure health researchers across India will be happy about this awareness. However, those who love food and are lazy like me, might not appreciate the trend. Though I still believe the problem is not as serious with me as I have seen with some of my co-passengers. If you are not thin then you are not really welcome to travel. When the seating place is full, it is common for people to ask for some space and adjust. If you are not reed thin, you will be risking stares from people. Occasionally a firm "NO" can also come your way. When one person gets up, there are at least two people who would try their luck in fit in that space. If you are heavily built, your chances of success are very slim. Sometimes the co-passenger will bump you off the space just to make sure the rest of journey is comfortable for him. I am not a saint either, would always try and stand next to a thin person in a crowded coach. I have had some real bad experiences of swollen toes.

Occasional stare is the last thing you should be worried. Its the people trying to judge you just because you are medically overweight, which can be irritating. Not all are bothered by their weight. Some can use it for their benefit. This other girl who was with me seemed to use her extra kilos for good work. One she pushed her way in, through the crowded metro with relative ease. Secondly she went right up to the "ladies only" seats and stood guard.  Needless to say how thankful I was when I followed her into the carriage. She was short and bulky. It didn't seem she was bothered by the stares, rather was impatiently waiting to grab a seat. The moment finally arrived. Yes, she used her weight to push people and reach for the seat. Someone grunted, probably she has stepped on someone's foot. The passenger who lost seat tried to protest. She replied, "Can't you see I have a weight problem. I can't stand for long. You should have courtesy to allow me to sit".

The argument went in her favour and I could see many smiling faces.

On a look out

I am still so hooked to the idea of late 70's movie were people met on their way to college/office. I have been traveling for such a long time yet never met the same person twice. I am sure the fact that I don't really fall in the category of college-going-young-girl has something to do with it. I am sure at least office goers traveling in peak hours would hardly get time to notice people around them. More than once I have come across people quarreling over lack of space or invasion of space. But never really heard a friendly chatter during peak hours. 

I believed that college going janta would be able to help me to understand if my movie fantasy still holds true. No and may be, were few answers that I received. Some one told me that early morning travel is very boring with almost no probability of a Vitamin A sighting. The definition of Vitamin A, "Good looking girl/boy", is so true. Of course you can't catch a 8:00am metro and afford to look good. I have never been able to do that. But after 10:00am the story is different. While girls now dress up well  for the travel, the boys don't disappoint either. What I was looking for was the chauvinism that is depicted in yesteryear movies. The boy making way for the girl or may be coming to rescue the girl. Lot many girls need rescuing from the odd looking men even in metro travel. Those creepy looking men who are lurking around the "Ladies only" coaches. No one seemed interested in it. It seems no one has the time to keep track of co-passengers. Let alone be on a look out for love. 

I once spotted a group of girls and boys standing in queue on general carriage and talking loudly. The girls were rather too dressed up for an early morning ride. All of them looked very attractive. Then suddenly, I heard people screaming at each other. I noticed one of the boys of the group was having an animated discussion with other guy standing in the queue. Not a big deal for me as I get too witness this very second day. What struck me was the statement made by the guy standing the queue, he said "Tell your friend, she is in a public place. People are bound to look in her direction. If she hates being looked at then she should not travel in the metros". Its a matter of fact statement, which means I am going to stare do whatever you feel like. This guy may never stand a chance of finding a love interest in a metro.   I later heard that the guy was just trying to look at the  swanky phone the girl had. Which confirmed my belief, the guy will never be able to get a girl for himself. Especially when  he seems to be the King of lame excuses. Such people are found in abundance. No girl is interested in such "losers", one term which rather used too liberally by wannabes of today.

