Delhiwale: A desolate Metro station

It is hard to spot a soul entering Yamuna Bank station, and yet its platforms are crammed. What’s the mystery?

This is our city’s most bizarre Metro station. There are commuters on the platform but you barely see anyone entering or exiting the station itself.

The guard at the security barricade confirmed that almost nobody ever enters the station, except for a few passengers who use the parking. (Mayank Austen Soofi / HT Photo)

Yamuna Bank station, on the Blue Line, might be on the banks of a river but it is also in the middle of nowhere. It is crowded only because it is a junction — if you’re coming from central Delhi, one branch will take you to Vaishali, the other one to Noida — and commuters have to cross the platforms from one train to another to catch their subsequent connections. Not many are seen rushing towards the exit, but we set about doing this rare act on one horribly humid afternoon. The guard at the security barricade confirmed to us that almost nobody ever enters the station, except for a few passengers who use the parking. Waving his arm, he said, “All jungle outside.”

Outside…

A juice vendor was sitting under a tree. No one was around him. The parking had a few cars but not a soul in sight. Two or three half-empty shops across the road were stacked with namkeen packets. These few symbols of civilization only seemed to heighten the bleakness. It was difficult to believe that the dense Trans-Yamuna neighbourhoods were only five minutes away by Metro.

A few steps ahead, however, we saw a young man and woman sitting in the bus shelter next to the parking. We sat beside them. The woman, carrying a bag decorated with stuffed bears, was sobbing quietly. The man looked irritated. We overheard him telling her that there was no point in crying. That instantly gave a new energy to her sobs. The man lay down on the bench and closed his eyes.

Just another couple having a rift.

We walked ahead. A middle-aged man and a woman were talking agitatedly, but in a low voice, under the shade of a jasmine tree. They seemed to be accusing each other simultaneously. The word ‘WhatsApp’ was recurring in their conversation.

Yet another couple having a difficult time.

We turned back towards the station. The afternoon was ending and it was time for us to go back to where we belong — our familiar Metro stops and our own lovers’ quarrels.