One Night on the 10:15

The 10:15 local was slowly beginning to pull out as I ran onto the platform. I stopped. I wondered if I should catch the next local which would be there in fifteen minutes. Next thing I knew, I was running for the train again.

There are no sliding doors on Mumbai locals. The bogies are plain little metal cars with open doors. As the train picked up speed, one bogey went past which had very few people in it. In a split second, I was sprinting towards it.

The commuters on board stared at me. People have lost limbs attempting stunts like this. It is insane to try to board a train in motion. Suddenly, a young man was at the door, hanging onto the metal handles. His free hand was stretched out in my direction.

“Here, grab my hand!” he shouted.

The train was whizzing out of the station now and I probably had a few meters of running track left before the platform ended. I raced after his hand, panting. With just a few strides of platform remaining beneath my feet, I grabbed his hand and he swung me on board. I slammed into his chest knocking the wind out of him. We fell in a heap on the floor of the train.

People around us chuckled.

“That was incredibly stupid! What were you kids trying to enact? The scene from Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge?” an angry grandmother retorted disapprovingly. She was referring to a blockbuster Hindi movie. In the last scene, the girl runs after her lover who is on board a moving train. His hand is outstretched. Just when you think she will miss him, he hoists her up and they chug off to a beautiful life together.

“No! no,” I blushed wildly, looking up. My ‘hero’ was still on the floor beneath me and my arms were wrapped around him. I got up, thoroughly embarrassed.

He winced and rubbed his sternum. “You ok miss? Never EVER try that again! ”

“Oh, I won’t,” I said trying to look serious and responsible. “But thank you!”

He got off at Santa Cruz and waved goodbye to me. I thought he looked really handsome in the bulb light. I blushed and waved back.

I rode the same local for another six months till I left Mumbai. The 10:15 local. I never saw my knight in shining armor again though.