Until Monday I had never taken the metro to go to work. It was always for non official commutes. But when I was required to be at the infamous Saki Naka, the Andheri Ghatkopar line seemed like a better way of getting into office. The short ride was pleasant but opened up many avenues for imagination. What was everyone thinking? Not many were on their laptops and almost no one was talking on the phone. The silence was deathly but welcome. The views were fantastic. Strong Deccan basalt traps, rising through and towering to the east, showing through below the carpet of hutments, airplanes landing and many industrial complexes interspersed with modern glass and steel buildings. I remembered the awe when we took the metro for the first time in 2014, oh what a wonder to zip through notorious traffic bottlenecks of Asalpha, Jagruti Nagar and of course Marol-Saki Naka.
But the orderliness of the metro and the queue management makes all of turn into sheep. And just as sheep we move and hustle into narrow vestibules and out into the chaotic but free world of Andheri east. Andheri east is really the underbelly of the corporate world, here is where enterprise breeds and in those small office galas thrive worlds that many of us identify as our workplace. But more about Andheri east on Sunday.
I have always wondered if people get into conversations on the metro. It’s so easy to make eye contact. After all the person is right opposite to you. A pretty kind face reading the same book as you, perhaps wearing a t-shirt of your favourite band or football club. Do you interact? I could never. But do you?
Metro rides in other cities are no different except that in Delhi they are equally packed like our second class compartment of the local during peak hours. Delhi metro connects to every place that you can imagine, if only you know where to change lines and then you can zip through, under and over the city of Djinns. Bangalore metro used to be fun too. When I first moved there, I would take it to go to my hotel – Chancery Pavillion, all the way on St Mark’s road from Doddanekundi. You could watch the dense green foliage as it glides over Indiranagar and Ulsoor – both fantastic neighbourhoods as I were to find out.
But a few days on the metro and I know why so many people switched from the local to the metro. If you ask me, I am just glad that they left and gave us localwallahs some room to breathe. That wayz every morning on my way to work, I can hang out at the footboard much more freely, feeling the breeze on my face, liberating me, even temporarily so.
