The grime and fatigue of the daily grind is set aside during those moments of belting out well-remembered lyrics and a beloved melody.
Never mind Saathiya, Baaton Baaton Mein and other Bollywood films that romanticise Mumbai’s suburban rail network — those who actually use the trains would be among the first to admit that there is very little that’s romantic about the experience of travelling by a Mumbai local. It is overcrowded, often with dozens of passengers perched on the footboards and clinging on for dear life. The seats are not comfortable, floors are filthy and at rush hour, there is every chance of losing footwear while boarding or alighting at a platform packed with people. Yet, it has its moments.
A video of one such moment recently went viral: A man, standing in what looks like a forest of armpits, sings the hit song ‘Yeh Dil Deewana’ from the 1997 film Pardes. Others in the compartment join in the joyous chorus with another man beating out the rhythm with his rings against a wall. And the exhaustion of what must surely have been a long day — is there any other kind in the tireless and tiring Maximum City — lifts from their faces. The grime and fatigue of the daily grind is set aside during those moments of belting out well-remembered lyrics and a beloved melody.
It was a non-Bollywood film, the Marathi language 2005 release Dombivli Fast, that captured the mental numbness — and rage — that are frequent byproducts of a Mumbai train commute. Fights break out, people lose glasses and bags, and clothes are ripped. Videos of such incidents, too, have gone viral in the past. To travel by a local, packed tightly like poultry inside cages, is not easy. The joy of sharing a snatch of a favourite film song or bhajan with fellow sufferers, playing cards or antakshari with strangers and gossipping with “train friends”: These are what make this one inescapable part of most Mumbaikars’ lives a little more bearable.
