The terrorist inside me

It's incredible really. I'm talking about the suburban railway system in Mumbai. After getting down at the Lok Manya Tilak terminus in Kurla, I had to switch three trains and then hop on to a bus to reach my home. The point-to-point distance between Kurla and Andheri (W) where I live would be approximately 15 kilometers. To traverse that, 3 trains and a bus is astounding. Remember that I had to lug a rather heavy bag inside all these public transportation facilities.

What kept me sort of happy and non-complaining was the fact that I had some charge left on my mobile phone for some browsing and music. As soon as I got into the Western Railway train which would take me to Andheri from Dadar, I kept my bag by the door and started listening to some 'Live' (the album Throwing Copper, which has definitely shaped my life) while poking back whomeever who had poked me on Facebook.

The music was loud and I was quite oblivious as to what was happening in the outside world – something, I advise you to not try, especially if you are looking a little haggard, have wild, long hair and a beard-stubble. Apparently, one of the passengers in the train had noticed this bag lying 'unattended' to and had asked co-passengers about it's owner. Obviously, people started talking and panicking and in a minute the entire compartment was convinced that my bag had explosives.

I noticed that people were simply getting up from their seats in a neat orderly manner. But the thing that alerted me about the confusion was that everyone was surreptitiously avoiding my bag. As soon as I realised this, I took out my ear plugs and asked someone what was happening. When someone said that the bag was the 'root of all evil', I officially claimed the bag. Everyone was staring right into me. They were pissed of course.

I apologized that I was listening to the music and hence was unaware of the confusion. I couldn't have said that I was 'poking back' someone who I have not even met on the Internet while the entire compartment was preparing for an explosion. One of the passengers was very upset and started questioning me. He eventually asked me to open the bag up to confirm that it indeed had my clothes and stuff. Perverted, I know, but still true.

In the last five minutes of this ride, I was very glad of the fact that I didn't have to pull out the rest of the contents of the bag which included a bag full of cables (connectivity cables), chargers, headphones and an mp3 player – easily would have looked like the components of an amateur bomb in the making. I also sheepishly acknowledged how different, chaotic and weird Mumbai really is and it still remains the Mumbai that I love!