C-Metro v/s. D-Metro

Being a middle-class ordinary girl in Kolkata, metro rail has been a part of my daily existence - not just to save money but to save time. After going to Delhi, I still remained that same middle-class ordinary girl but the reason to travel by metro was exactly the opposite - it was not to save time, but money.

So, in those sixty minutes of my travel every day, I started analyzing it.. rather comparing the C (Calcutta) metro with the D (Delhi) metro. Strange it might seem to you but my observations are quite decent.

Let’s begin with the ticket. In Kolkata, you buy a ticket as in a paper card, punch it and cross the gate. And you’re up on the train. No more formalities. In Delhi, you buy a ‘token’ from the TICKET COUNTER and then pass through a metal-detector machine to reach the next level where the guard is waiting to ‘check’ you.

So, here we are.. back to the platform of Kolkata metro. One metro line, one platform and two tracks on both sides of the platform, but Delhi has several lines (you name a color, they have a line with that name), tracks in between and platforms on the sides. Sometimes matching the line-color with the destination station will make you miss some three trains (that’s the least). In Kolkata, you miss a train, they make you wait for one tenth of an hour (okie 6 mins.), Delhi is fast.. trains come every 2mins. and cause a traffic jam before every three stations. ‘Bade bade seher-o mein aisi choti choti baatein hoti rehti hai’.

Trains doesn’t stop in Kolkata (on duty hours).. never.. until you jump and commit suicide on the track (but those are weekly incidents, rarely happens daily). Interestingly, in the capital city, trains stop here, there, anywhere (and to compensate, the speaker says sorry to you after every 2 sentences).

In the city of the India Gate, its stylish.. Gorgeous white coaches, comfortable seats, exclusive ladies’ compartment, air-conditioned trains, speakers telling you what to do what not to do.. I wonder why there was no such announcement like “don’t pee in the train?”, I mean they gave almost every other ‘fatherly’ instruction like ‘don’t make friends with strangers’, ‘don’t touch unidentified toys’ (as if we haven’t learnt a lesson from the film Mr. India), ‘don’t listen to music’, and so on..

In Kolkata metro, they say nothing other than the name of the station that is next. Sometimes they even forget that. Also, there’s NO air-conditioner, no electronic station indicator, no ladies’ compartment and its all underground. I hope you’re not feeling claustrophobic :P

In a capacity of 100 people in a single coach, you won’t find less than 699 people in one compartment in a Delhi metro. Like you can’t even itch your butt, your hand might touch somebody else’s something else. Yeah. By chance if you keep your cell phone in your pocket on vibration mode, then my friend, either you have to enjoy or suffer that vibration till you reach the next station. It’s possible you’ll reach the station, but cannot possibly reach your own pocket in that situation.

Kolkata metro is the same, but unlike Delhi metro where most people are talking or staring or exchanging a glance (sometimes phone number, if he/she’s too fast, then flat number); in the city of Rosogollas, everybody is either talking non-so-sweet about politics or not talking at all. The only time a tolerant person opens his/her mouth in the train is when he/she tells the other person, “kindly do not raise your hand to hold the handle, I might just suffocate to death!”

The only thing that I found similar to both the cities is, when a little girl pukes in the train, everybody moves 3-hands away from her in less than one second, as if she is some suicide bomber. Not one person goes up to her and asks “Are you okay? You need water?” or may be JUST one person will. May be you’ll find such one lady in a lot of thousand and this sadness remains closed in the coaches of both the C metro and the D metro..