Ever since my first day at work; which was 14 August 2008, I have tried several modes of transport and felt that a chronicle of my experiences would be a fun read:
1. Self-drive to office: For the first few days I drove to office and went insane, not only with the traffic but also at the end of it finding a parking spot at Nehru Centre. The attendants at the parking lot insisted that I leave the car keys behind with them. Although I was really uncomfortable about leaving the keys behind, I had to do so because there was just no free parking space -- all spaces were reserved for people who had bought a monthly pass. The next morning I paid up for the monthly pass which was Rs.1000. I asked for the receipt and he said that they do not issue one – clearly it was a racket and these attendants were simply pocketing the money. The next 2 days went fine as he allowed me to park in one of the empty spaces. However, on day 5, I found that there was no space and he was asking for my keys again. He said “Madam kya karega aaj bahut saab log gadi leke aya hai” Drat!!! I obviously could not do anything but hand him the keys. The parking experience was new every morning and I would get to office with a frown on my brow :( The evening drive home was an altogether different punishment as the traffic would inch forward and there was never a need to drive beyond 20 km/hour. I would leave the office at about 7.30 or so. Despite playing my choice of music in the car and catching up on long conversations hands-free the journey, needless to say the journey was long and exhaustive and would get me home never before 9.45. Having spent much of my energy commuting I would hardly be in a mood to be more than pleasant with my family and of course my wallet would be lighter by Rs.500 every one and half days so I would be spending at least Rs.2500 every week on petrol + the parking charges that I had already committed to. If only I could get parking in the office building but I am told that the cost per month for a parking lot is 40K!@#$ This arrangement of travel was costing me Rs.11000 bucks … never mind said Fruki at least you are comfortable while commuting!?!
2. Driver driving me to office: Once the launch of the club happened it was necessary to have a driver as I had to meet with clients across the city and arrive in a cool and composed state. So, we decided to hire a driver. Along came Rakesh the classic driver from Bihar with a copy of his license and a sugary keenness to work for a salary of Rs.7000 and nothing less – “Ussey kam mein to kaise chalega Madamji”. I told his there would be late hours and long travel to different locales of the city. He was over excited about the opportunity and said he would arrive the next morning. He did arrive, and always did arrive at sharp 7.45AM standing at attention with a slight forward bend in his stance saying, "Good Morning Madamji". He would open the door for me to sit and switch on my pre-set Gayatri Mantra Chant and the AC at just the temperature that I liked and I would be off feeling nothing short of a queen :) However as soon as we were on the main road, his driving which was filled several instances of rash lane cutting causing peeved drivers to race up and abuse him and look disapprovingly at me as well started giving my brow lines that deepened to the affect that I finally shouted out at him, ”Rakesh tum kaise gaadi chalatey ho”. The first few days he didn’t say any thing but slowly he would start getting upset and when commuters abused him he would look back at them saying, “Kya hai” and then proceed to grumble below his breath for the next few minutes. To add to the madness he was very poor with road navigation so I would have to keep my eyes open and be alert all thru our escapades thru the city. On my way to a meeting in Andheri East (he had driven me there thrice before) I got involved in a complex conversation with another client and so was not paying attention to where we were heading – on emerging from my conversation I looked around to find we were lost and it took us a while to get back to the actual destination – I was late for my meeting thanks to the detour our dear over-smart driver had taken. I asked him, “ Agar tum ko raasta nahin samajh raha tha to tumhein rukna chahiye than na!?” to which he said, “Arrey Madamji aap baat kar rahe they aur main to theek aa raha tha … raasta pata nahin kaise badal gaya” I wanted to throttle him! On one day I was busy at work and the security officer called me saying my driver