BENGALURU: It was the 11.06 am train from Mysuru Road Metro Station that I boarded on Saturday with the usual holiday crowd that can be seen on a weekend. However, after a quiet journey for about 22 minutes and arriving at Cubbon Park Metro station, I alighted here around 11.28 am, to be hit by an unusual and nasty burning smell in the dimly lit underground station.
To my amazement, neither the security personnel nor the other passengers on the platform seemed to be bothered about the burning smell that was emanating either from the train or the platform. The guards, in fact, were going about their routine work without noticing the smoke that was now clearly visible.
A few men who got down at this station just pushed off while a girl just next to me expressed her serious concern on the increasing burning smell that had now spread all over the station. Amidst this, the train was allowed to leave the station. When I turned around to see the train departing, to my horror, I saw the last bogey of this three-bogey train enveloped in smoke.
Just as the train departed from the station, the fire alarm bells went off and that jolted the security staff into action. It was an experience that I will never forget as the alertness which the security staff ought to have shown was sorely missing. I shudder to imagine if this had happened on a weekday with the usual office crowds thronging the station -- resulting in panic or stampede.