A Delhi Metro Ride: How do we learn?

Thank God for the Delhi Metro! July 11, 2016 5.30 PM, hot, humid and waiting at the Green Park Metro Station, I boarded the one headed towards Jahangir Puri. Most passengers who’d managed to get a seat, I know for some time now, is no accident. To secure a seat, commuters plan carefully, some travelling backwards, others strategically positioned to barge in as soon as the doors opened, to board an empty train for the long ride ahead.  Quite a distinctive feature of the evening yellow line, I imagined but I now suspect it must be the same for the other lines as well. Speaking of other lines, ‘violent line’, comes to my mind.

Sajjad is quite soft spoken, and his gentle smile instantly draws you. Speaking of his commute back home from office, he describes the optic and haptic tumult that the commutes have to contend with in the Violet Line. He has rechristened the Violet line to Violent Line. No points for guessing the reasons for his choice. Has he has ever boarded a Mumbai Local?

With ear phones plugged in and mobile handsets playing downloaded movies or games, most seated commuters settle down for the ride ahead. Some if not most of these commuters distinctly appear to look forward to their metro commutes.

For passengers boarding in between, some, like me cast a quick, surreptitious, careful look, without making it too obvious, quickly attempting to judge who’s likely to deboard at the earliest and position ourselves as close to the intended seat at possible. At times this anticipated posture is a bit too close for comfort. More than once, I found myself wishing my knees would magically sprout wicked fangs/claws, not too sure which, but vicious was on the menu, where as soon as the optimistic commuter, came a bit too close for comfort or accidentally pushed against my knees … snap and ouch!

The anticipated wait for a seat is fraught with a range of emotions. Like the other day I boarded the yellow line at Malviya Nagar and was headed for Vishwavidayalaya. One, particular commuter, gave off all the appropriate signals of ‘deboarding soon’ – wow, a seat so soon, I commended myself for having chosen well. He, carefully, unplugged the ear phones, put away his mobile phone, and glanced at the neon signboard. To help him I, offered, ‘AIIMS, next station, hai’ He smiled his gratitude. The AIIMS stop, came and went by, disappointed… but wait he’s upto something now. Two metro stops later, he collects his bag from under the seat and grips it in a way to indicate, he’s all set to deboard, well this is it, I think. Four metro stops later, he, hunches forward, and peers at the neon board again. By now the evening crowd of commuters had made the coach feel overcrowded. Disappointed and annoyed, I decide to let the ‘idiot’ see the board for himself, my enthusiasm to help him, had significantly subsided, quite a while ago.

When he showed no signs of deboarding at Rajiv Chowk. I was not willing to give up, perhaps at Kashmere Gate, I told myself.  Nearing Kashmere Gate, he fishes out this mobile, ‘Bhai, abhi Kashmere Gate ke paas hain … time lagega …’ that’s it, how could I have been so wrong. This idiot was not getting off at Kashmere gate. Angry and God knows what else, I almost lost it, when he asked me, ‘Kashmere Gate se Samayapur Badli Kitne door hai’ mustering up all the sanity I could, ‘bus dus minute ka rasta’ I offered viciously, two commuters seated nearby gave me look, that screamed, ‘says who?’. I got off at the Vishwavidayala stop and my intended seat was still ‘occupied’, but by now it did not matter, before getting off, I managed to get a good look at the ‘idiot’ – vowing never to fall for the trap again. Noticing the neon sign that declared that the train was bound upto Jahangirpuri, made me feel a little better, he’d have to get up! 

Walking back to the Hostel, still seething with disappointment, I consoled myself saying that at least I would never make the same mistake again. Wait, what was I thinking? Fine, I would, be careful never to stand in front of that person (… if, I recognize him …). What was the learning from this experience? Was it a learning moment?  When do people learn? What causes learning? What could have caused learning or should we ask ‘better learning’ … if I had gotten the seat, or if I did not?