has come to meet me at the front gate. I went to see what was the problem and there was Rakesh virtually in tears, “Madamji hamar batua kisi ney maar liya hai – usme hamara license aur paisa sad chala gaya hai – hum garmi ke maarey shirt utaarey huey the aur hamari ankh lag gayi thi – jaane kab kissi ney batua shirt ki jeb sey nikaal liya” Poor guy … looked miserable. I gave him some money and asked him to immediately go write a complaint for a re-issue of his license. One good thing we discovered after parking the balance few days at Nehru Centre was that there was another option of parking space for which we did not have to pay any money – Worli Sea-face was where a lot of the office staff would park. Another benefit I gained was that my petrol bill came down a bit – this I learned from Rakesh was because the attendants at the Nehru Centre parking lot would steal petrol when I would leave the keys with them. So, although the conveniences were many of having Rakesh drive me around; the angst of constantly being angry with his rash lane cutting and his argumentative behavior defending his driving flaws and top it all the cost of the commute which was now close to Rs.17000 a month (too steep a price for my liking – but seemed justified as Roshni could use him for the long drive into town for her SPB class plus Mom and Papa could also use the comfort when required to make long commutes – it’s a different thing that Roshni’ SPB abruptly came to an end and Mum and Pa never used the car), just made me want a change! One fine evening Rakesh said that he wants a loan of Rs.10000. He had worked with me for just over two months and he was already asking for a loan to pay the deposit of his rented apartment. Nu and I decided not to oblige him. Two days after this incident he said he needed to visit his village as his brother had run away and was missing from home for the past one week. I let him go giving him an advance of Rs.2000 from his next salary. On returning after 4 days he was grumpier than ever! A week later he abruptly said that he would have to leave back for his village and his return was uncertain as there was nobody to look after his home and farmland … SIGH!%$# Now what!?
3. Meanwhile, on the several days of Rakesh’ absence the next obvious commute for me seemed to be a taxi which would cost me about Rs.450 a day i.e. approx Rs.11500 per month. I also tried a rick and taxi combination for a few days on my way to office that failed miserably and also worked out marginally cheaper but the time to commute invariably would be the same – I would get off from the rick at Bandra Talaab and look for a cab to Worli. To my frustration; no cab would be willing to go as they found the journey too short and, “Uskey baad khaali jana padta hai kyunki subah ke time worli sey koi bhaada nahin milta”! So, I was taking the taxi all the way from home to office and back for several days and would always feel guilty about the serious waste of time and money.
4. On one evening, while looking for a cab to Bandra outside the office I strayed towards the bus-stop adjoining our gate and discovered bus No.33 drive up (I had remembered Nu often telling of taking this bus from town). On an impulse I jumped in and to my pleasant surprise even got a seat within the next 5 mins at a FOR LADIES ONLY designated seat. The ticket conductor clicked by with his familiar bag of change and box of tickets and tore me a ticket for Rs.12 (I quickly did my math and realised that if this arrangement worked it would mean a monthly expense of not more than Rs.625 ONLY!!!!) I thanked the conductor with a broad smile and looked around to take in my surroundings – the bus was clean, well lit up with several tube-lights and so I could read - yippeee, fellow commuters were courteous and a mixed bag of all parts of India and something about that made me feel good, the ventilation was ideal and above all the bus dropped me virtually outside Fame Adlabs … this seemed the ideal solution!!? Nu too was amused that I was contemplating the bus everyday but also added that if it suited my convenience it would be ideal. Sure enough, the next day onwards my joy started crumbling once again – the busses would be delayed and often not even halt at the bus-stop and the route it takes i.e. via shiv-sena bhavan and then enroute to Siddhivinayak Temple … mornings would invariably get me into office later than my usual time and evening I would get home later as there would always be a waiting period before a bus arrived.
