People laugh when I tell them that I love to work on Public Holidays.What they fail to understand is the reason behind such a motive. I work near the International Airport and commuting is a very painful experience on weekdays as the proposed Metro has been missing deadlines one after another due to political will and technical constraints. The lifeline of Mumbai,the local trains are integral to most of the working population who stay in the suburbs as they are the most reliable and efficient means of transport.
In the 2 years of my commuting trysts from Home to Office,the average one way time taken is more than 2 hours.I had a 7-4 shift on a Diwali Sunday as the next 2 days were gonna be off days for me. I was really bored to wake up early in the morning at 04:45am and go through the morning chores. Left my home at 5:40 with an uncertain mind to ride my bike to Kopar or to Dombivli. My options were slow trains of 5:50,5:54 and 6:02 as per Dombivli timings or all of them with a 2-3 min delay at the next scheduled stop at Kopar. But the option that I was yearning to take was 5:54 Fast, the first fast local of the day. As I park my bike at Kopar West or Dombivali West Railway Parking, I have to essentially take the south end ROB from my house to reach either of these places.
Being a Libran, decision making is a tough task for me.I decided to take the final call of taking a left to Kopar or right to Dombivli on the ROB and not think till then. Within 10 minutes,I rode my Activa over the ROB to hear the honking of the 5:50 Dombivli starting local departing from Pf 2. That meant, I couldn't catch it in 3 minutes at Kopar,but 5:54 slow and fast were quite good options available at DI.Finally,I made up my mind and took a Right turn to DI parking lot.Parked my vehicle and ran up the skywalk to check the indicators. In the horizon,I could see an MRVC destination board glowing on UP Fast line. I decided to ditch the attempt of catch the 5:54 slow and instead scampered down the FOB at DI South end to get into the already halted 5:54 Fast.Since, it was a Public Holiday coupled with Sunday,there were enough seats available to be seated by the window. The Rail Fanatic in me wanted to make use of the empty footboard. We accelerated out of DI in true MRVC style.In no time,5:54 slow was overtaken by us and by Kopar speeds had reached the higher ups of 90 Km pH. CR motormen never disappoint when they are driving an All Green.Soon we hit MPS and the 5:20 slot LTT departing train was first to cross us.I could see Diva approaching and the motorman skillfully piloted the MRVC right upto the Speed Restriction boards at Diva south and brought down our speed to 50 just in time with real hard braking. Over the Mumbra Creek Bridge,we crossed a GOC livery Alco with Madgaon JanShatabdi. Again after a brief spurt in speed,we slowed down inside Parsik Tunnel to 50kmph.As soon as tunnel was over,we again accelerated and managed to reach Thane pf 6, a minute earlier than scheduled.There was a family of 3 with a small kid of around 2 years who was carrying chunks of luggage. I helped them to deboard and as we were departing the small unknown kid smiled back and bade me a good bye. I reciprocated by saying " Happy Diwali".
My MRVC motorman seems to have been high on adrenaline. We reached Mulund 2 minutes before time. The best MRVC ride was yet to come and the way we accelerated after Mulund,it was clear that Greens were all welcoming us to cross them at MPS and we obliged. At Nahur,we crossed Indrayani behind,what looked like an Erode Alco.We reached Ghatkopar at 6:17 against the schedule of 6:21,a full 4 minutes before time. I wanted to run up to the motorman and wish him a Happy Diwali,but couldn't run ahead as I met an old friend at Ghatkopar,who was waiting to board the same train.After bidding him a fond farewell, I rushed up the FOB and as soon as I got off on the West side,an empty and inviting BEST 340 was waiting just for me. It was 6:20 when my bus left the station and by 6:37 we were at Marol Naka covering almost 5.5 km in 17 minutes which is nothing sort of a miracle. Not to let me down,just behind my 340 was 308 to Sahar Cargo, I switched buses at Marol Naka,which took me through the Airport Road,crossing Leela,Ambassador, upcoming Marriott's, International Airport and Hyatt Regency to deposit me at ITC Maratha Bus stop by 6:43.
My hotel,Hilton is a stone throw from there and when I punched in it was 6:46. Never in my last 2 years of service had I reached my office within 1 hr 6 min. I guess a consolidated efforts by My Activa,MRVC and BEST along with God Almighty helped me achieve this and it was indeed a very Happy Diwali for me.
