Mumbai suburban railway
I don’t know about you, but often I need more enthusiasm to jot down few words here.
Maybe, it’s the accessibility of the platform.
Although, Medium has an app, it’s not their fault.
The trouble lies with the facet that writing needs space.
It needs comfortable keyboards, quiet spaces, or rather spaces that inspire thinking.
Having stated the obvious, I will continue completing this article on my train ride.
I have noticed a peculiar detail that the Mumbai Suburban Rail Network adds to the lives of the general population.
There is a thing about these trains that run around the city of Bombay.
Most of these trains especially on the harbour line run late.
Apart from the punctuality issue, there is a subconscious drive that is shaping the city.
The detail is an announcement.
Whenever a train of 9 coaches pulls into a station that can occupy 12 coaches, they make an announcement.
“Yatriyon krupaya dhyan de.
Platform no.
xyz pe aane wali 12 debbo ki local, aaj 9 debbo ki aa rahi hai.
Yatriyon Ko hone wali asuvidhase humein khhed hai.”
This translates to
“Passengers please pay attention.
The train arriving on platform no.
xyz is of 9 coaches, instead of 12 coaches.
The inconvenience caused to passengers is regretted.”
The peculiar bit is an apology.
The reason these trains are shorter than the length of the platform is not clear to me.
Since the trains can be accommodated in the platform.
The announcement seem to be unnecessary.
The apology drives into the subconscious, the idea that apologies are okay.
The emphasis on saying sorry, has been in my belief a cause for the attitude of the citizens to be complacent of the mistakes that they make.
Millions of people wake up, and go through this idea driven into their subconscious day in, and day out.
A stark observation made alongside these factors is that people have a complacent subconscious.
Our first response to the errors we make is sorry.
Since, this is a concept common to the masses, it has made complacency a normal.
The prevailing attitude is reflected in all the business transacted in this city, regardless of the nature of the situation.
Is complacency the reason that a majority of the local population cultivates habits that lead to beliefs such as lack of punctuality is an obvious Indian flavour.
This post was written to bring awareness about things that define the subconscious of the citizens every morning.
It works with the idea that knowledge of a behaviour trait can help curb negativity.
Since, the way you do anything is the way you do everything.
The long term impact of replacing old habits with a new set of habits will lead to a happier, mentally healthy, and productive society.