The Must-Have Metro Post

I am not supposed to be writing this...no, seriously, not at this time of the day. I am in office & mercifully it's one of the once-in-a-blue-moon days when a release has been delivered, your TL is on leave & your manager has forgotten about your existence.

Also I am down with the seasonal flu & not in a mood to work. I could catch a movie instead but I am perpetually broke so the only option left for me is to sit & blog which serves the dual purpose of making me appear "busy at work" :)

So I was browsing through a few blogs & I realized people living in metros always have that one blog post about some incident in the metro. I have been in Gurgaon for over 2 years now & travelled umpteen number of times via the Delhi metro & nothing to show for it on my blog! So here goes, my first metro post-

The first time I rode the metro without parental assistance was when I was to visit Pragati Maidan for the book fair. I mean I was so afraid of moving out alone in NCR, that only the really strong lure of books could drive me out of my shell & prompt me to ride a metro. I wasn't alone though-a fellow blogger accompanied me. At Rajiv Chowk he gave me the life saving tip-"This is Sparta...!" I remember & relate to it till date, more so when i have had the misfortune of travelling in the general compartment.



The coveted ladies compartment isn't all that garden of roses as men would like to believe. More often than not it is filled with crying, running, pushing, pulling kids that see no difference between a metro compartment & their housing society park.Some Moms try to restrain them while others pretend it's not their child.And there is no concept of privacy. If there is a chance that you can squeeze in, you squeeze in. Even if it means some poor girl is left with half her butt hanging in mid air.

The other category of girls are all bedecked in the latest fall-winter/summer-autumn-whatever fashion. And they will look down at your baggy tshirt like you are some hobo that has just landed in a metro city. Never mind the fact that half of them spend their weekends haggling with shop keepers at Lajpat/Sarojni.

My favourite kind of people are the readers. They give no damn & are peacefully immersed in their novel, standing, sitting, squatting doesn't matter as long as there's a book in their hand.

I personally prefer to stand by the door, observing the masses from my vantage point & trying my best not to trample on any ladies who decide the dirty floor of the metro is a good place to rest their bum on.

And rarely when I travel with my male friends I get to enter the general compartment. It's mostly livelier & stinkier. To be honest I love the feeling. The men are too afraid to fight for space, for the fear that you might raise an alarm. They maintain a safe distance even if that means burying their face in another's stinky back. Your male friends suddenly act extra protective & concerned- something I rarely get to experience. And interesting characters abound. You find drunk guys singing aloud, couples having hushed out arguments, couples discreetly trying to stick close, sometimes some pervet uncle staring at you (at this point I either turn my back or stare back blatantly-depending on my mood) and if you're lucky a few cute guys too!



My sister's coming to Gurgaon...and I can't wait to show her the delights of travelling via Delhi Metro service ...an adventure awaits!