You must take this train

I Take This Train Too is a slim little book about the Bombay local trains. This delightful read will take a speed reader all of 30 minutes to run through but the stereotypical characters on Bombay’s locals will stay with the reader forever. Commuter or not, the reader will see Bombay’s population, page by delightfully illustrated page, in this tongue in cheek read. Cyrus Daruwala gives the reader an insight into not just Bombay locals but Bombay life. This reviewer has deliberately chosen to review the book in the same eccentric style as its creators have chosen to write, illustrate and bind it in. There was no other way to enjoy it. You must take this train too.
A closed letter to apro Cyrus, author of the quaint, delightful, colorful, hand-bound train of a book with the curious title I Take This Train Too and the not-so-curious sub-title The Bombay Local locals:
My dear Cyrus,
Now we all know that the population of our dear community is down to 60,000 and counting (down). Is that why you had to write, illustrate, get boxed in, get trained (out), and commute by a Bombay local to bring out this book all by yourself? Couldn’t get enough bawajis to have an argument on the train to otherwise pass the time? (I’ve heard that if there were mirrors in the suffocatingly crowded and nauseatingly jerky train compartments you would start an argument with yourself.)
But never mind that now, chaal dikra, let’s see what the book contents, I mean contains. Now you know I am not prone to flattery but am I right in thinking that the first person you could think of was me? Well, you do describe a bookworm — one of the several stereotypes you have illustrated — with absolute clarity ("You may cause me bodily harm but the book is sacrosanct”). Well, maybe not if I’m into a murder mystery. Then there would be bloodshed, I kid you not.
Then there’s Confucius (not me); there’s also the dada (picks noses not always his own); the daredevil (entirely his own); the devotee (his own and his gods); the elitist (oh, definitely his own man, man!); the gamer (his highs and lows on the gaming tablet); the self-sacrificing gentleman (not me, not me and not me again); the gizmo (who wished he had an extra pair of hands or better still tentacles); the glutton (maybe me sometimes); the good husband (what is that bag between his legs, pray?); the grand old man (who comes in feeble mode and then has enough strength to stare you into surrendering your hard-gotten seat); the clinger (who has a baby with a moustache on her lap); the feigner (she feigns nausea? Enough to make you sick I tell you); the fishy lady (with the-what-else… FISH); the judge (an instrument of the devil, no doubt all of us); there’s Mrs Muscles (you’d rather rub shoulders with an anaconda, believe me); the preparer ("Have I got vegetable shavings all over you?”); the sleep walker (oh please, don’t even go there); the sliver (hey, I actually know someone who would fit that bill, when she’s visible, that is); the socialite (also known as the pretender); the soul sisters (no comment); the hoarder (of hand rails if you please); the litterbug and the loudspeaker (needs no explanation to us Parsis); Mr Cricket (yes, the one who has the inside information on every ball); the protector (who protects even the air space around his beloved); Rip Van Winkle (are we in a time warp here or a train, Cyrus); and the sicko (Hello Cyrus? Cyrus? Stop sneezing!); the sprawler, the starer, the thinker, the transporter, (all of these have a little bit of me in them, no explanation offered).

Cyrus Daruwala and illustrations from his book

Handy phrases in English, Hindi and Marathi at the end of the book are disappointingly short of the colorful language of the masses. But then, I don’t want to rain on your train Cyrus. You’ll have enough of that this monsoon. I do, however, recommend that you, the original "PK” adopt Aamir Khan’s strategy and get the Government of Maharashtra to pass it around to all commuters on the Bombay locals "tax free.”
And I bet my bottom buk of dhansak they’ll even buy up every copy (are there more copies or just the one you sent me?) and pass it around for free.
Yours in training,