Mumbai,a metropolis that requires no introduction. A place that ordains numerous things. It seizes your sleep, your thirst, your hunger and your comforts. They say the city never sleeps. I think everyone sleeps here barring their tranquility. And the repercussions of their sleepless nights are very much evident during the day.
The people sometimes lose control on their talks in an argument with a cab driver. Now the cab guy can’t say much to his customer (class issues, you see). The cab guy in that aggravation fights with some other commuter on account of some petty issues he wouldn’t mind disregarding in normal circumstances. These repercussions spread and by the time its noon you can witness a bedlam. Turmoil.An upheaval.
One that happens in the subconscious of the population। One that can’t be sensed physically but witnessed in their associations. They are all human. Their flesh is the evidence of that. But Underneath that glossy skin, a beast resides. A frustrated brute. One that will snatch every opportunity to relieve its annoyance. Every day each of such persons experience this. They just never talk about this in public. They never even bother to think about it. As I said there are numerous other things to keep their brains uneasy enough to forbid them of a tranquilized sleep. They despise anyone and everyone they don’t know. They won’t mind anyone’s absence around them. And reason is very much obvious: They don’t like the crowded places. Mobbed trains, overfilled buses, trafficked highways, potholed roads, clustered streets, nauseating subways, packed sky walks, declining public transport and the reason behind every adjective in front every means of transport is People.People in disproportionate amounts.
All they see around is people. You step out of a major railway station and you’ll hear people talking about the next train they are going to alight.
“Mujhe Kurla pakadni hai aaj Sali sab trains late hai…”.
And they run. They don’t look behind if someone’s already injured feet is been stamped by them. All they know is the local train and another local train to change after that. That place in that local train arriving at that particular time on that particular platform is so vital for them they won’t wait to apologize if they’ve caused any significant chaos is someone else’s activity. All they know and can see and can think about is that place in that train arriving at that particular time on that particular platform. They are so engrossed in that they don’t even realize they’ve lost their freedom. They don’t realize they’ve been controlled. They don’t realize they’ve turned themselves into slaves. Slaves of that job, that train, that family, of someone they themselves do not know even exists. You try telling them about it. Try soft talking them and they’ll consider you a Chutiya and run for that place in that particular train arriving at particular time at that partic…
They do not realize that the motive of their lives has no purpose to serve themselves but to serve the people around them.
As a matter of fact they have lost their lives.
Entirely.
And loss of someone else’s life won’t mean a great deal to them. So they cramp themselves up in that compartment. Regardless of any consequences. When it comes to trains, consequences are nothing but fatalities. Loss of limb/s or death. They are willing to take that risk for that place in that train arriving at that partic...
Enter Rishi.
Rishi wakes up gasping for the breath from a dream he saw. Its been happening to him since few days now. These nightmares have haunted him. He never discusses them. There’s a profound soreness in his mind. You ask him and all he does is display a blank straight face as if he is sure sharing anything with you is not going to serve any purpose. I asked him once and all he said was, “I hear a scream…..a long lasting painful scream.”
Rishi studies in a college at the south end of the city. He takes a 6:16 am local train from a station near his home for his college everyday and comes back through the same route. He is not accustomed to railways. He is Born and brought up in Mumbai. That doesn’t qualify him to be a commuter but makes him smart and aware of the city’s nature. Rishi usually stands on the footboard* of the railway doors. He does that because he finds it unpleasant to sit inside among the crowd and footboard is the best place to stand in the train. He regularly reads a warning which is printed in illegible fonts just above the door on the inside of the train.
“It is dangerous to travel on the footboard”
He tries to be as safe as possible in that dangerous act of travelling on the footboard. He knows it isn’t right to stand there. Something residing in him forces him to go ahead and stand there making him forget about the warning or any other thing. He continuously keeps reminding himself to hold the appropriate handles in appropriate way in order to prevent him from slipping off the train running at 100kmph. 23rd November
He finishes his chores and starts moving towards home. He takes a Virar bound fast local from Churchgate. Slaved by his usual practice he hangs on the door of the train adjusting his leg on the little space available among other legs.
The train moves. 60kmph in 7 secs.
And Rishi enjoys the Air hitting on his face and spectacles that are covering his eyes. The train passes Charni road(A western railway station towards the southern end of the city).His train gains the momentum again. A train is approaching on the next track. It has an equivalent momentum. Both the trains cross. Both at their peak speeds. Rishi realizes that and moves modestly inside in order to seek safety. The train on the next track is crowded. It is easy to make that out. As soon as Rishi moves a little inside something from the opposite train bangs on the part just behind the door he is standing.
