Mumbai meri Jaan

[bikenlalan]

I have tried to follow some of these receipt trends as to who is getting greened first and gave up now because it's completely random. I remember back to my Mumbai days before electronic vending machines for tickets where there used to be serpentine queues for 6 ticket windows to get on the train. You will have some sly people waiting around milling in the back (me included many times) and suddenly a new window will open and there will be an almighty rush to that one. So it will happen that some guys who were not even in any line will just get their ticket in a few min and go away whistling while others who waited patiently for 45 min in other queues far away from the new counter will just continue waiting staring daggers. ;)

You reminded me of my Mumbai days and the daily train journey to the college. The above scenario you described is very true.

[qesehmk]

You reminded me of my Mumbai days and the daily train journey to the college. The above scenario you described is very true.

I lived in Dahisar and Churchgate (both free! thanks to friends!) and commuted to Andheri (Seepz). Dahisar didn't have its own railway station so we had to catch a bus to Borivali to catch the Andheri train. That's where I learnt that it is entirely possible to get on a bus without turning it into a food fight !!! LoL.

[incredible]

I lived in Dahisar and Churchgate (both free! thanks to friends!) and commuted to Andheri (Seepz). Dahisar didn't have its own railway station so we had to catch a bus to Borivali to catch the Andheri train. That's where I learnt that it is entirely possible to get on a bus without turning it into a food fight !!! LoL.

Seems a lot of us worked in Mumbai, Seepz. I used to live in Powai and work at Seepz initially and then at Borivalli. Remember those days of long bus rides from Borivalli to Powai and especially during Ganesh festival times. Thanks for bringing some of those old Mumbai memories back.

[LightAtEndOfTunnel]

Dahisar didn't have its own railway station so we had to catch a bus to Borivali to catch the Andheri train. That's where I learnt that it is entirely possible to get on a bus without turning it into a food fight !!! LoL.

I thought I was old, but when I started commuting in trains in 1995 they already had Dahisar and they were adding stations like Nala-Sopara (weird name). A couple of years ago, I went to Churchgate with my wife (who is from Delhi/Noida) to flex my NRI dollars and have a lunch at Taj. When it was time for us to get back, it was evening rush hour. For someone who grew up in Mumbai knows taking Uber from Churchgate to Andheri is non-sensical. My wife freaked out. Fortunately there was an A.C. train that does accept season pass-holders and was pretty vacant. Pretty sure everyone who travelled by Mumbai trains have interesting stories to share. People say all interesting stories start by: 'there was one time I got drunk...' but I guess people in Mumbai have a lot of more stories that start with 'One time I was in 6:12 Virar fast, and got in from Dadar..'

[sling10]

I thought I was old, but when I started commuting in trains in 1995 they already had Dahisar and they were adding stations like Nala-Sopara (weird name). A couple of years ago, I went to Churchgate with my wife (who is from Delhi/Noida) to flex my NRI dollars and have a lunch at Taj. When it was time for us to get back, it was evening rush hour. For someone who grew up in Mumbai knows taking Uber from Churchgate to Andheri is non-sensical. My wife freaked out. Fortunately there was an A.C. train that does accept season pass-holders and was pretty vacant. Pretty sure everyone who travelled by Mumbai trains have interesting stories to share. People say all interesting stories start by: 'there was one time I got drunk...' but I guess people in Mumbai have a lot of more stories that start with 'One time I was in 6:12 Virar fast, and got in from Dadar..'

Yes, I have a Dadar - Virar fast story. That was the first and the last time I got in that train. I used to live in Andheri then. I started making my move towards the door after the train left Santacruz. It was a struggle to reach to the door and was able to just do that right before the train stopped at Andheri. But, to my surprise the people standing on the door did not let me get down stating that if you had to get down at Andheri, I should have taken either the Andheri or Borivali train, and not get into the Virar train !! Luckily, I got down at Borivali and travelled without a ticket back to Andheri.:cool:

[qesehmk]

Yes, I have a Dadar - Virar fast story. That was the first and the last time I got in that train. I used to live in Andheri then. I started making my move towards the door after the train left Santacruz. It was a struggle to reach to the door and was able to just do that right before the train stopped at Andheri. But, to my surprise the people standing on the door did not let me get down stating that if you had to get down at Andheri, I should have taken either the Andheri or Borivali train, and not get into the Virar train !! Luckily, I got down at Borivali and travelled without a ticket back to Andheri.:cool:
It used to happen to us all the time. So we almost never caught virar fast while going south. :) Virar people were just a little bit nasty to anybody wanting to get down at Andheri !


