A Journey by Metro Rail: How to Save Time and Avoid the Rush
dream unrealized for half [Notes: To travel by Metro Rail a dream of all dreams a decade-a reality only the other day electric staircase description of the station-light-tiptop unlike overground station- ticket plat form no onrush-videos-recorded football matches on TVs got into a compartment automatic closing of To travel by Metro Rail had been a dream of all dreams ever the October 24, 1984. But my dream remained a dream for half a decade since the first Metro train started its maiden run from Esplanade on for some reason or other. It became a reality only the other day when I went to my aunt's new house at Tollygunge, I went to Esplanade from Barrackpore by bus.
I came to the staircase. I stepped on the electric stair and in the twinkling of an eye I found myself at the underground station. The whole station was flooded with light. Everything was tiptop. Nothing was what we find in an overground railway station. It was a thrilling experience. I took a ticket and got into the platform. There was no rush of passengers nor were there outcries. Videos were on. The recorded football matches were being shown on the cloured TVs. The train was already in. I boarded a compartment with tremulous heart. There was an announcement that the automatic doors were going to be closed.
Soon the train started moving. It sped through the tunnel cutting through the darkness. I could see nothing outside the train. I could hear only the sound of the running train. I was tense with excitement. The train glided past Park Street, Maidan, Rabindra Sadan, Bhowani-pur, Jatin Das Park, Kalighat, Rabindra Sarobar stations. The arrival of a station was announced over the microphone. I found no hawkers in the train and this was a novel experience to me. At last the train reached Tollygunge. I came up overground. I found again the same traffic-jam, crowd and clamour as mark out the metropolitan Calcutta.
