My mother turns 66 this year. She still insists on public transport, for reasons that are still unclear to any of her children. Earlier this week, she stepped onto a fast train at Borivli that was supposed to drop her off at Grant Road in an hour. Somewhere between Jogeshwari and Andheri, the train came to a halt and didn't move for approximately half an hour.

There were no announcements made on the speakers that routinely ask us to use garbage bins. None of her fellow commuters had a clue about what was going on, until word mysteriously got around that an overhead cable had snapped, making it impossible for the train to continue. Left with no alternative, my mother and the women and children in the ladies' compartment with her, had to figure out how to get off the train and make their way to the nearest railway station. Some jumped, others chose to stay on because the idea of jumping onto a track isn't everyone's idea of a fun thing to do.