Sunday, January 22, 2012

10 Things You See While Traveling in Delhi Metro


Its been around 10 months that I have been traveling on #delhimetro day in and day out hence now I am in a position of being a Pro #delhimetro person. This post will be about my experience in a transport facility which by some is called World's most successful. If it would not have been the #delhimetro I could not have reached my home in Vasant Kunj from Noida where I work daily.





Below you will see 10 things that I see most while traveling in #delhimetro in no specific order




Four Coach and Six Coach trains

They say about 200 metro trains are on the go at one instant on six different lines carrying 1.8mn passengers daily. If you see 6 written on the window panes of #delhimetro that means its a six coach train. All the six coach #delhimetro trains are formed of new metro coaches while most of the 4 coach trains are having old metro coaches which dates back to 2002 when first #delhimetro was started. While in new coaches you have LED notifications for station gone and stations which are yet to come and some more hangers to hold on to while you are standing  but old metro coaches have big windows which gives you more space to look outside the beautiful city Delhi.

Male and Female Announcer 

As you enter #delhimetro the first thing that you notice is the automatic announcement system that guides you about the coming station and what to do and what not to while you travel on it. But few people know who are the faces behind these famous voices, thanks to Pritam who once told me about them. The female voice is of Rini Khanna and Male voice is given by Shammi Narang and not a surprise both of them had worked with Doordarshan in their early days. These announcement are so persistent that if you call somebody in #delhimetro you'll hear their voices. While " Please mind the Gap " will be the most famous announcement but there is one which I hate most that goes " there will be a short delay in this journey " . For the passengers help announcement goes both in Hindi and English.

Latest Gadgets

Be it Mobile Phones, tablets, Cameras, Laptops, ebook readers or anything I'll advice you to take a stroll in #delhimetro once before you land on your selection.  Whether it is Samsung Galaxy S2, Apple iPhone, Kindle, iPad or any other gadget I have seen them first on #delhimetro then at any other place. In my personal case when I have to purchase my first smart phone I had zeroed in on HTC Wildfire S but my mind got changed when I saw Samsung Galaxy Ace in hands of one fellow passenger what more I recognized my twitter Friend Pritam by his phone when one fine day we both were traveling in the same train this being I have never met him before.

Foreigners

Its not only we Indians who are fan of #delhimetro but our foreign guests seems to adore it too. Very seldom it happens that you don't have any foreigner riding with you in your #delhimetro coach. But one thing I have noticed is that while many of our fellow citizens are somewhat confused which way to go to take their train but our foreign guest remain patient and read the marking on the stations to get to their respective trains, may be the reason could be as most of them have seen such kinda transport facility back home in their countries. One of our Fellow Blogger Shiraz Hassan from Pakistan once when visited Delhi last year did not forgot to travel on #delhimetro and admired it.

Romance

To one thing that #delhimetro have come to rescue is lovers flocking around in the whole city, now they have one more place where they can spend their time peacefully. If there are some corners vacant in #delhimetro it would most probably be filled by a couple romancing. You could see Guys and Girls waiting for their soul mates on platforms or sitting on any bench there, they don't have to go in parks and all now. I wonder how many people must have find their better half while traveling on #delhimetro.





CISF Jawans

As #delhimetro over the years have become one of the symbols of our progress it also faces huge threat from organizations which are not happy with our progress. Hence to overcome such threats the security of #delhimetro is handed over to Central Industrial Security Force(CISF). As you enter you have to pass through frisking by CISF jawans who are always vigil. While they are very stern if you behave otherwise on the same time very courteous if you want any help from them. They do not interfere much but go with their job quietly. CISF jawans male and females from every part of our country can be seen with their khaki Uniform and some carrying lethal weapons such as AK-47 too.

Books And NewsPaper

I leave early in the morning for work and is on the #delhimetro around 8, I see some people sleeping and relaxing and some engulfed into morning Newspapers, while the person reads his newspaper his fellow passenger also peeps into it[I also do it sometimes] if some interesting news is there. There are numerous Newspapers circulated in the city but you can gauge by the presence of them in #delhimetro which is most popular. If you'll ask me Times of India and The Economic Times will top in the English Category while Dainik JagranChetan Bhagat tops here I don't find any day where I haven't seen any of his Book on #delhimetro no wonder he is earning handsomely. You can judge the taste of people by the Books they read. Dan Brown, Arindum Chaudhary, Amitav Ghosh, Khushwant Singh, Amish Tripathi are some of them which are prominent here but you can see most of the famous writers, many of them are not known to me[Pardon my knowledge].



