4 min readJun 24, 2026 08:12 PM IST
First published on: Jun 24, 2026 at 05:46 PM IST
When a professor was stabbed to death on a train in January this year for some stray comment, a sense of anxiety hit home as a daily Mumbai local traveller. It was rekindled when I read about a 22-year-old being killed on the local train over an issue that shouldn’t have gone beyond an argument at the most.
These days when I travel on the local I fear coming across someone watching a reel without earphones on high volume. Could it lead to violence if protested?
The reactions of people when I request them to turn the volume down are varied – some get overly apologetic, some plainly turn down the request while ever so often, a person gets really offended at my request.
Two days ago when travelling in an AC train – which amplifies the noise – I asked a man sitting ahead of me to reduce the volume.
He looked at me with a degree of shock. “Main yaha mobile play kar raha hoon, waha tak aapko awaaz kaise aa raha hain” (I am watching something here, how is the sound reaching there?) he retorted irritably sitting barely a metre away.
Knowing this was no place for logic and with the professor’s stabbing incident etched somewhere in my mind, I responded in a pre-meditated, practised manner to his annoyance, “Ok listen to it, no problem” with a thumbs up sign. He then heard the reel for a while and then switched it off and went to sleep.
The overpopulated Mumbai local trains must be home to several petty fights daily. In most cases however, commuters intervene and it does not go beyond some empty threats.
In some cases, these fights turn comical too, one person will challenge the other to get down at the next railway station to continue the fight, knowing full well that even they don’t have that kind of time to waste. Eventually, no one gets down, providing a moment of comedy for everyone watching.
But this may no longer be the norm.
In another exchange I had with a commuter who was listening to political speeches on high volume, when I requested him to reduce the volume, he was upset. Within seconds, he came and stood behind me near the footboard. I was worried he was going to do something. My nose could sense his tipsiness. For reasons unknown to me, I smiled at him and asked him why he was so offended by my request.
He smiled back and said he was thinking about the same thing. He said he was usually the one asking others to reduce the volume and wondered why he got so offended. He blamed it partly on being tipsy and apologised to me before my station came and I waved him goodbye. I wonder if I will get into these conversations anymore.
In such situations I’m often reminded of the lines Sunil Dutt says to Nawazuddin Siddiqui after he catches the latter picking his pocket outside a train in Munnabhai MBBS. Threatening to hand him over to the angry crowd, Dutt says “..koi biwi se ladkar aaya..kisi ko padosi ki tarraki se jalan hain …sarkar ke brastachar se, cricket ki haar tak…ye har baat be naraaz hain lekin sab chup hain….ye saara gussa tujpe nikalenga… (Someone fought with his wife … ..someone is jealous of their neighbour’s promotion…from government corruption… to a lost cricket match, people are frustrated by every single thing, but people keep quiet…all of this anger will come your way).”
I’d rather endure discomfort for some time than face the ire of the frustrated common man while boxed in a corner of a crowded Mumbai local.
Commuters travel on a Mumbai local train, where everyday tensions and overcrowding can sometimes spark conflicts. (PTI Photo) 
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