I thought I was old, but when I started commuting in trains in 1995 they already had Dahisar and they were adding stations like Nala-Sopara (weird name). A couple of years ago, I went to Churchgate with my wife (who is from Delhi/Noida) to flex my NRI dollars and have a lunch at Taj. When it was time for us to get back, it was evening rush hour. For someone who grew up in Mumbai knows taking Uber from Churchgate to Andheri is non-sensical. My wife freaked out. Fortunately there was an A.C. train that does accept season pass-holders and was pretty vacant. Pretty sure everyone who travelled by Mumbai trains have interesting stories to share. People say all interesting stories start by: 'there was one time I got drunk...' but I guess people in Mumbai have a lot of more stories that start with 'One time I was in 6:12 Virar fast, and got in from Dadar..'

Indeed most mumbai stories are train related. I have one when I caught a very early morning virar train and heard THE ENTIRE RAILWAY DIBBA singing this song 100% pitch perfect except one glitch. They were singing "Dekha hai pehli baar Sajan ke ankhon mein pyar" absolutely pitch perfect and with all sincerity. Except when the lines ended in "pyar" or "karar" they would replace the musical piece with "Datta Patil Datta Patil Datta Patil Datta Patil" :)


Seems a lot of us worked in Mumbai, Seepz. I used to live in Powai and work at Seepz initially and then at Borivalli. Remember those days of long bus rides from Borivalli to Powai and especially during Ganesh festival times. Thanks for bringing some of those old Mumbai memories back.
Funnily I also lived in Powai (IIT) for about six months for a project. The world outside and inside IIT campus were quite different. Inside was quite tranquil. Sitting atop the hill behind with virar lake on one side and city on the other, watching planes land in sunset on Mumbai airport with fiery tails is unforgettable.

[montyp80]

I thought I was old, but when I started commuting in trains in 1995 they already had Dahisar and they were adding stations like Nala-Sopara (weird name). A couple of years ago, I went to Churchgate with my wife (who is from Delhi/Noida) to flex my NRI dollars and have a lunch at Taj. When it was time for us to get back, it was evening rush hour. For someone who grew up in Mumbai knows taking Uber from Churchgate to Andheri is non-sensical. My wife freaked out. Fortunately there was an A.C. train that does accept season pass-holders and was pretty vacant. Pretty sure everyone who travelled by Mumbai trains have interesting stories to share. People say all interesting stories start by: 'there was one time I got drunk...' but I guess people in Mumbai have a lot of more stories that start with 'One time I was in 6:12 Virar fast, and got in from Dadar..'

Having lived near Charni Road all my life (before moving to the US) and studied in Andheri, I have many local train stories. I have used those trains at all possible hours of the day but the travel during the rush hour traffic was plain ridiculous. And yet, Mumbai can't be the same without it's life-line.

Good to know quite a few folks are from or have lived in Mumbai and experienced this. I guess this can be a separate thread of its own...

[qesehmk]

I thought I was old, but when I started commuting in trains in 1995 they already had Dahisar and they were adding stations like Nala-Sopara (weird name).
Yes your are right. Dahisar had one but it was more convenient to go to Borivali and catch a fast train to Andheri than catch a slow one at Dahisar to go to Andheri.

[incredible]

It used to happen to us all the time. So we almost never caught virar fast while going south. :) Virar people were just a little bit nasty to anybody wanting to get down at Andheri !



Indeed most mumbai stories are train related. I have one when I caught a very early morning virar train and heard THE ENTIRE RAILWAY DIBBA singing this song 100% pitch perfect except one glitch. They were singing "Dekha hai pehli baar Sajan ke ankhon mein pyar" absolutely pitch perfect and with all sincerity. Except when the lines ended in "pyar" or "karar" they would replace the musical piece with "Datta Patil Datta Patil Datta Patil Datta Patil" :)


Funnily I also lived in Powai (IIT) for about six months for a project. The world outside and inside IIT campus were quite different. Inside was quite tranquil. Sitting atop the hill behind with virar lake on one side and city on the other, watching planes land in sunset on Mumbai airport with fiery tails is unforgettable.

