The next station is..Doors will open to the left..Please mind the gap.

I wrote at length about the Mumbai Local in my previous post. Being a Delhite, I thought I must also write a parallel piece about the Delhi Metro.

The seemingly swanky metro stations and the swanky trains have surprised Indians and foreigners alike. Much like Mumbai, Delhi metro is fast becoming the lifeline of this metropolis bustling with activity.

I still have clear memories of my conversation over lunch with a Senior Engineer at the Yamaha HQ, Japan .We had been discussing about the Asian countries and the discussion somehow got to trains. The widely traveled Japanese Engineer was all praise for trains in Shanghai and even Hanoi. My worst nightmare came true as he got talking about his experiences in Indian trains. Talking about dismal state of Indian trains, while in company of fellow students from China, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, was very discomforting.

Gulping down tasty “Indian food”, for the first time in 5 days, served by otherwise very courteous Japanese, I stopped just short of rebuffing the engineer’s comments on Indian trains. (I simply love the way Akshay Kumar talked about India in the movie Namaste London).I politely requested him to board the Delhi metro on his next visit to New Delhi. The Delhi metro is any day better than the Japanese local trains (Not the bullet of course).

Now people might say the Metro is more imported than desi.I disagree. The technology might have been imported from Japan but the Indian Sweat, toil and blood make it more Indian than Japanese. Taking into account Delhi’s unique pre metro state of affairs, its one of the finest Indian engineering marvels. Thanks to E.Sreedharan and his team.

The Delhi metro, as in the case of Mumbai local, is a world on the move. I have attempted to broadly classify the Delhi metro travelers.

The College going student

Delhi metro is one of the best things that could have happened to the university going crowd (All fellow students would agree, I am sure). Beaming students can be seen chirping and gossiping all along. The college going crowd lends Delhi metro its vibrant look. Thanks to college crowd, the Delhi metro is also the best place to check out the latest fashion trends.


The Babe

The babe tries and looks busy, hooked to either the cell phone or the latest best seller in town. The snobbish looking female invariably finds herself to be the centre of all the attention.


The executive

Donning a smart business suit, the executive can be seen fiddling with his laptop or his PDA. Thanks to hectic Delhi life, the poor soul has no respite in the metro too. Who says Delhites hardly work…Delhites work hard.

The cobbler

Delhi metro has come to the rescue of these daily wagers too. However I have made some disturbing observations. The cobbler would rather squat on the metro floor rather than occupy a vacant seat. There is a glass ceiling somewhere. We guys don’t quite like to share a seat with the daily wager. The Delhi metro isn’t quite The Great Leveler, the way Mumbai local is.

The Birdwatcher and the Over Zealous photographer

This is by far the most abundant specie on board the Delhi Metro. The birdwatchers often go a step further and try and click pictures. Delhi crowd must learn to be a little more decent.

The Nasal Music fans

Wearing garish printed shirts and sporting excessive accessories, these guys can be seen listening to loud nasal baritones (U know what I mean) on their cell phones. Often enough the music becomes excruciatingly difficult to bear. The music director in question would love to travel in one such train. These guys set new fashion statements too …lol…

Just to put it on record, as the recorded female voice says “Listening to loud music in the Delhi metro is a punishable offence”.



Each metro ride is a great experience in itself…A lot can happen over a metro ride: wink. You might just meet “your someone special” while traveling by the metro.

Delhi Dilwalon Ki..Mumbai meri Jaan

It has taken me 5 trips to Mumbai to realize what I had been missing each time, flying in and out of the glamour city. Thankfully, my latest trip came as a welcome change as I hopped on to the August Kranti Rajdhani to Mumbai.

I was initially very skeptical about the journey; however my experiences en route made up for the time lost.

The longish train journey helped me develop an eye for detail, delve beyond the plastic smiles and cosmetic looks and observe Mumbai under a different lens.

A train journey gives one an unmatched opportunity to delve deep into the psyche of a vast variety of Indians. Indians are a varied lot, the vastly contrasting personality types that I came across continue to dazzle me even now.

I will enlist the people I came across and in the process try and bring out the differences between the Delhi and Mumbai ways of life.

The Happy Go Lucky Delhi couple

The well read elderly couple was sharing the compartment with us. They came across as very social, happy go lucky people.

