A ride in the Delhi Metro's Pink Compartment
We travelled in the Delhi Metro yesterday and, like always, the husband and I split at the metro station at the time of boarding the train. Since, the general compartment is usually pretty crowded I went to the Ladies compartment.I have no idea why the men in this city have a grudge against the Ladies compartment - one compartment that offers some safety. And would these oh-so-just men be willing to take the guarantee of a safe ride for women travelling in the metro, if the Ladies compartment is to be done away with. I digress. I wanted to take you on a metro ride with me. So, here, let's step into the Pink Compartment of the Noida-Delhi metro.
The minute I step in what strikes me is the many colours in the train ( okay so the colour is predominantly pink). The compartment is crowded. Not full and packed. But, there aren't too many seats vacant. The moment you step on the train there are eyes looking at you. It makes me conscious a little. I walk up to a vacant seat I spot. I smile and ask the lady sitting on the right if I can sit there and would she please shift a little to make some space. She is a girl in her early twenties. She looks away without giving me a response. I manage to squeeze and seat myself. I have my big pink khadi handbag with me from which I take out a book. I just bought myself a copy of Rebecca today. I've read the book before but the musical prose always makes me smile. I get lost in the imaginary world of Manderley that Daphne Du Maurier paints for me. While I read the woman sitting on my left tries to peek into my book. So, I open the book a little wider so that she can read too.
The train halts at a metro station and I lookup from my book to see whats the commotion. I see the lady guard asking men to move back to the general compartment. She shouts at a man but he insists that his wife is in here. She threatens him to move to the other compartment or she would pull him out. The doors of the train close again and the man continues to stand at the same spot. A lady with a 5-year old has boarded the train at the last stop. The kid is troubling the mother and annoying the rest of us. An elderly lady gets up and catches hold of the kid and tries to settle the kid down next to her. She does this again with someone else's toddler. India has a lot of happy-to-help-and-offer-advice aunties. Maybe, it comes with age. Maybe, it comes with having brought up a lot of children. Maybe, some women can identify the tired mother's impatience and offer help wishing that someone would do that for them when they need it. A few stops later a little less sophisticated group boards the metro. There are two women with a bunch of loud and noisy kids. Actually I am not sure who is nosier - the mothers or the children. One of the mother-kid pair seats themselves next to me as my old neighbours have already de-boarded. There is another group of mothers and kids gloating about how they've finally taken their school-kids for a metro ride. The kids have happy smiles and seem to be liking the experience. The mothers have a mission-accomplished-money-well-spent expression.
Outside the window I notice we are crossing Akshardham. Its all lit up and looks magnificent and beautiful. It is truly a breath-taking sight and I miss not having my camera with me. Then we are running parallel to a flyover with some flowing traffic. It looks like a bridge of light with a lot of candles flickering. We are now passing through a tunnel - or maybe this section of the metro link is the underground one.
On the seat opposite to mine is seated a teenager who has been on the phone for the entire time that I have been on the metro. I presume she is talking to someone close cause she is almost whispering into her headset. I fathom she has just come back after a day of fun and frolic with her boyfriend and the newly-in-love couple can't have enough and so are now keeping each other company through the telecom network. A new girl has boarded the train and is carrying some flowers. Maybe, for a lover or a friend. Or maybe she is going for a marriage anniversary celebration. Maybe the flowers are for her mother.
If you look down, you see that the metro floor is littered with colourful footwear. Sandals, Slippers, Shoes, Slipons, Jutis, floaters, Shoes, SportShoes- in all possible colours. Bags and Nails painted with a wide range of colours. Yellow, green, blue, orange, black, brown, red, pink. You look at people and you see a wide variety of colourful dresses - Pink, Red, Blue, Gree, Yellow, Orange.... . You see a wide range of accessories - somewhere dangling, some jingling, some colourful, some classy, some casual. You look at people's faces - you see a wide range of expression, all possible emotions - someone is happy, someone is sad, someone is daydreaming, someone is tired, someone looks exasperated, someone sports a look of youthful arrogance, some are clearly in love and happy with life, some are angry, some, like me, are looking around and enjoying the wide range of emotions, experiences and expressions that there are around.