When almost everyone I spoke with, told me that they have no experience of chauvinism by co-passengers, my experience was different. Though it happened just once. It was rather a cute incident. One morning I was forced to board a general carriage due to huge rush hour traffic at the ladies compartment. I knew there was a slim chance of me making it to office on time if I persisted on my attempts to board from ladies coach. The crowd was bigger at the general coach but somehow I knew I would be able to get make it through the doors. The advantage of general coach is in people trying to maintain distances if you are a female. In a ladies coach you can be sure there be at least two females leaning on you. There are times though when you get squashed like a lemon during rush hours in general coaches. It was one of such days, when people seemed to be standing on each other. I was not spared that day and people seemed to particularly interested in pushing me around. One rouge in particular was trying to move in closer an inch at a time. I was trying to move away. I noticed there was another guy standing and blocking my way. His appearance was rather too ordinary to notice. He was lean and wore classes. He also carried a laptop on his shoulder. I kept slowly inching towards him as I felt he was as harmless as his appearance. This continued for good fifteen minutes when I suddenly noticed this guy has moved out of his space and made me stand in a secured corner. Like a movie hero, he put a hand to cordon me off limit for others. He never sneered or stared at the rogue. A simple action made the statement. 

In a different set of settings it may have been a start of typical Yash Raj romance. Hopefully for some one else it might be!!

Reading to learn

courtesy Dr. Vinay Kumar

Reading while travelling seems to be catching up in Delhi more than ever. With metro becoming a preferred mode of travel, more people are opting to read while travelling. It is common to see majority of people during the morning rides reading newspapers or kids doing their last minute revisions or fiction stories. No matter how much I would like to believe otherwise, most commonly read books will still be "Revolution 2020" and "50 Shades of Grey". I prefer seeing people with Paulo Coelho, who seems to be the next popular author with his plenty of books. I read some where he writes one book every 2 years.

I envy people who can read in Metros. I have tried a lot of times to get past my motion sickness but in vain. I mostly end up getting stares from readers for being invasive. After all it was and still is the favorite activity for us. Majority of us don't bother getting our copy, instead would lean over to get a better view of  fellow commuter's newspaper. The article some how seems more interesting when some one else is reading it. I also happen to be an avid member of this club. Trust me to know the major stories of the day, especially on Page 3, by end of my journey. My attention is inevitably drawn to books, but I am better off than a lot many people. I must caution you against those over enthusiasts who have read all books ever written and would not shy away from telling you this. They would also share their thoughts on favorite characters. You might encourage them if you smile. To save yourself the smile should be accompanied by the look which says, "That was very helpful. Thank you".

The latest fad these days are the self-help books. Lately I have seen an increase in number of people carrying authors such as Stuart Wilde and Paulo Coelho. In the month of April, Times of India had done a small write up "5 Great self-help books", which had me smiling. I firmly believe unlike US or Europe, India doesn't have a market for such books. The system around us is built to help us from the very beginning. From the day you are born till the day you die, advises come plenty and free. From how you should you walk to which career you should opt for, you have advisors for all. When we have such a blessed life, can we ask for more advise. I did seem to find my answer when I asked fellow commuter who was reading "The Alchemist". I asked him, "Do you like reading books which inspires its readers?". He looked lost. To make things simpler for him I asked, "Did you find this book interesting?". "Well yes", he said. I wanted to know more, so I asked again, "I liked the way he wrote but did not understand the inspirational message. People say this book carries a message, 'When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it', do you agree". I could see he did not get the message. He said,"I am not sure about the message in the book. One of my girlfriend is fond of reading and she loaned me this book. I am just reading it because she asked me to".

Well I got my answer, not everyone who reads a self-help would be looking for inspiration. Our little Indian world is still safe. Now I am looking for some one reading Stuart Wilde's "Miracles", to confirm my finding.

I know patterns

Photo courtesy Dr. Vinay Kumar

"A pattern, from the French patron, is a type of theme of recurring events or objects, sometimes referred to as elements of a set of objects. The elements of a pattern repeat in a predictable manner". I have always been able to find patterns in every activity. We are surrounded by periodical, rhythmic and repeating activities. It is not always visible and the pattern can be varied. If you take a closer look at the activities around, you will definitely find a pattern. Even while travelling in a metro, one can observe patterns in various activities. Some are very obvious like frequency of metros. While others are not very obvious at first glance, such as ratio of long distance metros to short distance metros on a particular route.

