Metro museum

 This is the guy that started it all.
A mannequin at the metro, with his hand extended in greeting.
.
Did you know there's a museum within the metro line system?  I stumbled into it one day--literally, because I fell down the stairs...okay, so it was the escalator...embarassing...
Anyhow.

So I landed in the station and saw this guy--this was no ordinary metro station.  There were displays!

That day there was no time to look around and this was my first chance to come back.

The metro museum.
It's not big.  It's not super exciting.
But to walk around underground in the airconditioning is kind of nice.

Photography, though, is not allowed here.
So I have done you the favor of taking all the prohibited photos on your behalf.

 Welcome.
This girl is the mascot.
Her picture and greeting is on most metro stations somewhere.

The metro has been thirty years in the making.  Thirty.  Wow.  Talk about Indian time.

The metro has even won itself an award in the shape of the Qutub Minar.  I'm not sure if they didn't award it to themselves, but it's cool nonetheless.

So if your looking for a short walk around the metro, get off at Patel Chowk and see what there is to see.  It won't take you very long.
....and be careful on the escalator.

Foot over bridge fail

When I first viewed this elaborate cross-over-the-traffic-and-get-to-the-metro system, it looked pretty impressive.
Escalators, ramps and stairs all in place to keep us safely above the masses of traffic below.

But it turns out that it was all a waste.
After we'd walked far into the pathways of metal and concrete, there were wires blocking the way.

We thought to just cross over them, but a schoolboy walking behind us said that the path further on was not completed yet and we couldn't get to the metro station that way.

So we had to make our way back down through the maze, once again far away from our destination, blocked by lanes of busy traffic.
Of course, everyone else was also crossing on foot, so we just joined the rest of the chaos and managed not to get run over.

City sunset

Ah, the metro line in the sunset.
City life.
Such a world away from the country roads I grew up on.

The travel factor

Yes, my tickets to the Commonwealth games events include passes on the metro. But is it worth it?
Is it worth--

• the squish,
• the arms upraised in your face,
• the violation of personal space?

I had this idea, silly me, that the shuttle ride from the metro station to the stadium would be, well, a shuttle.
Wrong.
It was the average India bus experience.
We queued for the arrival of the bus in men's and women's lines, but when the bus pulled up it did not line up with our queues and people made a mad rush to get on.
I'm not an aggressive person.
In about forty seconds, the 743 (you know, estimate) of us waiting to get on the bus were on the bus.
Except me.
I was still standing there.
The CWG helpful-guy-in-uniform said to me, "I'm sorry, you can catch the next shuttle."
After I'd already been waiting there fifteen minutes and just missed the last one--I was at the front of the line, even! "My Aunt and Uncle are on that bus," I replied, referring to my travel companions.
The helpful guy turned to the man with his leg sticking out of the bus door that could not close. "Move over, she has to get on the bus," he said.
And they moved.
There's always room for one more.
Last passenger on and off we went.
But where was the a/c for the hundreds of us crammed in there? Not turned on.

One awesome thing I discovered: there are cars on the metro trains reserved for women only.
Wow is that a breath of fresh air. Literally.

Free ride

This ticket gets you a free ride. How 'bout that!

We have entered Phase II of ticketing for the Commonwealth Games. That means the tickets I have purchased should be couriered to me shortly. And until today, I didn't know what else it meant.

Someone asked me if the seats were assigned or general seating and what else was written on the ticket--how early you should arrive for the events, etc.
I had no idea. Hadn't yet seen the tickets, I told her, because they weren't to be delivered until we entered Phase II.
How many phases are there? she wanted to know.
I didn't know that either. So I did some research.
Three phases. The third means you can also buy tickets at the box office while the games are taking place.
Phase II means my tickets should soon be in my hand, and while I was reading about that, it also said that travel to and from the event ticketed via metro is included. Cool!

Now will the venues and metro lines be finished in time? That remains to be seen...