I spent 18 months within the campus and then good 4+ years outside living near Hiranandani, when it was being built. I remember the difference between inside and outside.

[gammaray]

I was the "spoilt" Bandra kid with the school in Juhu, so no local train commute then. Later it was Chembur/Nerul, but the harbor line was nowhere close to the western and central lines in terms of congestion. My most vivid memory of local trains was one day when the friend group spontaneously decided to go on a trek just before the weekend, and everyone hopped on the last 2 am train to Karjat/Kasara (which are the closest train stations to all the Western Ghats trekking spots). And the train at 2am was so packed (at least till Kalyan) that there wasn't space to put your arms down by your side and had to have them above the head holding on to the grip handles above. And I remember being happy, looking at my friends and smiling, thinking this could only happen in Mumbai.

Now I am a yuge proponent of the 3 feet minimum personal space bubble. Not sure how I would react to being packed in and full body contact in all directions with random people : -)

[qesehmk]

I was the "spoilt" Bandra kid with the school in Juhu, so no local train commute then. Later it was Chembur/Nerul, but the harbor line was nowhere close to the western and central lines in terms of congestion. My most vivid memory of local trains was one day when the friend group spontaneously decided to go on a trek just before the weekend, and everyone hopped on the last 2 am train to Karjat/Kasara (which are the closest train stations to all the Western Ghats trekking spots). And the train at 2am was so packed (at least till Kalyan) that there wasn't space to put your arms down by your side and had to have them above the head holding on to the grip handles above. And I remember being happy, looking at my friends and smiling, thinking this could only happen in Mumbai.

Now I am a yuge proponent of the 3 feet minimum personal space bubble. Not sure how I would react to being packed in and full body contact in all directions with random people : -)

Indeed only in Mumbai. My theory was if you want to get on or off a train simply position yourself in front of the door. The crowd does the rest :)

[vedu]

Funnily I also lived in Powai (IIT) for about six months for a project. The world outside and inside IIT campus were quite different. Inside was quite tranquil. Sitting atop the hill behind with virar lake on one side and city on the other, watching planes land in sunset on Mumbai airport with fiery tails is unforgettable.

I spent four most beautiful undergraduate years of my life in IITB. And you are absolutely right. The world inside the gated campus of IITB in Powai is completely different from the outside world! Miss those days!

[bikenlalan]

I have lived in Sion all the time before moving to US, and Sion technically has 2 stations, one on Central and (GTB Nagar) on harbor line, so my daily commute was from GTB to Govandi and majority of the train would empty at Kurla and the swath of people just gushing out pushing anyone in the way was an experience by itself. And then from Govandi, we take share a Rickshaw ride, Rs 3 each to get to college in Chembur. Fun times those were for sure.

Also a memory that I can never forget, Govandi station never had a TC monitor the ticketless travelers, so most of us would not renew our discounted student pass, and one fine day a TC happens to be there in the 4 years and asks for the ticket and I passed him a 2 year old expired season pass and he let me go.

[sweta.shetty@gmail.com]

just logged in after years as it was memory trip back to Mumbai. I still have friends from 8:12am train. Every year when in Mumbai, used to just board the train to meet this train friends. Parents still stay in the same locality for past 35 years. Neighbors are immediate family members even now. It didn't matter what language one spoke, Ganesh Chaturthi festival was society event. The day after Diwali was Happy New Year, and used to visit around 60 homes in the society to wish Happy New Year. During Ramadan time, would get to eat the best sheerkurma and briyani. Good old simple days.

[gammaray]

I have lived in Sion all the time before moving to US, and Sion technically has 2 stations, one on Central and (GTB Nagar) on harbor line, so my daily commute was from GTB to Govandi and majority of the train would empty at Kurla and the swath of people just gushing out pushing anyone in the way was an experience by itself. And then from Govandi, we take share a Rickshaw ride, Rs 3 each to get to college in Chembur. Fun times those were for sure.

Also a memory that I can never forget, Govandi station never had a TC monitor the ticketless travelers, so most of us would not renew our discounted student pass, and one fine day a TC happens to be there in the 4 years and asks for the ticket and I passed him a 2 year old expired season pass and he let me go.


The flooding near the Sion station every monsoon is legendary. I was caught in it once while craving the good seafood at Sion Lunch Home. And this college you talk about in Chembur, wouldn't happen to be VESIT now would it?

