A backpack is very common in Mumbai. Not only do the school and college students use backpacks, but even adults going to work do. It is a bit of a problem when children, those bundles bursting with energy, rush into a city bus and push their way through. The backpacks,sometimes bigger than the children themselves, push people this way and that. Old people can even fall with such pushing.
Another problem with these backpacks is that they are made of material which is quite thick and rough to feel from the outside. It can be quite traumatic to the skin, especially of older people. A few days ago I had to buy some equipment for my department. I took a train. When it arrived at the station, a lot of people rushed in. They ran on all sides, and the backpack of one (or more) of them rubbed past my left elbow. It was hurting quite a lot while I stood in the train compartment, unable to move due to people pressing in from all sides. When I got off the train at my destination, I checked the elbow. About 1.5" diameter patch of skin had been scraped off my elbow by that backpack. The blood had clotted. I could attend to it only after I reached home after finishing my purchases.
I remembered one of the previous bosses at the institute telling a foreign visitor, "the public transport is not at all suitable for people like us. We have to travel by airconditioned cars." I had thought that was a sentence reeking of a superiority complex. Looking at my injury, and wincing every time someone touched it or brushed against it made me think he was perhaps right. I have traveled by train again after that incident. No further injuries occurred. Perhaps I should remember that I have become old and should avoid boarding trains and buses when they are crowded. Perhaps people who visit this city will read this blog post and be careful when they are here.
Another problem with these backpacks is that they are made of material which is quite thick and rough to feel from the outside. It can be quite traumatic to the skin, especially of older people. A few days ago I had to buy some equipment for my department. I took a train. When it arrived at the station, a lot of people rushed in. They ran on all sides, and the backpack of one (or more) of them rubbed past my left elbow. It was hurting quite a lot while I stood in the train compartment, unable to move due to people pressing in from all sides. When I got off the train at my destination, I checked the elbow. About 1.5" diameter patch of skin had been scraped off my elbow by that backpack. The blood had clotted. I could attend to it only after I reached home after finishing my purchases.
I remembered one of the previous bosses at the institute telling a foreign visitor, "the public transport is not at all suitable for people like us. We have to travel by airconditioned cars." I had thought that was a sentence reeking of a superiority complex. Looking at my injury, and wincing every time someone touched it or brushed against it made me think he was perhaps right. I have traveled by train again after that incident. No further injuries occurred. Perhaps I should remember that I have become old and should avoid boarding trains and buses when they are crowded. Perhaps people who visit this city will read this blog post and be careful when they are here.
