THE train to Mumbai is still to arrive but the local morning newspaper arrives before morning does.
In the waiting room at the Lucknow railway station, passengers make themselves comfortable, prepared for a few hours’ wait. Each hour, the waiting room empties out as the trains arrive and passengers resume their journey. First to rush in is the Sabarmati Express that goes to Ahmedabad, then the lyrically named Kaifiyat Express that starts from the poet Kaizi Azmi’s hometown Azamgarh to Delhi.
The train to Mumbai is still missing but the passengers scan the paper eagerly for news on the city. “This is Raj Thackeray,” says a man to his wife, pointing at a photograph that shows the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief after he was released on bail on Wednesday. Thackeray was arrested for making speeches that incited mobs against North Indians working in Maharashtra.
“Oh,” says the wife. “Why is he so against people coming to Mumbai? As if he was born in Mumbai,” she says angrily.
“Yes, he was,” says her husband gently.
The wife looks a bit crushed but recovers. “We don’t work in Mumbai. We are going to Mumbai for a function so we’ll take a train that doesn’t stop at Nashik. Else, we may cancel our programme altogether,” she says.
She can afford the luxury of cancelling her trip to Mumbai, but for the thousands who make the journey from the dusty heartland of India to the coastal financial capital of the country, the journey to Mumbai can be postponed, never cancelled.

... contd.