Delhi commuters’ Metro-logical tale

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Half a decade of metro-ness later, as we glide from Gurgaon to Qutab Minar, Noida to Jahangirpuri, we are sure to have evolved from open-mouthed gawkers to sophisticated, unfazed metrozens.
So, it’s time we profile the general behaviour that separates us from London Tube travellers, Hong Kong MTRers or Paris’ rail passengers. While the tube allowed one to consume alcohol until two years ago, and still allows them to eat, HK dwellers would rather kill for a seat in the MTR. Parisians wouldn’t think twice before jumping the turnstile, but they would happily perform for you in the train. Even if you don’t pay them.
Breaking queues and refusing to give seats to women, elderly, children aside everyone, who has travelled by or heard of the metro knows, you can’t eat, drink or smoke inside and despite being ourselves we don’t.
Nimisha Behl, a student who lives in East Delhi has travelled to North Campus for three years says people are generally rustic and won’t hesitate from staring until they can see on the other side of your head. “People in the metro don’t mind their own business. Even if one is busy messaging on the phone or reading a newspaper, they will make sure to peep at least once,” she tells us.
In the initial days of being awed by its cleanliness, everyone believed that we wouldn’t take much time, before it resembles roadways buses. But surprisingly, people who have travelled in other metros can’t stop gushing about the cleanliness.
Neelamraju Sridhar, who was in Germany for a few years, says, “I have been to both Paris and Germany, and the Metro here is way cleaner, and also there is more vigilance and security. They expect you to buy the ticket on your own elsewhere, while the checks happen only randomly, unlike Delhi,” he says.
As everywhere else, Delhi Metro too breeds young love, but only on the stations and inside the tiny lifts. Abhinandan Basu, a student at JNU, notes that a lot of young lovers board the train only for love. “One can always spot couples engaged in conversations on smaller stations. Since the token is acceptable for a few hours, it’s a good spot to romance and no one bothers you.”
And of course, there are some things, which happen only in Delhi. Vishika Chettri, a frequent traveller on the CP-Dwarka line dislikes children being out of control on the train.
“Kids pretend the poles are their slides and rotate around it bumping into standing passengers, even the parents don’t stop them. And almost everyone checks themselves out in the glasses opposite them,” she quips.