5. One evening while waiting for the 33 to arrive I saw a fancy AC bus drive up and the plank said BRTS 4 Oshiwara Depot. I once again jumped in impulsively. The fare was 35 bucks all the way to Lokhandwala. The seats were spacious, the bus was well lit, FM was playing on the system and the fellow commuters were the typical white collar executives. Felt good and the math proved not so bad too Rs.1820 per month!! The additional good things about this option are that the bus has an every 15 mins schedule and it takes the Shivaji Park, Mahim, Linking Road, Juhu route so the journey is quite much similar to any comfortable car journey and I do believe that this is actually one of the best alternatives to arrive comfortably at your destination. The one and only bane is that these busses are freezing cold so when I am not carrying a jacket I just don’t take the bus as I shake like a leaf for the long 2 hour+ journey. For some reason with regular progression the traffic has been getting worse and worse and any road journey past 8.15 in the morning and past 6.00 in the evening is a frustrating, slow experience (the god-dammed sky walk being built at Bandra has further worsened the situation) Sigh …just when I thought I had found the ideal solution I was saddened to know otherwise :(
6. On one frustrating morning when I had missed the BRTS 4 that gets me to office on time, and the cabbies at Bandra refused to take me to worli; I walked to Bandra station, walked unabashedly to the front of the long winding line at the ticket counter and bought a first class ticket and went up to platform no 5. Within seconds a train halted, there was some frantic jostling and muttering and ouching but I was safely in the train and within the next 15 mins flat I was at Bombay Central! I walked out and hailed a cab for Poonam Chambers and just as I was getting in 3 other commuters wanting to go to Poonam jumped in with me – we shared the fare which was 28 bucks and therefore just 7 bucks per head and believe it or not I was in my office in 15 mins – had I stuck to the road route I would still be caught in traffic somewhere at Mahim… that evening I accompanied some colleagues to Bombay Central station and took the train back too. The journey door to door i.e. from my office building to my doorstep was a flat 1 hour and gathered that the same would be the case in the mornings!!!! The next morning, I bought a first class monthly pass (I thought it best to try out this option before committing to more) from Jogeshwari to Bombay Central (Getting to Andheri in the morning is a nightmare thanks to the crazy traffic + getting into the train at Andheri requires a mastery in train travel – which clearly I am inept at), which cost me Rs.400 and the road fares per day add up to about Rs.75 per day and this math works out to a comfortable Rs.2350 per month!!! Not bad at all – in fact damn good. The journey is invariably spent standing but is never more than 30 mins and the ladies, well what can I say, as always, it is a mixed bag and mixed experiences on each day with a lot of - body massaging specially in the mornings, dirty looks, dry looks, tsk tsk tsk please madam you are poking me …, the rear most girl/lady will holler imploringly array yaar please move ahead no I am falling out, OUCH followed by closed eyes and deeeeeeep sighs and finally a look that says I wish I could kill you, fourth seaters balance on a quarter of a bum but still stubbornly continue to sit and at every few minutes turn to the other 3 seat members to “please move little” … that is what the 3 ladies do they just move their bodies in the same place and the situation continues till someone else gets up to leave; what hasn’t changed is the desperation to jump into the train and the eagerness to grab a seat and the pointing your finger at a lady sitting being enough communication to prompt a response about her destination … I usually have a squeezing experience when I board the train at Jogeshwari and then stand to a side once the crowd becomes less at Bandra. On the journey home, getting in at Bombay Central and getting off at Andheri is hurried but not that bad at all … the only challenge that remains with this commute is the getting a rick from Andheri station to home … I need to ask 15 0 20 ricks before I get one to agree to take me (this is all thanks to the metro construction happening in full swing on JP Road, which they say will take 2-3 years to complete) … Sigh!! Getting off at Jogeshwari is a pain too as the long winding ride thru the market takes forever! So, I guess Andheri station is my best option and take a bus from there if a rick doesnt happen within the first few minutes.
It’s been 6 months since I joined work and I have tried 6 modes of commuting to work and all of them have their positives and negatives, pleasant moments and nasty ones and as I look back I do believe that none of the services match the speed of the train commute and price albeit more expensive than the bus 33 option is really worth it. I do still take an occasional taxi to work or the rick taxi combo (I have learnt if I take a rick up to Santacruz and then take a cab from there the cabbies are more than willing to go to Worli) or even the 33 or BRTS 4 if get off early from work and contemplate trying out the contract bus as an option. However, when I want to make certain my time to destination I choose nothing but the train. My pass is coming up for renewal soon – I plan to renew it for sure :)
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