No I am not going to talk about the song by the Corrs...though it happens to be a personal favourite. I am going to talk about my breath-taking as in take my breath away (literally) experiences in the local trains of Bombay.. yes I said BOMBAY!! .
It's a humid sticky morning in the cold month of November, and I am waiting with countless other ladies at the station platform near the First Class compartment. All eyes on the horizon waiting for the train to arrive. The moment we see it approach, we take our battle front stances. The only thing missing is war-paint on our faces and we don't need no weapons coz our bare hands, and elbows and buttocks(I'll get to these soon), are more than sufficient.
We have to take our offence positions coz we know that the steel monster thats on it's way is already packed with ladies from the previous stations and thus we have very little space to deal with and very little time to shove ourselves in that very little space.
The train arrives. The frenzy begins.If you are a spectator instead of a participant, its quite a sight. Women weighing 80 kgs and more defy the physical laws of gravity and jump in to the trains to secure themsleves and their big toushees ample space, and this while using the elbows and more effectively the buttocks to ward off, push down and obstruct other mortals that stand lower in the BMI scale.
If I, being one of those lower scale mortals, by any chance happen to secure a place for myself, its not a place, its a crevice. Its like being pushed against a wall behind a door that's open in front of your face...but ya you are sort of cushioned in between the buttocks of the lady in the front and the pot belly of the lady behind.
