Train-ing guide!

There is no experience quite like travelling in a Mumbai Local. Given that an average Mumbai dweller spends one-eighth of his/her day travelling from one corner of Mumbai to another, many a tasks are fitted to fill in those 4 odd hours. Many a things that form the book definition of a wholesome life which us original modern, non-city dwellers do not bother much about, creep into the life of anyone who has spent about 2-3 odd years in Mumbai. It’s contagious…and it varies with age…ranging from the extremes of chopping vegetables, mugging up for exams, catching up with loved ones on phone, chatting, knitting sweaters for kids in colder lands, praying, reading or saying grace…trains are a haven of all elements of a life well lived. Every little moment accommodates every little nuance which matters in a daily checklist of a ‘responsible’ citizen…

What I love the best about my train journeys, especially if I am standing (which is the case more often than not) is peeping into & reading open pages of the novels which my co-travelers are going through. My daily dosage of reading surely gets done along with giving enough foliage to my imagination thanks to chapters from fiction novels which begin out of nowhere (like scenes from a play) & end unceremoniously when one of us gets down at the next station! Spirituality is taken care of with chapters of Art of living staring at my face…it is indeed a wholesome train-ing experience in the train!

It is great to see a novel unfold in its most cathartic moment, as if that is where it all begun & I fight the urge to snatch the book to flip back the pages to check the context of it all! I put imaginary faces to names, imaginary settings & if I really like what I read, I strain to check out the names of the books on the covers & along the upper page margins! I make it a point not to be noticed as I read up pages after pages, more often than not way faster than the original reader…

(What really surprises me is the affinity of a slightly elder age group of women lapping up chapters off Mills & Boons in the train! I must admit, it’s my maiden brush with M&B as well, so I too sort of qualify to be a vicarious elderly reader J )

Someday I am sure I am going to get a feeling of déjà vu in the middle of many a book…but until then, I guess it’s going good!!!

**Image picked from the internet**