Hello guys I am back and this time with a lot of mind voices! It was a sudden trip to Chennai. Though I planned to go by bus initially, in a sudden rush I decided to go in an unreserved ticket by train. It is only at a trying situation u can see the true mettle of people. As I reached the station I was taken aback by the crowd that was waiting to get in to the unreserved coach. Serendipity, I should say. I stood exactly on the platform, where the door of the unreserved compartment would position itself. With high hopes of getting a seat I boarded the train but to my dismay people had boarded the train from the shed itself.
It is this train journey that showed me the plight of the Indians, family of four having an unplanned train journey, the multicultural and multilingual politics, how cockroach survived the apocalypse that even the mighty dinosaurs could not survive and many more such interesting things. I was a mute spectator of all that happened around me in the five and a half an hour journey.
The train was filling in with people, with not even a small place to land a foot, people clinging on to whatever they could get a hold of. There was no light as the breaker of the unreserved compartment had been put off! People where shouting names, “chinna, kabir” and many more. They were trying to verify if all they had come with had boarded the train. The upper berth was occupied by North Indian daily wages workers who were not willing to allow anybody share their place, below them was a group of families returning from vacation and many more such people. The compartment that could fit 100 people max was filled with around 200 people.
In the last moment came in a couple with their 2 children. The father asked the people in the upper berth to squeeze in a little bit so that his daughter can fit in. The people there were relentless. The father tried his level best and then gave up his hopes; He asked his wife and daughter to go to unreserved women’s compartment and stood in the general compartment with his son. The power was finally restored and I saw it was not 200 people in that compartment it was even more should be 300. Finally the train started to make a move.
The people who were in precarious positions tried to move in, it is at this point the people in the compartment realized that when there was no place for a single person to stand an old lady was lying on the floor occupying three persons place. There were angry shouts and quarrels asking the lady to get up, but there was no response. Suddenly, a man half drunk who was standing on one foot and wobbling more than the train itself did, gave a loud cry which meant nothing and jumped up to the upper berth. As there was no place to land after his jump and no possibility for the north Indians to let him sit, he was in mid air balancing his body between the aisles. A lot of swearing was heard from the people below him and the people in the berths. He did not care for any. He just squeezed his way into the berth. This followed a lot of quarrel. Unmindful of all these the drunken cockroach got a place for himself and slept.
The train reached Bangarpet railway station and a newly married young couple boarded the train. The wife was pretty and most men’s eye in the compartment where on her. The new husband had to find a place for his precious wife. He noticed the old lady lying on the floor without any hesitation he started to hit the lady with his bag asking her to get up. The lady was still unmoved the men near him also supported the man and abused the old lady. The old lady took a glance of all the men and looked at the young lady; the young lady lost her temper and started to stamp the old ladies legs. The old woman got up and gave a curse to the young lady in Telugu, which the young lady did not understand as she did not know Telugu. Even as all such things were happening the father and son duo I had already mentioned where having an eye on their goal, they got in to the toilet locked it from inside and had an entirely different journey.
Finally the train reached Chennai with still more minor incidents and my God what an experience it was! “Once more polama daddy ;) “
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