Transportation in India

Instead of carry on writing Mumbai Diaries which inspired from a famous upcoming movie, I thought of writing on some topics. Here is one of them.

If you recall history it rickshaw that is one of the famous transportations in India. Not seen any one of them anywhere. The cab service I took from Airport charged me INR 900.00 for 40Km distance where our equivalent is 2385.00 (LKR 59.60 without AC per Km which is exactly similar to 688688 rate with AC). All of the taxis are equipped with a meter and Black and Yellow colour code where anybody could track them easily. Most of the Tuk-Tuks also in the same color code and metered. At the 1st tuk-tuk trip, the meter reading was INR 1 and 80 Pais and I was very glad as for same distance we have to pay here at least LKR 70. But unfortunately that was showing the distance which costs me INR 29.00 (LKR 76.85) quite similar to Sri Lankan rates. But the thing is they have a bag of coins and they return the balance. So ultimately it has become my medium of transport.

One day I wanted to find where the Heart of Mumbai. So I asked from the owner of the Hotel. He said "you take the train and goto VT"which is the last station" and asked me to obtain 1st class ticket. On 1st of April I walked to the nearby station and obtained a 1st class ticket which is machine generated slip costs me INR 108.00 (Please see attached photos of front and back). I walked to the platform 4 where you get trains to VT. It is exactly powerset trains we have here in Sri Lanka. But where is the 1st class ? It showed 1st train will arrive at 8.29AM and very sharp and mind you they are electric trains. It was jam packed train where I try to got in. But it did not stop there for at least 10 seconds. People rushed but I failed expecting 2-3 minutes stoppage.  Even 1st class is similar to our 3rd class. The biggest surprise is no 3rd class !!! Next train came after 5-10 minutes. I try to got in quickly as I know it won't stop for long. Alas ! this time I tried to got into Ladies compartment where they travel separately which is good. But moved towards next 1st class compartment which is for Gents and automatically I was in. People there were so generous to got me in free of energy. My goodness it was jam packed. Everybody talked about matches they had recently. One guy compared the similarity of Tilan Samaraweera and Misbaa-ul-Huk (eventhough I could not understand single hindi word, I understood it well). He is 100% correct. Both of these players play Anchor-roles I would say. Some even read papers inside it where I very hardly breathed. Since I was wearing Sri Lanka support t-shirt this time they knew I am Sri Lankan supporter. I spoken to one gentlemen. We had a long chat. He felt very sorry about me without a ticket for the final. Nice person. Their offices are starting at 11.00Am and closing time is 6.00PM with 30M Lunch break.  

The funniest thing in Mumbai are lorries. On the back side of each lorry painted "Horn OK Please". I could not ask any person what exactly they intended by this. It gives normal feeling that what they say is "Denna Handa Menna Ida" like message. If you need to move give me a heavy horn. Funny isn't it ? 

I met one of the Yemenese guy who traveled through entire India. We shared same tuk-tuk fare to Inorbit Shopping mall. He said, till his visit to India, he thought worst drivers he met were in Arab but now realized it's Indian drivers who risks their lives when driving. I too agree with him. Our drivers are far better than them. They have highways and 6-track road system with flyovers and everything but their road discipline is zero. Even their general discipline is below par. 

It is worth mentioning their fuel prices as well. If I am not mistaken price of a diesel litre is INR 44.00 which is LKR 116. I don't know but heavy traffic, smoky city never suggests price is that high. Otherwise they me be rich to waste that much.

I wrote this to increase the awareness of my friends on India, not to insult great Indian nation. But there are areas Indians should improve. 

Front Side of the Ticket