Many Historical and Famous Monuments 


Best part of traveling in #delhimetro in this great city is you can visit some of the best places around without stepping out of your #delhimetro coach. Akshardham Temple, India Gate, Supreme Court of India, Jama Masjid, Red Fort, Old Fort, Pragati Maidan, Jawahar lal Nehru Stadium,Qutub Minar, Rashtrapati Bhawan are some of the places that I have personally seen while traveling on it and I am sure there are more which can be seen too. Also if you can not see them you personally can visit them by #delhimetro as it covers most of the city.


Rich and The Poor


With reasonable fares and better connectivity #delhimetro has attracted every section of the society.Rich people who can afford traveling in luxury cars prefer #delhimetro as there are no traffic jams also you can stay away from pollution in the city same time, Poor people with dirty cloths and little knowledge about how to ride on it travel with confidence. Many a times I have seen poor ladies entering #delhimetro premises with pointing their tokens on entry gate and without any help moving on Escalators and then entering their respective #delhimetro. Actually #delhimetro premises are very user friendly if you go by your senses you'll never have any problem traveling on it. This is the place where you see the poorest of poor and the richest sit side by side without any discrimination, I so love #delhimetro : )


Indiscipline 


Lastly this is one point which I don't like about #delhimetro. Although people of Delhi have taken #delhimetro with their hands open and you don't see behaving them awkwardly as they do at other places like littering and spitting Paan but still you see people breaking rules. As the #delhimetro comes on platform people waiting outside should first allow the passengers to board out but they will not let them come out and will try to enter it first as to grab places to sit even if there are none left. You stand in queue to enter #delhimetro but many people will break it and will try to enter first. There is a specific coach for ladies first one in the running direction of #delhimetro and few places reserved for them in general coaches too but still they want your places and will ask for them and if you decline they would bully you and will watch you as you have committed some heinous crime.



Okay this was it although there are many more things that happens while travelling in #delhimetro and are in my mind too but at the moment these are the 10 which comes to my mind first. #DelhiMetro to me is the best thing happened to Delhi in recent times. I just wish we delhites keep it clean and follow rules while traveling in it and rest all will be OK.

 





16 comments:

  1. Again a nice piece...covering the whole aspect of metro.....those who travelled less in metro like me, can easily relive n recall the nice journey......was not aware of the faces behind the voice..now i know, thnks to you....u sud hav posted your pics in metro too....anyway....top pic with a lone commuter in usually imagined Khachakhach metro is nice too,.......but scene is not the same after dawn....nice post.......... :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes bhai I have some pics of #delhimetro but most of them are blurred or not much good.
      Also I wanted to make it simple and more a word post hence not many pictures.
      And I feel posting pictures on blog bit tiresome though I liking writing.

      Delete
  2. superb post.... u have written one such after a long time... ten points and each point was a stand out point... reminds me of some of the electric train journeys i have had in chennai... particularly there is one MRTS - Mountrain Rail Train service where most of the track is above and the city looks majestic below... now, in Chennai too, the construction for metro train is happening very quickly and expect to travel by them soon...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Karthick for liking the post.
      #delhimetro is also mostly elevated and it gives a nice view of the city,
      oh I didn't knew Metro work was going in Chennai too, that would be very nice : )

      Delete
  3. Love this post, sincerely! Hope sooner or later I can travel in Kochi Metro. : )

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for coming to the Blog Ajmal.
      I guess you live in Kochi, hope your dream of traveling in Metro fulfills soon otherwise you can always have a ride of #delhimetro : )

      Delete
  4. It is on paper now. But soon it'll be real. Thanks man, I hope one day I will see the capital of India.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Brilliant piece, I so love your articles and the ideas behind it! I have a strange fascination for the metro trains, have travelled in them only once or twice in kolkata. Nice overview, loved the pics as well. Some of the points reminded me of our own Mumbai local trains and the scenes that we see in them. These modes of transport do take us to a whole new world. I really wish to experience these points in person someday :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Any encouragement from a Blogger of your stature makes me real happy.
      Thanks :)
      And I am surprised that you haven't traveled in #delhimetro yet.
      you should have a post on Delhi on your blog soon, would love to read it :)

      Delete
    2. I have not had the chance to travel in the Metro in Delhi as we hire a car! But I have travelled in Kolkata.
      Also I have done a post on Delhi- Iskcon Temple.

      Delete
    3. Oh how could I forgot that yeah I remember Iskon Post.
      But we need more posts of Delhi :)

      Delete
  6. Wonderfully written loved it
    Also read 51 things to do in Delhi

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thanks for the tid-bit about the bright and huge numeral 6 stuck (or painted) on the windows of the six coach trains. Iwas wondering what that was for.
    Nice blog

    ReplyDelete
  8. Nice way of expression. Simply the best dear...

    ReplyDelete
  9. Thanks for sharing Good Informatio about 10 Things You See While Traveling in Delhi Metro.

    Metro Airport Taxi

    ReplyDelete

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