Delhi Metro - The Quotidian Ride

                                Who hasn't traveled by the Delhi metro? This seems like a silly question in times like today wherein the metro proves to be a breather from the sweaty autos, crowded buses and tiring carpools. Established in 2008, the metro has garnered appreciation and encouragement from Delhites cutting across class barriers.

                            Every metro ride involves body frisking, flashing smart cards or procuring tokens to get into a train with thousand other familiar faces and hearing the same voice station after the other. But what every journey involves is much more than just these superficial elements. It becomes much more than the act of traveling from one place to another desired destination. To quote John Steinbeck "a journey is like a marriage, a certain way to be wrong is to think that you control it."

                             Everyone uses this peregrination to reach a place. It may be ones school/college or ones workplace or somewhere to pass ones leisure time. But what is noteworthy is the emotional quotient of each journey. Moments of anxiety on reading the time chart, impatience on the vilambh (delay!), joy on beholding someone after ages, the sadness of departure or the rush to get in before the doors close. The metro station forms the solid conglomeration of all these emotions. These emotions are sometimes withheld and sometimes lost in transit, but essentially form a crucial part of every life dependent on the metro for basic travel needs.    The verisimilitude of a short comfortable journey need not be subverted or investigated. The microcosm of individual sentiments influences and modifies the macrocosm of the journey. Everyday our eyes seem absorbed in the yellow, red, violet, blue and green lines that seem to define our voyages

                     It is highly fascinating to see people from different age groups, religion, and culture intermingle so as to form the 'populace' of the train which then also proves to be the symbol of national integration. These faces though unknown, share a common vibe that resides in the heart of all residents of the city, that of inherent goodness. The metro becomes a medium for exploration of differences or similarities in people not known, the beginning of new relationships, hearing stories hitherto untold and unfolding nuances of life. It also serves as a gossip center, a place to talk, meet, share and reveal, spot the latest fashion trends or just to experience a certain togetherness in sharing a ride. The cathartic aspect becomes a matter of perspective and the way one envisions that hour or less.

                        Its safety and speed can be vouched for in its accommodation of women in a separate compartment and having special seats for the old and physically handicapped people. The repetition of various instructions in both English and Hindi and the facility to speak to the driver directly in case of emergency. The air conditioned interiors provide respite both in summers and winters and to see the raindrops in case of the over ground journey is calming to no extent. What's more? It is absolutely cost effective, scoring brownie points among students with limited budgets and those who can't afford to 'deal' with the autowallahs. Thus the metro has proved itself in more ways than one providing facile service and access to each and every one. Traveling thus seems to have certainly changed its definition from the times of bullock carts and carriages.

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