Postcards From J

This is what our trains should be. EMPTY! So, this morning, I left at 7.45 AM to drop my kid sister E to NM College for her tutorial classes farewell party which was supposed to start at  8.30 AM!!! (I've heard of after-parties that go on till the wee hours of the morning. But who the heck starts a party, even for kids, at that hour?) We took a rickshaw directly and I dropped her and her classmate there, and took the same rickshaw to Ville Parle station nearby to board a train to Goregaon towards my workplace. As I was climbing down the stairs to the platform, I noticed a small crowd forming in the middle of the stairs. An elderly man lay flat on the floor and apparently he had had a heart attack. There were quite a few people around him trying to revive him, and honestly I don't know how I could help. So I did the best thing I could: not crowd the stairs like everyone else. I think they called the station master and all that. But he was unconscious. While waiting for t...

Ages ago, I had planned on a Mumbai Tadka series where I would post snatches of conversations heard (overheard really) in and around this city that I love and hate in equal measure. Of course, with laziness and age (getting old = poor memory :P) setting in, I just let that idea go. Until this morning... I was on my regular train commute to Goregaon in the peaceful first class ladies compartment. Annoyed by Vodafone's failed GPRS connectivity, I fished out the book I've been reading (Advaita Kala's Almost Single) when all of a sudden, I had to look up at this lady yelling into her phone. I don't know what she was angry about but she kept telling her caller in jhakaas Marathi that he/she can go take a hike. And that she didn't want to be part of some celebration. She went on to say that if it were her, she'd distribute chilli powder instead of cake. Ok, whatever! But boy, was she mad! All the other ladies couldn't help stealing glances at her but she ...