Jumpin' Modes

Transport switching.

In a heavy traffic cities opting for the best mode of travel is critical. I started building alternative routes to get home from my weekend destinations today.

After finishing off at Park street, the easiest (and laziest) thing one can do is grab a cab and head home. Point A to point B without the bother of stopover/changeover. That's the problem you see. You can't KNOW a city like that apart from knowing that single route perfectly. Geographies are meant to be explored. That's what gives the person a choice while choosing his/her travel options.

NG suggested an alternative route once we started moving towards home. Two or three transport mode switches but cheaper in the long run he said. I hadn't traveled the Metro in my 2 weeks of stay here. So why not, I thought.

I made my way to the Metro station down the road, got myself a ticket and boarded the Dum Dum bound rake. 4 stations and 12 minutes later I was at MG Road. Came out, enquired around for my share auto stand and started moving towards the same. This is where one can feel the humidity in plenty. Within minutes, I'd broken into a sweat as I hurried along the main road towards the Girish Park. And then I remembered Mumbai.

The share auto took us to Kankurgachi, a suburb located on the border of the Salt Lake region. Got off there, paid the auto chap 8 bucks and looked around for more transport. Located a 2nd auto and did the same. The auto moved along, with 7 of us stuffed inside. I was ok with the seating arrangement because I was comfortably sandwiched between the auto chap and a man on the left. No chance of falling out either.

We came out at a junction which looked very familiar. I looked to my right and saw the service lane leading up to Mani Square mall. Ah! ...awesome. So were abt 5min away from home then.

Got off @ Labony island a couple of minutes later and flipped the bloke a fiver.

Rs17 against Rs150. Weighed against the same duration. (approximately)