#MetroDiary 43: The Most Happening Day of The Week


Even before you say it, I know it! I dedicate too many blog posts to Monday. And although I crib about Mondays in my head as I go off to sleep like the most reluctant toddler on a Sunday night and almost always wake up late on Monday, I suspect it is on purpose. The later you arrive for the metro, the more fun (read, crowded) it gets. It is less pressurizing in a way. You do not have to even have to worry about a seat. You will definitely not get it. When I am late on a Monday, I do not even bother to go to the terminal station to board the train. I know it will be difficult to get a seat even there and the queue at the security is always longer than in the next station. If you politely let the person in front of you put his/her bag in the security machine, the one standing behind you will show utmost agility in putting her bag before you. The message is, no one has time to be polite. Just get ahead! Get done! I regularly fall in the trap too. I told my friend the other day to not to get into the compartment till everyone gets down, only to get up myself before everyone got down when we were changing the train. So much for the my holier than cow-ish lecture just an hour earlier! On Mondays, I follow this rule to the T though. I know I stand no-chance at sitting. Why break a rule then? I see no point! I play my "follow-all-rules-self", on Mondays.  I look for a space instead, once inside the train, to rest my back. Violet line is the worst in providing your back a rest. In the Blue line you can stand all through by leaning on the door on the other side. In Yellow line, except Central Secretariat, you are safe till a long way. In Violet line from Mandi House to Raja Nahar Singh Marg, all you do is either remind your co-passenger to get away from the door or get reminded by the co-passengers, depending on, whose phone is providing a more engaging time. Mondays are also the days when I find people dressed like me; sari, backpack, flat sandals. It is like meeting myself on the other side of the door. 

I do not always remember to carry my ear plugs or I stuff them in such a way in my huge back pack that I fail to take them out. I then listen to other conversations with more interest  and gain insight about the future of other people. For example, a certain Saurav has to remain very careful and he can even think of meeting a Bangali Baba because a girl is very angry with him and was threatening to "curse" him! Although her two friends laughed their hearts out at the idea, I would advice Saurav to not to take this lightly! Being cursed in Spring does not seem good at all! I have a feeling I got cursed too by someone, as I had to listen to a long portion of a MIL-DIL (Saas-Bahu) serials. All my threats disguised as pleadings, fell on deaf ears. I should have guessed she was deaf by the volume at which her phone's speaker was set. My bad!😕

I think Mondays are also the days when I am most ready to reach out to strangers. The girl who stood by the same door,  called someone to ask if the person had already left at first, and then stood there wiping off her tears. Her eyes were tearing up too frequently to not to notice. I was hesitant to reach out but finally did. I asked her if she wanted water or a piece of chocolate? As Sarah Kay said, there is no heart-break that chocolate can't fix but then of course she corrected herself to say there are indeed a few that chocolate can't fix and that's what the raindrops are for. They wash away everything if you let them. Probably that is why the sky is getting ready for a good rain tonight. Probably to help that girl forget her pain, whom I told this morning, everything will be alright, as emphatically as I could. I wanted her to trust my wrinkles, or my white hair, or my much older voice, if not the stranger that was me. 

And in any case, it better rain tonight, as I also have a wish to make. It is a much more practical one. It needs to wash my hair. A bird loved its "nest" like structure and pooped right in the middle this morning! Once it starts raining, I will crane my neck out of my balcony. 

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