Not that I am always applauded for my ability to do, there have been times when I have been proved wrong. I won't suggest that there are many instances, yet I can't claim I am always correct. Recently I have started traveling with my colleagues in the metro. We share a common half-way destination, which makes it convenient to travel together. I have inundated them with my research on patterns with metro frequency and commuter behavior. Majority of times my findings have helped them save precious time. At times they have been able to manage to avoid maddening rush hour crowds. 

But today was different, I was on a high after finishing my work early. Avoiding rush hour traffic is a very important aspect of my daily commuting. I feel elated by the mere prospect of reaching Rajiv Chowk station before 5:00pm. I guess, for me, it is an achievement of some sort. My colleague was also happy and chatty. I was teasing her for being slow in wrapping her stuff and causing a delay. We had just reached the platform when a train was moving out. Which meant if we were early by just a minute, we would have boarded it. Nobody likes this feeling. I have seen people falling and scrambling to board the train when it was just about to move. We thought better and decided to leave the train. However, the next train was scheduled after 5 minutes according to the electronic display board. This information was not very helpful. She would also not agreeing to walk a couple of meters to "ladies only" coach. I don't appreciate travelling in crowded general coaches. However, we decided to board the almost crowded coach of the next metro.

I was repeating my concerns over crowded coach and trying to convince her to move ahead. In our discussions I happen to boast my ability to understand the patterns. The whole concept was not very appealing to her. To gain some brownie points, I suggested, "You know we should get down at the next station. If we leave two metros, we will be able to board the one which starts from there. This will help us find seats and travel comfortably without being bothered by the crowd". She did not believe me. I had to put an ice-cream as a betting bait to make her follow my plans.

Though she got down at the station, she kept reminding me about losing time and ending up in the rush hour chaos. But I was too engrossed to prove "there-is-a-pattern-and-I-know-it" argument, to bother about rush hour crowd.

Her count down started after one metro, she said we are "one-metro-down". She added, "Now according to your research, we need to leave the next metro too". Which we indeed did. But we were supposed to take the next metro as per my research. My research stated the pattern as three long distance metro and then one short distance metro. This did not happen, we were standing there for next fifteen minutes, with a count of "five-metro-down". Every metro seemed to be over crowded compared to the one we had boarded initially. This was not good for my self-esteem. She was laughing at me. She kept reminding me about the ice-cream I owed her. She was loud enough to make other commuters interested in our conversation. I had started noticing a couple of them trying to contain their smiles.

I was still wondering how can I go wrong. Tried hard to do the algorithm again, the fourth metro should have been the designated short distance metro. There were two metros which were terminated at the state. So technically, we should have at least one starting from here by now. Finally after leaving six metros, came the one which we were waiting for. My colleague was not impressed by this mis-endeavor.

Nevertheless it was her chance to mock at me all the way to Rajiv Chowk station. I was feeling depressed, it seemed all my co-passengers were conspicuously smiling at me. She said, "Tomorrow lunch session will be dedicated to your research on patterns". I knew better, not only tomorrow's lunch, for next one month at the very mention of word metro, this incident will be narrated by my colleague.

Next morning when I reached Rajiv Chowk station, I waited for ten minutes to confirm the pattern. Yes, indeed after two long distance metros, there was one for shorter distance. My calculations were accurate as I waited and let go of next six metros. Suddenly realized, need to be on time for a call!!!

Outage equals chaos here

"The power grid failure has given us international fame" a student declared, reading an article from Washington Post . "No wonder team Anna suggests that it is an deliberate attempt by the Government to sabotage their agitation", he added. Well, he was not wrong, almost all the major International newspapers carried articles terming it the worst power outage on July 30th. Unaware that India is capable of more and bigger power outage just a day after that on August 1. After which they realized "it only happens in India" and took the opportunity to dedicate lot many 20 inch column space everyday rest of the week. The latest one being on "Lack of power symbolizes inequalities" . One of his friend asked,"How was the day different than any other day in NCR? On any given day there is scheduled load shedding which leaves us without power for a good 5-6 hours". That is also true. I am also aware that its not that every summer Washington Post or New York Times writes about the severe shortage of power in NCR. Though in last few years there have been few articles suggesting India needs to improve its generation capacity or have smart grid systems. It was the balant exposure of system break down which attracted them. Our inability to sustain our basic transportation facility system were condemned by the International press. The capital region almost came to a stand still.

