I’m heading back to the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj station. It’s been an interesting day.
I bumped into some chill guys on my way back – a bunch of tattoo artists. No, I think just one of them was a tattoo artist. The other guy was into digital art generally.
We started talking under the umbrella of an Egg Pav vendor, while we waited for our bread and eggs to be ready. I was surprised to learn that there was a language barrier between the artists and the man selling the Egg Pav. They spoke different dialects, so it took some back-and-forths for them to communicate with one another – that was very interesting for me to see. For some reason I just would not have expected to bump into Indians having communication complications on the streets of Mumbai.
I actually saw the artist guys earlier – at the Jehangir museum, while I walked around, looking at the interesting art on display. We smiled at one another as we crossed paths. They seemed like chill people – friendly.
But I wasn’t really thinking about them. Nah. There was this really interesting-looking Indian girl I had spotted earlier, and I was scanning for her out of the corner of my eye, trying to plan out a way we could “accidentally” bump into each other.
I was like “These guys seem friendly, but this is not my priority right now”.
Haha.
We actually did cross paths eventually, me and the interesting-looking Indian girl. We had eye contact and smiled at each other, but her body language didn’t give me the impression she was up for a conversation.
So I left it at that.
So I was there, about five minutes away from the museum, chatting with the artist guys. I thought, “Ehh, there’s nothing else to do anyway, so I might as well just chat with these friendly people”. We talked about their work, and the interesting language divide between them and the Egg Pav man. At some point we looked up one another on Instagram, and I sent each of them a message. One of them followed me.
To be honest, I find the whole “following” thing confusing. What exactly does it mean when you follow someone on say, Instagram? Especially in a situation like this. I literally just bumped into these guys, we were having an interesting time together, but I didn’t know if I would want to engage with their Instagram posts on a day-to-day.
That’s what following means right? “I like your posts and I want to see more of them in my feed“? And if you follow me, I’m supposed to follow you back right? To be polite. Right?
I personally prefer messaging, because sometimes I might enjoy interacting with a person but I’m not that interested in their posts. So that way we can just keep building on the rapport in the DMs. “Following” just feels like a whole-nother layer to the interaction that can feel very different from normal real-life engagement.
I also get sort of miserable when I follow a lot of people whose posts I’m not that into – I scroll through my feed and I feel lost. I then begin to ask myself why I’m putting myself in such an uncomfortable situation to begin with. It’s not like anyone put a gun to my head and said I should follow all of these people.
I guess I also don’t really care about having a large number of followers on social media and stuff. Especially if they’re people I don’t really have one-on-one conversations/connections with. So for me there just isn’t much of an incentive for me to do the whole “Let’s follow each other on social media and increase our follower count” thing.
The whole thing is just strange.
I’m at the train station. Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.
On my way here from Thane earlier in the day, I got a bit lost. I somehow lost track of what train was going where, so I fumbled around the station for a bit. Some random Indian guy asked where I was going. He was in like his early-to-mid thirties.
So far I’ve found Indians super friendly and helpful in giving me directions. That guy seemed a bit different though. Somewhat stern. And his voice was loud. It almost felt like he was shouting at me.
I’m not sure if I even asked him for directions, or if he just looked at me and took it upon himself to guide a lost tourist.
He asked me again, “Where are you going?”.
Well, more like he shouted at me, with his annoyingly loud voice.
I knew where I was going. I was going to the train station at the end of the line. The one with the name that had like four different words in it. The Chattara-
Chatta-
Fuck.
I realised I didn’t know how to pronounce the name.
So far I had been navigating with Google Maps, and if you’re using Google Maps alone, you don’t actually have to read any location names out loud. That means you don’t have any practice pronouncing the names, when you’re trying to get directions.
Apparently that can be problematic. Especially when the name you’re trying to pronounce is “Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj”.
The Indian guy bellowed at me a couple more times before I told him not to worry. He was making me nervous for no good reason. And people walking by were beginning to give us stares.
I’m here for fucking sightseeing Mister man- it’s not like I’m going to miss an urgent job interview if I don’t get directions from you right now.
Eventually I found my way to the train station with the unpronounceable name.
Apparently everything in India (or Mumbai?) is named after the “Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj” guy. The Mumbai airport is also named after him.
