How many tries does it take to get on a train in Delhi? Four.

I could not get on the damn train.

 In "Outsourced," NBC’s short-lived series about an American guy who moves to Mumbai to run a call center, there's a scene where the American is going with his colleagues on a train out of the city. Except when the train doors open and everyone rushes out and rushes in, he’s overwhelmed and can’t get on. It takes several attempts before he managed to get on the train.
On Monday, it took me four tries to get on a train. It happened at the Rajiv Chowk station, which is always a mess because it’s a connecting station. The first train stopped, and while I could have squeezed myself on, it was pretty full and I decided to wait for the next train.

Unfortunately, the next train was a shorter one. I, and all the women around me (we were waiting for the ladies’ compartment), rushed down the platform to try to get on; I was crushed among them, and at one point could feel the top half of my body leaning far over where my feet were planted. I thought, “If I fell, would they run over me? Would it be like Wal-Mart on Black Friday?”

I squeezed myself into the next one.

I didn’t get on that train, and made my way back to the ladies’ lines, where I had lost my place. Another train went by and I didn’t even attempt to get on this one, just move up in line. And finally, another train. We were all pretty agitated by now. Even though the train was already full I just pushed and shoved until I got on, thinking I had to be the last one in.

And then somebody pushed and shoved me, so that she was the last one in. It was so tight my hands were pressed up against my collarbone and I couldn’t move them. The girl behind me asked another girl to please move her foot a bit. The agitated answer: “I am already standing on just one foot!” The train started and we all leaned into each other as it moved. I guess I leaned too much on someone because she glared at me but, um, I couldn’t exactly move my hands to grip anything.

Our packed state only lasted two train stops, as a bunch of people got off at Central Secretariat, another connecting station. We all breathed a little easier.

I forget, sometimes, that I’m in a country of 1.2 billion people. And then sometimes the reminder just slams you in the face (well, body).