(The AICUFer is a publication of the Aicuf unit based at St. Xavier's College, Mumbai. Since many may not get their hands on a copy of this magazine, we will be putting up articles from The AICUFer for you!)

Life on the fast track
- • Virgil Sequeira, with inputs from Rachel D’silva (Source: The AICUFer)

It’s a universe in itself - a parallel universe of greed, dominance, corruption and exploitation. It’s a universe of marginalisation and majboori. Traveling in a Virar bound fast train* at peak hours is a thorough exercise in critical thinking and social reflection.

To begin with, The 12 car EMU is divided into special compartments. People with extra baggage travel separately, women travel separately, the handicapped travel separately, those who can afford first class luxury travel separately and where everyone are allowed to travel together, the norm favours men. Do we often categorise people and justify it?

Everyone seems to want to get the window seat facing Virar to enjoy the breeze but few are lucky. Almost all the seats are taken at the starting station itself and the rest have to stand – most of the time on their toes or on someone else’s feet. How often do we want the best for ourselves even if it is at the cost of others?

Arrangements for seating even on others’ laps are efficiently made for train friends. Nobody will move an inch for anybody else. How narrow can we get in hoarding benefits for our In Groups?

A section of the compartment, seats included, is reserved for the bhajan group and its members. These are the same ‘singing to God’ people who will not share their seat or standing area. No two noisy rival bhajan groups in one compartment ever produced a pleasant jugalbandhi. But religion binds most to accept the prasad from this hypocritical lot. Do we unconsciously suck up to people who actually alienate us?

There is a ‘fourth’ seat in the 2nd class, that by common experience, is a ‘one-butt only’ seat. It is granted at the discretion of the 3 maharajas sitting on the rest of the seat or if you manage to create a commotion. Do we assert ourselves and confront issues without fear?

The area around the door resembles school assembly lines. You stand according to the station you will jump off at, one behind the other, with one ant-hand distance. Do we blindly act according to rules set for us by others?

At Bandra, Andheri and Borivali, gate mafia tactics surface. The thugs at the door will not allow even a fly to enter and the ‘crowd’ strategically positioned at the door create an illusion of an overcrowded train. Do I protect the interests of people who appear to care for others but care only about themselves?

‘To survive, we divide!’ Since religious division will not work here, the politics of regionalism seeps into this universe. A bhaiya can never travel without being abused, threatened or pushed around. And suddenly in the commotion, a dominating Marathi Manoos presence is felt. Survival lies in submission. Do we hunt for divisions for our benefit and do we only come together to dominate?

The Virar fast is a professional competition. The fittest go out of their way to eliminate the weak and therefore survive. But what if the weak capture power? Can they be accomodated in the already densest place on earth? Can one really afford to hold on to values and be different? Will the rebel survive a Virar fast?

We need people closer to the racks to take our bag and mount it for us; people from behind us to propel the crowd forward with their dhakkas and of course to give free advice on how to survive the journey. So do we quickly settle for small compensations and big compromises? Maybe it doesn’t have to be this way. Maybe someday a Virar fast will cease to exist..

*A Virar fast is a Mumbai suburban local train that runs from the station of Churchgate to Virar at intervals of 15 minutes. Between 5pm and 11 pm on week days (office leaving hours), it makes a tightly packed can of sardines seem spacious.