Rickshaws & Trains

My first time traveling into the city; an experience; at least an hour transit from our residence to Central Mumbai (20 minute Taxi ride > 45 minute Train ride > 10-30 minute Taxi/walk). I was hoping to make it to the Chabbad House (Jewish outreach group with locations all around the world) located downtown, before Shabbat (The Jewish Day of Rest. Begins every week at sunset Friday night, and continues through sunset Saturday evening). The taxi ride to the train station was even more thrilling than our first cab ride from the airport! With dozens of horns honking, pedestrians walking freely between traffic, no lanes, and no rules (at least in Mumbai)-- this experience definitely gets one’s adrenalin flowin’
Tanya was just as excited to experience a cab ride, so she tagged along for just the first stretch of my journey, from the hotel to the train station, and then would head back to our residence. The taxi cab we rode in is called a “Rickshaw.” Unlike a 4-door normal taxi cab, Rickshaw’s are mini-autos with a fabric top and no doors. From the back, they look like horse carriages. The front seat is for the driver, who has a motorcycle style steering wheel. The back seat fits 3 average Americans comfortably or a whole family of Indians. It is unbelievable how many small corners the Rickshaw fits through. When traffic flows no faster than 30 kph (kilometers-per-hour), I didn’t feel that unsafe.
We arrived at the train station. We tried explaining to the cab driver that he should drive Tonia back to the residence; however, he did not understand us. A man approached the cab to help. He spoke little English, but not enough to really help us communicate with the driver.
Another man approached our Rickshaw.
Three more men surrounded the taxi.
All of them just curious to see what was going on. Though we were only asking for directions, we were a spectacle and unfamiliar presence to those around us.
Finally, a woman emerged from the crowd who spoke English. She translated our question to the driver, and then she was kind enough to escort me all the way to the train ticketing booth and gave me directions on which platform to take, and how to identify my train. Our supervisor wasn’t kidding when he said, “if you ask for help, they will either say ‘I’m sorry, I’m too busy;’ or, they will personally make sure that you get to where you need to go.” I bought my ticket and headed for the train platform.
As the train approached, men began jumping off the train and onto the platform while it was still going 10 kph! Other men would rush on board even before the train stopped (I’m guessing they were trying to find an empty seat on the full train). They acted like salmon fighting an upstream current. Some of them jumped out at me, bounced off my body, and were repelled back to the platform. As the fish (men) were prodding against the cattle car (train).
I saw there was a fairly empty cabin, and naturally, walked on board where I didn’t have to fight to stay on the train. Two other men also boarded the car I was on, and began mumbling at me and waving their arms. I tried asking them if I had gotten on the train headed towards town, and they just continued to mumble and wave their arms at me. Not until a few minutes later, did I realize that they were both deaf. I find it kind of ironic that without knowing it, I found myself riding on the “Handicap cabin” on my first trip into downtown Mumbai; quite ironic.