[bikenlalan]

Flooding still happens at Sion station, and last it happened was just last week as per my Dad.

I used to pass Sion Lunch Home every day from school to home, mine was a Church school right next to the station. Lunch hours used to be packed. Although I have never tried it being a vegetarian.

The college in Chembur I went to was Shah and Anchor Engineering

[bikenlalan]

One thing I have never done living 23 years in Mumbai is travel by the toy train from Neral to Matheran. Somehow it never worked out for me but I wish to take that journey with my kids on my next trip to Mumbai, hopefully end of this year.

[LightAtEndOfTunnel]

I grew up in not so nice part of Mumbai. 1992 Mumbai riots, started from the part of town where I lived. As a 12 year old, I had seen what a 12 year shouldn't ever see. During pandemic we were all shielding our kids so much. I told my wife, we are not taking kids to grocery stores or out anywhere. In my days, whole city was burning down and my parents were like here take 30 Rs and get milk and grocery from the store. ha ha. Gang wars were pretty common too during those days too. Just that now all gangsters have washed their sins by venturing into construction business or politics. I was fortunate enough to make it out the "hood". One day my niece mentioned some Bollywood actor who is an alumnus of her school and I said, alumni of my school are famous for different reason (some of them might be service time while others could be fugitives 'tadipar') and we all had a good laugh about it. The good thing that came out of my neighborhood, was that no one messed with me in college. The first week in college when a senior tried to haze/rag me, I told him: "Aaj jo kar na hai kar le, kal tu yaha pe dikhega nahi". The word got around quickly. I could go on about a lot of things. A not so ordinary life makes a good story if nothing else.

[LightAtEndOfTunnel]

The flooding near the Sion station every monsoon is legendary. I was caught in it once while craving the good seafood at Sion Lunch Home. And this college you talk about in Chembur, wouldn't happen to be VESIT now would it?

I went to Father Agnel's Engineering College in Vashi and I have a very interesting story. It was my second semester exam. In those days, for second semester, you'd have your exams schedule in some other college and my exam center was RAIT in Nerul. I lived in western suburbs and as you'd image we had an onslaught of rains. Trains and buses came to halt and harbor line was infamous for flooding. I took a bus from Santa Cruz to Kurla (to cut some time) and was waiting at Sion/Kurla junction for a bus that would take me to Nerul (there was only one bus). I had less than 100 Rs in my pocket so I couldn't afford to take auto-rickshaw and I was running out of time. There was this guy who was watching me for a while at bus station; he came to me and asked me where I was headed. I described my predicament to him. He gave me a hundred rupees note and say go take a rickshaw and I hope you make it for you exam. Over a period of time, I turned into a non-religious, non-believer person but there are some things / incidents in my life where universe conjured up perfect coincidences to bail me out of tough situations. Is there a God ? I don't know. Are there good amount of nice people in this world? Hell YES.

[qesehmk]

I spent four most beautiful undergraduate years of my life in IITB. And you are absolutely right. The world inside the gated campus of IITB in Powai is completely different from the outside world! Miss those days!It indeed is ... at least was. My student life was enchanted as it was. IIT experience only made it better.


just logged in after years as it was memory trip back to Mumbai. I still have friends from 8:12am train. Every year when in Mumbai, used to just board the train to meet this train friends. Parents still stay in the same locality for past 35 years. Neighbors are immediate family members even now. It didn't matter what language one spoke, Ganesh Chaturthi festival was society event. The day after Diwali was Happy New Year, and used to visit around 60 homes in the society to wish Happy New Year. During Ramadan time, would get to eat the best sheerkurma and briyani. Good old simple days.Like all big cities Mumbai can come across faceless to some. But in my experience I found a great deal of harmony and kindness among people in Mumbai.


One thing I have never done living 23 years in Mumbai is travel by the toy train from Neral to Matheran. Somehow it never worked out for me but I wish to take that journey with my kids on my next trip to Mumbai, hopefully end of this year.Both the train and matheran is a bit overrated imho. But who knows kids might like it.


I grew up in not so nice part of Mumbai. 1992 Mumbai riots, started from the part of town where I lived. As a 12 year old, I had seen what a 12 year shouldn't ever see. ... 1992 is when India and Maharashtra started going to dogs. Soon after 1992 Shiv Sena came to power (along with BJP) and Maharashtra's politics took a dark turn forever until today. Enough said .... I am sure nobody wants to speak about it.


