While Sushart Waidande was stuck for four hours in a train at Mira Road during yesterday's agitation, he sketched fellow commuters who were waiting patiently to resume their journey
While Sushart Waidande was stuck for four hours in a train at Mira Road during yesterday's agitation, he sketched fellow commuters who were waiting patiently to resume their journey
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Lakhs of Mumbaikars staying at Borivli and beyond were an angry lot yesterday after train services were disrupted, first by the theft of a signal cable and then by imprompu protests. But not Sushart Waidande.
After a long time, an announcement told Sushart that there had been a protest at Borivli station while his train slowly chugged to Mira Road. "At Mira Road, I was stuck in the coach for over four hours. In the meantime, most of the commuters had already left the stationary train.
I got some space and started sketching the commuters sleeping and the facial expressions of a few old people," said Sushart. He added, "I could see people holding their heads in their hands, worried about reaching their workplaces on time. Some were just sitting idly and waiting for the train to move."
Sushart didn't want to be one of them. "So, instead of becoming a part of the crowd and listening to music, I opted to draw some sketches of the commuters. It was a lot of fun," said Sushart.
Meanwhile, Western Railway (WR) has planned to have intensive patrolling on the tracks to ensure that incidents like yesterday's signal cable theft do not happen in the future.
"Due to the unavailability of rakes, the 9.10 am local from Borivli was cancelled, which led to this agitation," said S S Gupta, chief PRO of WR.
Commuters were initially confused and unaware about the actual problem of the incidence because they were not updated on the situation through public announcements.
Normal services were only restored around 1.45 pm.u00a0
What happened?
Lakhs of officegoers yesterday blocked rail tracks at Borivli station, disrupting suburban train services for nearly five hours after the 9.10 am train from the station was cancelled due to the theft of a signal cable at Malad station. The police lathicharged commuters to contain the agitation. Nearly 30 people, including 15 women, were later detained. Several trains were subsequently delayed or cancelled.
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