Picture a heavy sac of vegetables falling off a radio tower. Look up and you see it falling exactly over your head. Close your eyes and feels its shadow getting bigger and wider as the sac comes closer falling on you. God’s hand. The sac swings a bit (physics involved) and falls just next you exploding its matter on your feet. Imagine the sound.
A harsh dying sound Rishi had ever heard. A thud, lead and followed by a terrifying frightening shriek.
“Koi toh gira”, a man said.
“Samne ke train se koi toh gira..”, someone else said.
There were whispers “koi gira..”
“Mar gaya hoga..”
“Kyon darwaje pe latkte hai kya mallom”
Rishi was deadened and silent. The thud was ringing now in his ears.
A ‘keeeee’ sound echoing as if an explosion had taken place near his ears without harming him at all.
The next station arrived and the train halted. There were blood splatters on the back of his shirt. Pieces of skull and brain, some stuck, some dripping on the window near the door. The person sitting next to the window had yelled as the head of the man bashing on that window had exploded and splattered into his laps and shoulders. He was rushed out to get cleansed. Rishi sat on a chair at the platform watching the carnage. There were more talks.
“Body toh track pe hi padi hai.”
“Kya mallom ab kya karenge?.”
“Itna bahar latkneka hi kyon??”
Rishi was astounded. ALL he could hear and sense was the ‘thud’ and the wetness of that bashed man’s blood on the back of his shirt. He called a close friend of his. A very close friend.
“Whenever I am travelling and if I happen to talk to you please ask me to stay away from the door. Yell at me…say anything that will prevent me from standing near the door of the trains.”
Days passed. Rishi’s memory about the incident faded. He jumped back to his old routine.
Trains.
Door.
Footboard.
Rishi got in the Churchgate bound Virar fast local. Shoving himself out of the door and trying hard to be safe too simultaneously. The train comes to a halt. There is no platform on the either side of the train. It must be the signal. Or an accident. There’s a word spread
‘Kisi ne chain khichi??’
Now what is this supposed to mean. It comes to their knowledge that a guy from his train had fallen on the tracks next to his train’s and was rode over by Virar bound fast local. The gory images from the incident 2 months ago revolve in Rishi’s mind. He doesn’t want to get down but is been pushed out of the door on the tracks by people inside as they are eager to watch the incident. Rishi has to get down then। Rishi jumps before he’s been pushed and moves towards the man. The man is shivering wildly. It is noticeable even from 10 meters away from the man. The guts of that man are all over the tracks. His legs and stomach distorted.
They said
"Uske pair par se gayi hai…"
“Hna who toh dikh raha hai”
He is lying all alone on those tracks. The train that crushed him had moved fast away. Conclusions regarding his state can be easily drawn. He’ll die in few moments. He is shrieking.
He needs help.
Desperate help.
The train from which Rishi had gotten down blows the siren. People whose curiosity had lead them there start running back towards the train. They start climbing in. The ailing man starts yelling loudly. He’s going to fucking die. Only a handful of passengers are left on those tracks including Rishi. There’s a lady who had climbed down the train. She vomits looking at the dying man. She’s apparently a lady constable. The man now yells involuntarily. As if yelling was the defense mechanism. People are just looking at the dying man. They don’t even offer water for they are too scared to step close to him. The scene was very disturbing. Blood, thick. Guts, convoluted. Limbs, amputated.
Rishi moves towards him. He looks into the man’s eyes and he senses something in it he had never seen and will never forget. The man was shit scared.
There are trains on the other tracks randomly moving around. Metal wheels making noise, sirens, the dying man’s screams. Rishi is too naïve and young to bear all of this. The man yells. More blood spills out of him and the man departs with a loud yell. A very unfamiliar scream. Rishi experienced what he had only heard ‘plea for a desperate help’. The man dies in front of Rishi, them. And they do nothing as they are helpless and are still wondering what is to be done.
People from the railways arrive and start working according to their protocol. Ambulance, ward boys, stretchers, all arrive. Spectators are asked to move away and fuck off.
Few months have passed and Rishi is back on the tracks.
Trains.
Doors.
Footborads.
Air on his face and spectacles on his eyes. Trying and holding every possible handle and rod in order to seek safety. He just spoke to that friend of his. They both have forgotten the incidences and the message that was communicated after it. Rishi is happy of his travels. And he will remain like that until he witnesses another such incident, until he does not become the victim.
Rishi sometimes wakes up from the dreams, gasping for the breath. "All he hears is a long deafening scream".
No comments:
Post a Comment