With a deafening roar, the local train (slang for the Mumbai Suburban Railway) streamed into the steaming and crowded Churchgate Station, one of the busiest railway stations in this part of the world. Grappling with the wild crowds and noise, I hopped on to the train with a gigantic leap to prevent the crowd behind me from unceremoniously dragging me in. Barely able to move amidst the hot and sweaty sea of humanity, I realized how Mumbaikars endure this daily struggle of epic proportions in this thriving mega-polis of 18 million people that is the economic heartland of India.

I have been on a handful of public transportation systems in my lifetime but nothing greets me more intensely than this short 5 minute ride to the station of Marine Lines just a stone’s throw away from Churchgate. Mumbai’s fledgling local trains are known to transport over 6 million people daily from far-flung suburbs to their workplace and back. Muttering excessively beneath my breath, I mount a hopeless effort to stand closer to the doors which remain obviously open throughout to accommodate the throngs of people that fill these rusty, congested carriages. The train begins to slow down as I catch a fleeting glimpse of the station through the mass of bodies that are lined in front of the door.

“Excuse me, coming through…”, I scream as I use my hands and body to cut through the sea of commuters standing in my way like dozens of roadblocks. Finally, after shoving madly and enduring more than a few dark stares, I stick my foot out to touch the concrete platform that is suddenly like a heavenly abode. As I barely step on the ground, I turn back to look back at the train lurching forward like a huge monster with a payload of at least a thousand commuters. Whew, I wiped the sweat of my brow and walked towards the exit. Boy, was I glad to make it out of that 5 minute train journey that just seemed like forever. A small part of a never-ending epic journey that local people in Mumbai make every day…