You know all those dreams you have of being in the best
cities of the world.. London, Paris, New York…. Well I am living my dream..
working in London, minutes away from the Buckingham palace. It doesn’t get any
better from this – location wise. The flip side is I don’t live at or anywhere
near the Palace. So I need to travel to work – almost an hour one way daily. So
what’s the big deal – most people do you say. But it depends on whom you ask.
For example – In Bangalore, the hour, hour and a half to or from work was in
the comfort of my car listening to RJ Shraddha and RJ Daraius. I knew the
trouble points and was mentally prepared – Marthahalli, KR Puram…. When you are
in Mumbai, everything is a mad rush really. The only good thing about being in
a local train at peak hours is that you are so squeezed from all sides that you
really don’t feel anything – no pain from standing hours on a local from
Churchgate to Virar or VT to Karjat – in fact you are so cocooned that you can
actually sleep standing. For our friends from Delhi – it’s the hours spend at
the Delhi – Gurgaon toll plaza that is the bane. For us Londonnites (look at me
– 3 weeks in the country and calling myself a Londonnite…) it’s the myriad
forms of public transport that is available. I have discovered that from my
home to my office is around an hour door to door. No matter which route I take
the time taken remains the same – an oh boy… how many options to choose from.
So let me describe the few that I have discovered in the past 5 days. I walk to
Surbiton station – take a national rail train (southwest line) to Waterloo. Now
a fast train would take me directly to Waterloo from where I take a tube via
Bakerloo line to Embankment which is one stop from Waterloo and from there a
District or Circle line tube to St. James’s park which is 2-3 stops from
Embankment. A slow train to Waterloo will stop at around 6 stops on the way. So
one of my options is to get down at Wimbledon and take a District line from
there to St. James’s park. Or to get down at Vauxhall and take a Victoria line
to Victoria Station and walk down to the office. These are three options that I
discovered in the past few days. I’m sure that as days go by, more routes will
be added to this list. So what makes you decide your preferred route. First,
there is the time factor – which is the quickest route – there is no shortest
route, so quickest will have to do. If you are under a misconception that a
fast train to Waterloo will actually get you there faster, you are mistaken.
Like in Mumbai, a fast train will most probably come in after 3 slow trains.
And even if one route actually got you from point A to B faster, the number of
stairs and escalators that you had to go up and down to cross over from
National rail to Bakerloo line to District line to Victoria line… you really
don’t require any other exercise. Just climbing up and down the stairs and
running from one platform to another will get you calories burning. The other
factor is obviously the comfort factor – the Wimbledon option is really the
slowest of the above, but it is the most comfortable. I get a place to sit on
the train from Surbiton because it is a slow train. I always get a place to sit
on the tube from Wimbledon and most of the trip is over ground… so you get to
take in the sights. So I prefer this over the others.
Being on a train or a tube is almost like being on a plane –
you have a guard making an announcement in a very cultured, clipped tone.
Sometimes you have odd ball characters like I had today on my District line
tube” Hello ladies and gentlemen and welcome to the district line train to
Tower Hill taking a very scenic route via Putney, West Kensington, Earls court,
Victoria, Embankment and Tower hill. This train will attempt to stop at all
stations on the way to and especially at Tower Hill. So take you seats if you
have found one and enjoy the rest of the ride.” They wish you a pleasant day or
a safe onward journey at the end of your trip. They all mention that we look at
the safety information displayed in each compartment and that we keep our
belongings to ourselves. All of them let us know why a train is running late or
has stopped at an unscheduled stop. They apologize a hundred times though their
voices emote no feeling. And very much like our flights, trains are often late.
They have a good reason like “person falling on tracks”, “signal fault”, “faulty
train before”.. so a lot of your time is spent on platforms… waiting for the
next train, the next tube, the red light to change, the dead man to be removed.
The other thing that needs to be mentioned when you talk
public transport is your fellow passenger. It was a pleasant surprise when I
got into a tube and nearly everyone was reading something or the other. Most
are reading the free newspapers handed out outside most stations, but others
are reading novels, magazines, something on their ipads or kindles. It is so
heartening to see people read. I have almost never in my 5 years in Bangalore
see people read in public transport. Can’t blame them fully. Difficult to read
properly when you are on a roller coaster ride due to the condition of the
roads or so crammed that you can hardly take a full breath let alone spread a
news paper to its full length. Most of them have their headphones on. Some are
playing stupid phone games. But there is one thing in common. No one ever
talks. You may have a couple of people or a bunch of people who are together
having a conversation in hushed tones, people speaking in polite, courteous
tones into their cell phones – but never ever striking a conversation with a
stranger – that is an unwritten rule on the London underground – thou shalt not
speak to thy neighbor. Maybe the only commandment strictly followed in London.
I find it quite amusing to see people. Actually see them, not to hide behind
books or ear phones, but to actually observe humanity in its raw form. All
shapes, sizes and colours of people. Formally dressed, stylishly dressed,
shabbily dressed, drinking coffee, balancing books, kissing and fondling,
airing their dirty laundry, out of place strangers, people who belong so much
that they almost blend in with the décor of the train – what they do, how they
sit, how they react.. it is a fascinating study of the human species and its
free and uninterrupted – till the person leaves the train.
Once you get off a train the next interesting thing is
getting on all those stairs and escalators. People in London have immense
patience. You can see two structured lines, barely moving in the direction of
the stairs. The odd one person or so who is in a hurry slightly jostling
others, but more or less everyone – just waiting for their turn to get on to
the steps – in an orderly fashion. Imagine putting them at Dadar station at
peak hours. They would end up paying for therapy sessions for the rest of their
lives to recover from the emotional trauma. I haven’t counted, but am sure that
I climb up and down at least 100 steps everyday. If I still don’t lose weight –
at least I tried.
After you get off the stairs and escalators beeping your
oyster card at each gate, you land into a big cross over hall in most big
stations – Victoria, waterloo, Liverpool street. Such halls are a sea of black
and grey – all rushing across all corners to board the next mode of transport
to their next point. In the midst you may see a rush of colour, a whimsical
blue, or a bold red, or the more common pastel or brown – but mostly it is just
a sea of black and grey. Sometimes with poppies or broaches on the lapels,
sometimes with dainty scarves, sometimes with a shirt so colourful you know
that the guy is gay, sometimes with a red dotted bow tie, sometimes with coat
tails, but mostly black or grey pants, skirts or dresses with black overcoats.
After all that darkness - the darkness of the tubes, the
tunnels, the clothes, the silence, you come out of the station into a rush of
blinding light. You just want to rush into it, embrace it with all you
have…..its London, you don’t have too much of day light anyway.
