edited & censored version of original post- A Rainy Day- Romance & Scare- posted 20th June 2010
So I was on my way back from work. Churchgate to Andheri-as usual. Rush Hour- as usual. I never bothered whether I took a Borivali or Virar train. As long as I was on a fast train, it didn't matter. Little did I know, I would have to learn otherwise- the hard way at that. It was one of the first rainy days of the season.. heavy drops lashing like small waves flooding the air on their way to the earth. It was beautiful. Despite the crowded train, my mind managed to drift me away to another world, where I was part of the most romantic rendezvous, which unfortunately was interrupted by the train announcement. We were approaching Andheri station & I prepared myself to alight. Eloping the daze in my mind caused by my thoughts, I firmly secured my purse on my right shoulder, and a plastic bag (with a large plastic handle) on my left arm, also housing my umbrella that I would need in a few minutes. Little did I know that those few minutes would turn out to be an experience straight out of hell. The train stopped at the station and commuters smoothly alighted while those on the station eagerly yet patiently prepared to board the train. I'm only joking. Such an ideal situation is impossible given the circumstances of the rush and the hour, and today, the rain. It can even result in women being rowdy if it means getting on that fateful train. The train barely stopped and I realized it was time to get off before being pounced on by commuters bunched up in war-like groups on the populated station platform. I would like to believe I got off in good time, but in vain. I was off the train faster than I knew and before true realization hit me I was part of the current of commuters entering the train, the plastic bag i was carrying displaced from my shoulder and stuck somewhere; all I knew my hand was still clutching the handle of the bag. My feet slippery from the torrential rain. I could feel my body actually gliding along the moving train, and was still moving in slow motion, but fast enough to let me think I was on the verge of having a fall, maybe between the train and the platform. I don't know remember how I got myself away from there. Thankfully, I had not fallen. I was scared and the whole of me trembled. I walked down the station staircase carefully from fear of slipping. My umbrella attempted to shield me in the rain, while I got ready for the second challenge of my daily commute- getting a rickshaw to go home. I have just relived a scary experience and I'm exhausted from describing it. Actually what happened was not too different from any other day. It was just worse that day because of the rain. A rain that I was blissfully enjoying in my mind a few minutes before that. Romantic in a minute. Rowdy in another.
