Chain

Vinay stood at the balcony of his Mumbai home which overlooked the tracks between Kanjur and Vikroli station on Mumbai Central Railway Line. He had spent a fortune and bought this property with a hope of getting a great view of the lifeline of Mumbai from his 11th floor residence. However, all these years he had kept so busy with work that he hardly ever could stand peacefully at his favourite place in the house.

The lock down had given Vinay a much needed break after many years of tireless working. He kept looking at the tracks for hours together. What he was witnessing was something he had never seen in his lifetime of 40 years. He had particularly very fond memories of the local train. He even met his - then girlfriend and now wife on the local train. He had spent hours together sitting with friends while in college at the platform on Dadar station and chit chat while looking at the trains passing by one after the other.

Vinay was lost in his thoughts about the locals. The local trains in Mumbai since 1853 have been an important chain in the life of this city. So much so that it is now known as the lifeline of this city. Everyday crores of people embark upon the commute to fulfil the dreams they see, their partners see, their parents see, their children see. No other city in the world would understand the importance of 8.02 A.M. as Mumbai does. Most cities would easily refer to 8.02 A.M, as 8.00 A.M.. But not in Mumbai. Every Mumbaikar would know 8.02 train is 8.02 train and not 8.00 train. Local trains have taught Mumbaikar's the importance of every minute.

Every morning is a hustle to get into the train, then to get a seat, then to get down to your destined station!. Local trains have given great lessons in struggling at every step of life and yet not give up.

You make great friends here, the kinds whom you meet only in the train. You don't ever meet them outside of the trains. There are also great chances of meeting life partners here. Vinay and his friends called it the video coach, He never bothered to check with his wife what did the ladies call that coach where there was a see through window between the general and the women's compartment. Vinay smiled and thought about how he met his wife by travelling by the same train everyday. Sharing looks - converted to smiles - to talking from that awkward small space between two compartments - to sharing numbers - to dating - to eventually getting married. All due to the local trains!

The trains have been a great display of human emotions. Vinay had seen happiness, sorrow, enjoyment, fun, frolic, fights, arguments, abuse, misery, thefts - all of them in the trains.

The trains have been a great chain which connected the whole city and its suburbs. However, it just didn't do that it connected efforts to aspirations, ill to cure, blessings to the needy.

While all of this was true it suddenly hit Vinay. Yes it was a link, which got people closer, made travel faster. But in these times of the pandemic the same chain seemed like a bomb. The same locals appeared to make Mumbai vulnerable.

The government took a call which no one alive has seen ever - the Mumbai local was brought to halt - first time possibly since 1853.

The chain was stopped to break the chain!The lifeline was halted to save lives!

Vinay felt a lump in his throat. With teary eyes he muttered a silent prayer for the locals to start soon - the locals to come back on track - the hustle to start again - the quarrels to be heard again - the rush to be seen again! Waiting eagerly to listen to those magical words - कृपया गाड़ी से उतारते समय, गाड़ी के पायदान और प्लेटफॉर्म के बीच के अंतर पर ध्यान दें!