Mumbai traffic is driving me crazy these days. When I came to Bombay, and decided to take up a job in an elearning company in Andheri, people usually mumbaites used to tell me that you will get used to it…but till now that has not happened. Destiny is playing cruel games with me. So if I get used to waiting patiently at a traffic signal for 150 seconds, then soon after I have to learn to positively spend my time in a traffic jam for an hour. Or there is some flyover coming up which leads to bumper to bumper traffic. I take the western express highway so going from Lower Parel to Andheri should take me 35-40 mins though that rarely happens. It takes me typically an hour.

People advise me to use the popular mode of transport in Bombay, the ubiquitous local trains, but I am just scared to death at the thought of it. When I first saw the swarm of people coming out of the Dadar station via the stairs to the Tulsi pipe road my heart sank. I simply do not have the guts to board or get down from a running train, which I suppose should be only left to those privileged few who have been born and brought up in Bombay. And believe me I am not saying this with a tinge of bitterness.

So I am happy to take a backseat in my old car and try to enjoy the bumpy ride to office. My office admin also refuses to provide a transport service for south as there are hardly any people from this side of the city, though they have bus services to north. How I envy some of my lucky colleagues. Again no pun intended. Even when me and hubby try to venture out in the city on weekends he is wary to take the new car. He is more than happy to take me on a long drive but I dare not ask him to Churchgate or Colaba. It cheeses him off. So I better take care of all my homely tasks myself without troubling him to think about car parking. And Bandra is a strict no no. The narrow lanes and the crowd remind me of some distant town which I have only seen in television perhaps. Though this may not be true about the whole of Bandra but some places are really like that.

The Bandra Worli causeway will be functional by next year and I am eagerly awaiting for it. Though the toll for a car for one way is seventy bucks but I think that would be economical as it would save on time. I am dreading the monsoons which will again create a havoc as far as traffic is concerned in Mumbai. The drainage system is s poor that floods seems inevitable. Hope things look up this time.

I am definitely feeling better after scribbling down all this. I do try to think about ways to deal with Mumbai traffic like reading while traveling but my visits to Crosswords are increasing and the expenditure henceforth! No respite :)