I was also surprised by the interest now people had in "Grid failure" discussions. I remember HT Mini (national daily special print for metro commuters) doing an article explaining supply grids and how grid fails. The article had a "FAQ" like column explaining in detail. A very helpful article which was not very enlightening for my fellow commuters. I saw several co-passengers reading the article. Still the discussion comments were very interesting. Grid system according to one passenger is a network of towers which carries electricity and can easily get effected by rain and storm since the material quality is very poor in India. A new engineering graduate rubbished his claims, according to him, "It is not poor quality of material. We overdraw power and do not generate enough". Not everyone was convinced by this logical explanation. They still wanted to believe, it was somehow the fault of Mr. Shinde and his team. They should have taken special measures to avoid this. "Probably called engineers from Japan to suggest alternative power source such as solar cells", suggested someone. When asked about the known capacity of a single solar cell, he was clueless. Not finding much appreciation, he came up with another bright suggestion, "Nuclear power is also a viable alternative. We don't have Tsunami here". His friend smiled and reminded him, "But we do have earthquakes here. They also pose high risk". The source of energy can be different but what they fail to understand was the need to conserve energy. I never heard anyone talk about how to contribute to avoid such situation in future. There perception and conceptions were very interesting. A group of elderly women felt they were much happier in days without refrigerators, washing machine and micro-waves. Life was simpler. While there was another group where the participants felt it was a good time for Rahul Gandhi to be our Energy Minister (?). After all he has studied abroad, he should be able to implement newer technologies in India.

I smiled and enjoyed a whole lot of similar conversations. The best statement was from one who seemed to be a beliver in "Mayan Calender", he said, "This is why we believe in end of world, it is a way of God for telling us we should not be too dependent on material things".

Well, even if the world is coming to an end, it wont't harm us if we contributed more towards energy conservation. Will it?

Harmless action?, I beg to differ

I read a quote somewhere by William James, "Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.", it is quite an inspiring quote. However, I am not sure how many of my co-passengers know about William James or heard this quote. Their action or in-action suggests many of them live surrounded in their own ignorant world. After travelling is metros almost every day for past six months, I have not been able to understand the reason behind some actions.

These actions are harmless but then they do make a difference. I fail to understand why one would;
Feign sleep to avoid offering his/her seat to more deserving co-passenger.
Not hold on to the rails while standing. How can tripping or falling over people considered cool?
Walk up and stand right in front of the queue when he/she should be the last one.
Push people to make way in to already crowded metro.
Trying to enter the carriage when doors are closing.
Peeping to see if metro is approaching. Will it make a difference except for the life altering accident?

Not all the actions are harmless. One may believe wearing sunglasses while travelling in metro is harmless.   I had have different experience. I was curious enough to ask a co-passenger with black sunglasses if he suffered from conjunctivitis. I had to be careful, it was rainy day with no sun. My co-passenger was not happy with my question, he stared at me in disbelief. His curt voice and stare will stay with me for a long time. It was not the only incident. Lately, the sightings have gone up to at least three people in day.Though I have learnt to suppress my smile and ignore the urge.

Some actions take considerable amount of planning before they are executed. Once I noticed a family of four in deep conversation, trying to convince the youngest on something. All the family members could be termed as medically obese. They seemed very tensed. When the station approached they were the first one to reach at the doors. My destination was the same station. I saw all four of them running towards the elevator. I knew what was coming next, they would use the elevator and leave the elderly passengers stranded. To my amusement I saw people in the lift asking one of them to step out. It seems the elevator was unable to take the weight of all four members with other passengers. The elevator doors were unable to close. I saw all four of them grumpily walking towards the escalators. I heard the father telling his younger one,"I told you to run (?) fast and be the first one to reach there. You need to loose some weight to be able to run faster. Your pace is slower than a snail."

Another harmless action which reminds me "If people never did silly things nothing intelligent would ever get done", quote by Ludwig Wittgenstein.