One ride on the metro can show you the vast experiences and very different lives that all of us have. One ride in the metro can give you a small peek into so many other lives and their struggles. It all depends on what you see when you are there and around so many people.
What do you see?
The minute I step in what strikes me is the many colours in the train ( okay so the colour is predominantly pink). The compartment is crowded. Not full and packed. But, there aren't too many seats vacant. The moment you step on the train there are eyes looking at you. It makes me conscious a little. I walk up to a vacant seat I spot. I smile and ask the lady sitting on the right if I can sit there and would she please shift a little to make some space. She is a girl in her early twenties. She looks away without giving me a response. I manage to squeeze and seat myself. I have my big pink khadi handbag with me from which I take out a book. I just bought myself a copy of Rebecca today. I've read the book before but the musical prose always makes me smile. I get lost in the imaginary world of Manderley that Daphne Du Maurier paints for me. While I read the woman sitting on my left tries to peek into my book. So, I open the book a little wider so that she can read too.
The train halts at a metro station and I lookup from my book to see whats the commotion. I see the lady guard asking men to move back to the general compartment. She shouts at a man but he insists that his wife is in here. She threatens him to move to the other compartment or she would pull him out. The doors of the train close again and the man continues to stand at the same spot. A lady with a 5-year old has boarded the train at the last stop. The kid is troubling the mother and annoying the rest of us. An elderly lady gets up and catches hold of the kid and tries to settle the kid down next to her. She does this again with someone else's toddler. India has a lot of happy-to-help-and-offer-advice aunties. Maybe, it comes with age. Maybe, it comes with having brought up a lot of children. Maybe, some women can identify the tired mother's impatience and offer help wishing that someone would do that for them when they need it. A few stops later a little less sophisticated group boards the metro. There are two women with a bunch of loud and noisy kids. Actually I am not sure who is nosier - the mothers or the children. One of the mother-kid pair seats themselves next to me as my old neighbours have already de-boarded. There is another group of mothers and kids gloating about how they've finally taken their school-kids for a metro ride. The kids have happy smiles and seem to be liking the experience. The mothers have a mission-accomplished-money-well-spent expression.
Outside the window I notice we are crossing Akshardham. Its all lit up and looks magnificent and beautiful. It is truly a breath-taking sight and I miss not having my camera with me. Then we are running parallel to a flyover with some flowing traffic. It looks like a bridge of light with a lot of candles flickering. We are now passing through a tunnel - or maybe this section of the metro link is the underground one.
On the seat opposite to mine is seated a teenager who has been on the phone for the entire time that I have been on the metro. I presume she is talking to someone close cause she is almost whispering into her headset. I fathom she has just come back after a day of fun and frolic with her boyfriend and the newly-in-love couple can't have enough and so are now keeping each other company through the telecom network. A new girl has boarded the train and is carrying some flowers. Maybe, for a lover or a friend. Or maybe she is going for a marriage anniversary celebration. Maybe the flowers are for her mother.
If you look down, you see that the metro floor is littered with colourful footwear. Sandals, Slippers, Shoes, Slipons, Jutis, floaters, Shoes, SportShoes- in all possible colours. Bags and Nails painted with a wide range of colours. Yellow, green, blue, orange, black, brown, red, pink. You look at people and you see a wide variety of colourful dresses - Pink, Red, Blue, Gree, Yellow, Orange.... . You see a wide range of accessories - somewhere dangling, some jingling, some colourful, some classy, some casual. You look at people's faces - you see a wide range of expression, all possible emotions - someone is happy, someone is sad, someone is daydreaming, someone is tired, someone looks exasperated, someone sports a look of youthful arrogance, some are clearly in love and happy with life, some are angry, some, like me, are looking around and enjoying the wide range of emotions, experiences and expressions that there are around.
One ride on the metro can show you the vast experiences and very different lives that all of us have. One ride in the metro can give you a small peek into so many other lives and their struggles. It all depends on what you see when you are there and around so many people.
What do you see?
Comments
Nicely written.
PS: you didn't notice any hotties in the compartment?
@vivek - real life is always more colourful than fiction. :)
So many hotties in the compartment. This was a ladies compartment, remember? All women are hot!