We had extensive discussions about a variety of issues with frequent jokes and bouts of laughter interjecting the discussions. I later learnt the couple’s daughter is a part of a popular pop band in Mumbai. I have a couple of passes to the band’s next performance in Delhi...one spot up for grabs...Hehe.

The point that I want to drive across is that Delhites are any day more social than people from other parts of the country. The Mumbaikars lack time for socialization and emotions.

I must quickly add, its not that the Mumbaikars are not helpful, it’s just that they don’t have the time to comfort you with sweet talk. The Mumbaikars are very practical and disciplined people and set high standards of work.

The Delhi guys are also dangerously close to being pompous, the Mumbaikars like too keep it simple.

The Spoilt brat

The spoilt brat, presumably an alcohol addict could not keep himself off his bottle. All of us had been thinking that he had been drinking coke until he got his proportions wrong , got out of control and got battered.

Youngsters in the western part of the country certainly know their limits and respect women a lot. This rowdy Delhi chap certainly earned Delhi a lot of disrepute. Mumbai comes across as a very safe city for females when compared with Delhi.

Mumbai local

There is a reason why I classify the Mumbai Local in the list of individuals I encountered. And that’s because the Mumbai local is a world in itself, a world on wheels. It’s a world complete with its own struggles and triumphs and personifies Mumbai. The local is a witness to struggles at every station-struggle to get on the train, struggle to alight.

The Mumbai local is also the great leveler carrying on board people from all walks of life.

The Local is also a business opportunity for many. One can find strategically placed advertisement posters pasted all around. A faith healers advertisement promising relief from all sorts of problems in 24 hours must have struck the right chords with the targeted clientage.

We as Delhites, on the other hand are quite lucky to be blessed with the metro. The Delhi metro is much more soothing and comfortable.

The wise old man

This simpleton septuagenarian was an ocean of knowledge. With his clear cut ideas and excellent communication skills he can give any business honcho a run for his money.

Dressed in a neatly ironed white cotton shirt, he came across as any other Mumbai local traveler. However, as they say the looks are often deceptive. The 45 minute journey from Andheri to Churni Road proved to be extremely enlightening. Our friendly chat touched issues ranging from Tatas and Birlas to the state of Mumbai’s traffic.

We talked at length about Ratan Tata. Ratan Tata has seen a gradual transition and did not become the chairman of the group the day he graduated. He was made to don the

boiler suit at the Tata Steel plant and there began a leader’s journey.

We also discussed why Mumbai has come to be known as a sea of opportunities. The secret to great business success is the fact that traders in Mumbai operate on slim profit margins, often as low as 3 per cent. So even if a trader gains a mere 3 rupees on an investment of 100, he goes ahead with the deal. The lucrative prices combined with a huge demand translate into decent profits.

I asked him why the state of traffic had been so bad in Mumbai. He came out with simple clear cut logic. The fact that Mumbai is a narrow strip of land surrounded by sea, there is not much scope for parallel roads. However Delhi being wider affords ring roads.

Our discussions about APJ Kalam quickly moved towards S Radhakrishnan. S.Radhakrishnan had once addressed a gathering in the United States. The Americans acknowledged that they hadn’t known that English was such a beautiful language until S.radhakrishnan addressed them.

The old man wished me luck and got off at Churni road. His wishes and blessings did help.

The Bindaas autowallah

I took an auto from the IIT Powai campus to Andheri. The 9 km journey covered in 20 minutes flat was entertaining. This autowallah was knowledgeable in his own right and delivered a rather hilarious discourse on God and his men. He did convey a very deep message though. I will quote him verbatim “Bhagwan hai na sab dekhta hai upar se..insaan udi(flies) marta hai..bhagwan kehta hai maar (Man tries being supreme)..phir bhagwan ekdum se gira deta hai..bhagwan kalakar hai(God is a master strategician)”

“life mein sab kuch try karne ka mangta hai..”(This guy once walked 15 kms when his vehicle broke down)

The guy was truly entertaining…man with a big heart.

All said and done, I will continue to love my city Delhi and I will be a little biased. Because Delhi hai Dilwalon Ki.And I salute the Mumbaikar spirit.