Crossing Tracks

Map of Mumbai city district and Mumbai suburban district, with major roads, railways and water bodies. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Railways are Mumbai‘s lifeline . Running from North to South and from West to East, literally thousands of people use this mode of transport everyday. I have not used the train very much ( the last time I used it was 4 years ago when I accompanied Anna Shetty for an entrance exam held in Mahim only because the roads were closed because of the Mumbai Marathon). Even as  a college student, I didn’t have much use for the train and  used it occasionally to visit my grandma or uncle in the suburbs. So I am not as ardent a fan as Anna Shetty, who till today maintains that this is the fastest and best mode of getting from Andheri to Fort in under an hour.

More than half the people who work in Mumbai use the train and our driver who lives 120 km away is no exception. This upright law abiding citizen who till date has never told a lie, never cut a signal, never crossed the speed limit was actually caught and fined for crossing the tracks.

I couldn’t believe that Madhukar would ever do such a thing but then I realised  

a)  everyone is capable of doing anythingb)  it is only the fear of being caught that prevents one from doing anything wrongc) everyone knows the consequences of their actions and are  prepared to be caught/punished when they knowingly do a wrong thing, hoping that somehow they can talk their way out of itd) you only need to make ONE mistake to find your life go up in smoke.

I admit Madhukar hasn’t done anything majorly wrong – after all hundreds of people cross the tracks every day. Most people who run across the tracks find it too tedious to use the FOBs ( Foot over bridge)  which are very often in poor condition, overcrowded or dirty. In fact I remember the time when Anna Shetty and her friends wanted to use the over-bridge at Ghatkopar Station, they were told to wait a while. When tasked why, they were told, “Gadhe aa rahe hai”. They were flummoxed by this response and couldn’t figure out what was happening till suddenly they found fifty donkeys clambering down the steps! 


Apparently this was a daily occurrence when the donkeys crossed over from East to West.


And if the donkeys were so concerned about their lives and actually climbed the steps why can’t we humans do so too?