While we were walking by a park named after him in Thane, Ninad told me he was some sort of great warrior in early India who fought a lot of enemies and did a lot of heroic stuff. So he became like a legend in their culture.
He said “Raja” means “King” in Hindi, and “Maharaja” means “Great King”. Pointing to just how great the Chhatrapati Shivaji guy must’ve been.
I stopped by the park to read some text about him on a plaque hewn from some sort of black rock. Or maybe the text was engraved on black tile. It was dark, so I wasn’t sure.
I read the brief synopsis on his legendary status and his fourteen wives or so.
Hah.
I’m on the train.
I’m to get off at Thane. I got a ticket from one of the dispensing machines. I think rail transportation here is impressively low-cost. I’m paying such a small amount of money to cover such a large distance, it’s crazy.
While I was purchasing the ticket, it was really interesting to observe how all of the adverts around were in Hindi, and they all had pictures of Indian people on them. You travel to a new place, and you see how the adverts there are tailored to the major demographic of that place.
So far India has also felt pretty homogenous racially, so that likely contributes to why advertisements seem exclusively targeted towards Indians. Or at least Indian-looking people. Whatever that means.
The train is on the move.
Today was interesting. Ninad suggested a number of places for me to visit. Tourist bucket list spots. There was the “Gateway to India” or something like that. Along with a bunch of other stuff.
I didn’t even get there.
I guess I’m not super into the whole “Visit a country and check tourist attractions off your bucket list” thing. Usually I just head out the door and see what I run into. See what people I cross paths with, and try to get a sense of how the people around live their lives on a day-to-day.
Ninad would later say I’m more of a traveller, not a tourist. Hah. That’s interesting to hear.
So when I headed out today, I didn’t have any specific location in mind. I took a train from Thane to Chhatrapati, and then I just began walking about and looking around.
At some point I popped into the Jehangir museum and found myself following the interesting-looking Indian girl as she moved between the different sections of the building. I lost track of time at that point. Haha.
More people join the train, as we progress on the journey. The Chhatrapati station was at the end of the line, so we walked into an empty train. Now with every train stop, the train-car fills up some more. I think most people are just getting off work. Everyone seems to be dressed in office clothes – shirt, trousers, sometimes a briefcase on the side.
Every now and then I catch someone staring at me. I’m the only black person here, so I draw stares. I’m used to it at this point. I’ve been in Mumbai for a few days, and I haven’t come across another black person. I was in Udaipur for like a week, and I came across two. Haha.
We’re at Thane.
I’ve been watching our location on Google Maps. I also just heard the automatic speaker voice go “Thane!”.
Strangely, Thane is actually pronounced “Thanuh”. It sounds like when you say “Aha!”. I was surprised to hear that. I wouldn’t have guessed there was a twist to the pronunciation.
On my initial flight from Mumbai to Udaipur, I was chatting with this guy next to me. His name was Chirag. We were talking about—-
I’m trying to get off the train.
I just got up from my seat, but I’ve just realized that I can’t move. The train is choked. Like, to the brim. It is packed full with people.
I try explaining to the people around me that I’m trying to get to the door. They seem completely unbothered. Looking at the door, I realise that there are people who’re trying to get in. They’re scrambling and pushing and shoving and trying to get themselves on the train.
Wait, how the hell am I supposed to get off?
This place is completely cramped, and yet there are still new people trying to get in!
What sort of a situation is this?
I try pushing my way through, but the crowd doesn’t even budge. I’m being squished together by this immovable wall of stocky middle-aged Indian men who don’t care in the slightest, about my predicament. I keep struggling and pushing, mostly in disbelief. I’m shocked to realize that a crowd of people can be this dense and immovable.
The automatic speaker voice says “Thanuh!” for the last time. The doors are beginning to close. The people who were scrambling into the train, begin to make some final adjustments to their positions as the doors come together.
The train begins to gather momentum. I stare at the receding Thane in resignation.
I have no idea what to to do now. It’s like 9pm or so. Ninad’s family stays in Thane. I don’t know where the hell this train is going. I don’t know how the hell I’m going to get back.
I stand there dumbfounded, my arm holding on to one of the railings along the ceiling, sandwiched amidst the rush-hour crowd, trying to make sense of what just happened to me.
Image: At the train station, on my way back.
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