Mumbai Locals.

Mumbai Local trains are the pulse that drives the city. They are the links that connect people to buisness. More than millions traverse back and forth everday. Most of them without a valid tricket. It's been a sad stroy that more than 70 percent people traverse travel without paying the goverment. I too use the Locals. But the difference is that I pay for every journrey I make. It's been a while now. And I am acquainted with most of the routes, stations and time required to traverse between any two stations.

My experience with locals is quite a remorse. I have lost quite a few things on my way back and forth. Sony ear phones being the most beloved. Others incluse my shades, a scratch on my new cell phone and my piece of mind :(

Travelling hasn't been fun exactly. When it's rush hours, you see myriads of people gushing in and then gushing out of the doors. You have to extremely strong to survive the effects. An average Formula 1 race can exert upto 10 G's max. That means that the driver might fell his weight to be 10 times more than usual. After the race is over, the drivers are exhausted and are in a state of mind thats still racing at 400 kmph. When you travel in Locals, you surely don't travel at 400 kmph, but the whole experience is enough for you to suffer a nausea when you are throttled out of the train with equal forces from all sides.

I got bruised a few times. People have lost more than blood while travelling. They have lost legs, hands, wallet, kids, relatives and ability to think after they travel through one of these creation of cacophony.

I been at one of these trains lately, just had a look up, saw the cieling fan and tube light ... what did u expect, Jack Sparrow ???. The Fan and the Tube lights were working alright. But if you did a carbon dating on the dust thats on the fans and the ligths, you will find that they are exactly one year old. The reason I say this is that these poor government equipments are washed and maintainted only on Diwali. Look for yourself.

Before Diwali !!!




And this is after Diwali :

This post looks like one of those TeleShopping TeleBrands kinds. But it is the truth. It's good that they atleast clean and maintain the trains once a year, but the sad part is that local trains are major part of the equation. Equation that balances Mumbai for the better. And the locals are not maintained to the level required. The Level that will make mumbai a place to live and survive. Not even thinking about world class standards that they are trying to aim in 2020.

Maharashtra vs. Mumbai

Mumbai is the heart of the country. The financial capital of India. A place where people pay 33% of nation's taxes. Where does the state as in "The State" of Maharashtra stand in the race ? No where .... Not to be seen.

Reality check.
Name me more than 5 cities in Maharashtra that you know.

Wait I'll help you out with it :
After Mumbai :
1. Pune
2. Nasik
3. Nagpur
4. Aurangabad
5. #########

What happened ?
Something missing here ?
Do you feel the picture is incomplete?

U ever been to Gujarat (by train)?
Prepare a similar list :
1. Valsad
2. Navsari
3. Surat
4. Bharuch
5. Vadodra
6. Anand
7. Ahmedabad
8. Gandhi nagar
9. Rajkot
10. Jamnagar
11. Surendranagar
12. Mehsana
13. Gandhidham
14. Porbander

This list can go on and on ... my point is that every station is industrially developed. They have Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation well established. Mumbai, because of this city, the focus has shifted in Maharashtra.

I have studied at a place in the interiors of Maharashtra (Khandesh - Malegaon, Dhule) aka North Maharashtra. I was at Dhule. This place was Jurassic Park for me. Lucky me I did not find any Dinosaurs. Probably because there wasn't a single museum in a 500 km radius. That place seems like the epicenter of the last Ice age. The place where people have no railway stations. Oh god ... No, I have mistaken. There is a railway station at Dhule. The only problem is that within a span of 24 hours of any given weekday, only a single train arrives at the place. The name of the train is Dadar- Amrutsar Express. No MIDC thats functional. It just has perfectly functional gates and a BSNL office .... wait thats fucking BSNL. So no reprise there too. No companies that employs engineers despite of having 6 engineering colleges and 3 medical colleges. Moreover the dirtty politicians are building other 3 engineering colleges for converting black to white (or green or gold). That place used to have 9 hours regular power cut off's in the month of April, May and June. Thats the period when the exams get conducted too ... no wonder I had so many KT's.
:P

The roads were laid when we heard the news that our PM Manmohan Singh was going to visit our engineering college. DDT sprinkled in the gutters, the walls repainted, the college gate (only the front visible portion) painted, the section of the building visible from road side repainted. Big tambura prepared for the PM speech. Alas PM had change of plans, and eventually he skipped the special appearance. Thats the most development that I have seen during my stay at Dhule. People must be pretty pissed off with the quality of life out there. Lame road construction (if any), no malls, no place to hang out with friends, no good hotels, poor electricity supply, no town planning, no industrial center, no transport system, no nothing. It literally seems that the place has never emerged out of stone age.

And after all this, we hear a bunch of politically challenged body "Jai Maharashtra, Jai Hind."
I feel proud too ... but you cannot ignore the facts and figures. Look at it yourself. People out there need development too ... it's not even about "need" development, they deserve it, especially after your vote bank political statements that you give out in the election campaign.

It's high time now and drastic steps need to be taken to bring in some changes. Decentralization of authority and power needs to be done. When I say this, I mean that other parts of Maharashtra should not be ignored as if they are inhabited by animals and algae. And stop giving importance to these politically challenged parties trying to win elections chanting "Jai Maharashtra". Bunch of posers. Hypocrites.