I couldn't afford to take auto-rickshaw and I was running out of time. There was this guy who was watching me for a while at bus station; he came to me and asked me where I was headed. I described my predicament to him. He gave me a hundred rupees note and say go take a rickshaw and I hope you make it for you exam. Over a period of time, I turned into a non-religious, non-believer person but there are some things / incidents in my life where universe conjured up perfect coincidences to bail me out of tough situations. Is there a God ? I don't know. Are there good amount of nice people in this world? Hell YES. Very well said. I firmly believe the same!

[Turbulent_Dragonfly]

I went to Father Agnel's Engineering College in Vashi and I have a very interesting story. It was my second semester exam. In those days, for second semester, you'd have your exams schedule in some other college and my exam center was RAIT in Nerul. I lived in western suburbs and as you'd image we had an onslaught of rains. Trains and buses came to halt and harbor line was infamous for flooding. I took a bus from Santa Cruz to Kurla (to cut some time) and was waiting at Sion/Kurla junction for a bus that would take me to Nerul (there was only one bus). I had less than 100 Rs in my pocket so I couldn't afford to take auto-rickshaw and I was running out of time. There was this guy who was watching me for a while at bus station; he came to me and asked me where I was headed. I described my predicament to him. He gave me a hundred rupees note and say go take a rickshaw and I hope you make it for you exam. Over a period of time, I turned into a non-religious, non-believer person but there are some things / incidents in my life where universe conjured up perfect coincidences to bail me out of tough situations. Is there a God ? I don't know. Are there good amount of nice people in this world? Hell YES.

I got real busy the past few weeks and just catching up on some old conversations...

Dude, Fr. Agnel Vashi?!! What year did you graduate and what branch? You can PM me if you don't want to make it public. Fr. Orlando Rodrigues.... $#@$%$, fun times... Assembly every day in the morning for ENGINEERING STUDENTS, compulsory attendance, locked out of college for not being on time for assembly... Agnel Central Jail...represent!!

[gten20]

I had missed reading this thread. All these posts bring back many beautiful memories. Thanks Turbulent_Dragonfly for bumping it. I grew up in Mumbai too. My favorites memories are playing gully/box cricket all summer and street football in rains. Some Sundays the grown ups in their 20's and 30's used to join our chillar party of 8-12 year olds to play cricket. Such wonderful times!

[Turbulent_Dragonfly]

I had missed reading this thread. All these posts bring back many beautiful memories. Thanks Turbulent_Dragonfly for bumping it. I grew up in Mumbai too. My favorites memories are playing gully/box cricket all summer and street football in rains. Some Sundays the grown ups in their 20's and 30's used to join our chillar party of 8-12 year olds to play cricket. Such wonderful times!

Yeah to say Mumbai lived, breathed, laughed and cried cricket is an understatement :). Still remember how the streets used to get eerily empty when India-Pak were playing. Sadly they stopped playing a decade back and a lot of younger folks missed out on the tension and excitement. There were always a group of us who used to salvage fireworks and keep them in airtight containers so that they can be used for cricket victories! Watching India's splendid win today brought back so many memories. I had stopped watching cricket after I came here because the quality was not so good from 2001-2010 but after people like Kohli, Rohit and Dhawan came in, it's been a lot of fun and now especially with our aggressive bowlers like Bumrah and Siraj. Having being able to watch cricket live is probably only once occasion when I wish I was in England. ;)

[qesehmk]

I had missed reading this thread. All these posts bring back many beautiful memories. Thanks Turbulent_Dragonfly for bumping it. I grew up in Mumbai too. My favorites memories are playing gully/box cricket all summer and street football in rains. Some Sundays the grown ups in their 20's and 30's used to join our chillar party of 8-12 year olds to play cricket. Such wonderful times!

A childhood friend of mine played in Tadadev team in Kanga League. He told me about Tendulkar in 1987 saying watch this boy. And boy oh boy did that boy turn out to be good!

In those days Mumbai kids were so good at Cricket, I think if you randomly picked 11 players from any Kanga league teams, they could defeat any team from Pune :)

[gten20]

I saw Virender Sehwag at Taj Mumbai, chilling by the pool, reading some magazine. This was during the India-West Indies test match in 2002. How I wish we had smart phones back then. :) I remember being star struck and did something like semi wave/thumbs-up at him. He just nodded his head and got back to his magazine. :)