The quintessential Indian railways passenger It’s quite possible for a 50 year old Indian to have never cast his electoral vote. But it’s almost impossible for even a teenager Indian to have never boarded a train. The Indian Railways is astounding for its sheer magnitude. A network of more than 10,000 trains rubbing on 115,000 kms of tracks daily, halting sporadically on the 7,500 stations. It sells approximately 9 billion tickets per year, i.e. an average Indian takes 7 railway journeys every year. If life is a journey, the railways increases its relative velocity. What’s more amusing than this statistics is the variety of people boarding these trains. It is rightly said that if you want to see real India, buy a sleeper class ticket from Jammu to Kanyakumari. A long journey train’s sleeper coach is a microcosm of India in itself. The passengers boarding these trains have different companions and itineraries. And each one has his own interesting perspectives towards a train journey and the ways of killing time during it. Here’s presenting a few interesting characters you’ll find in every train. The lower berth mafia: You have booked a lower berth the very day the bookings opened. You board the train, chain your luggage under your berth, occupy the beloved window seat and wait patiently for the train to start running. Just when the train is about to leave, comes the lower berth mafia – a frail old couple seemingly taking the last journey of their life. They have only managed the upper berths due to last minute booking and they request you to forfeit your lower berth. They have age on their side, so your “maine ye berth 4 mahine pehle book ki thi, aapko lower chaiye to pehle se book karna chaiye tha” argument can hold no merit. You are forced to relent and end up bartering your seat with a simple “Thank you beta”. Interestingly, they will get down at last station, so you have no chance to get your berth back. You perch on the upper berth and read a boring novel. The foodies: They know only one way to while away their time in train – eat. The foodie family carries 2 bags with them – one contains the food and the other contains everything else. The food menu is a part of their itinerary and was planned on the same day the tickets were booked. They carry all the meals – chiwda and laddoo for the evening snacks; pooris, aalo ki subji, kadhi and rice for dinner; and poha for next day breakfast. And if they need more, which they usually do, they always know how far the pantry car is. And since every railway station has something special to offer, uncleji gets down at every station to get those wada pavs, samosas, dahi vadas, jalebis and pethas. The mother of luggage: She is going to her mayka with her small kids and truck load of luggage. Her husband had come to drop her and has put the luggage in place, and now she is finding difficult to open that particular bag to get the little kid’s diapers out of it. Meanwhile, the older kid is running around in the bogie or staring at other’s Frooti and Lays. “Mumma Lays” he says. You offer him some biscuits but the lad refuses to your embarrassment. One hour before the train arrives at her destination, she again gets hyper-tensed, calling her brother again and again to come on time with a porter else either her luggage or one of the kids might be left behind in the train. The perennial wait listers: All members of this family are on the waiting list and the family head keeps following the TI (Ticket Inspector) to get at least one berth but has no real hope of getting it. Meanwhile the remaining family settles down at the edges of other passengers’ berths cribbing about the damn railway reservation system. They are apparently travelling on a last minute plan and couldn’t get a confirmed berth. “Hum to hamesha AC mein travel karte hain, aaj emergency mein jana tha to waiting ki ticket leni padi” they say. Between all the talks, they don’t forget to slowly make enough room to fit in both their bums. The honeymooners: Honeymoon or no honeymoon, they always sit cuddled with their partner and talk in soft voice while fidgeting with spouse’s hand or hair. They are away from parents after a long time and want to make the best of the opportunity. Their proximity is embarrassing for the fellow passengers who are sitting with their kids but this couple chooses to ignore the cringeworthyness. All they care are to steal peaceful moments in the shaking train. They get hyper-excited looking at little kids and start giving naughty glances to each other. The lone wolf: He looks at the reservation chart before boarding the train – not to confirm his own berth, he already knows that – but to identify the location of females belonging to a generous range of age group of 15 to 30 years. This guy is an undergraduate student and is travelling home for vacations. He is usually unlucky to find any lady in his compartment and spends most of the time running from one bogie to another looking for one. But if he is lucky enough, he spends most of the time staring at the girl and scratching his brain to find a conversation starter. Her journey generally gets over just when he has gathered enough courage to talk to her. The up-downers: They are short distance up-downers who board the train in morning or evening and get down in a couple of hours. They operate in a group, carry small office bags, talk in loud voices and play cards. They have a monthly railway pass, sit wherever they want and usually don’t give a damn about your reserved berth. They are also fond of moong-falli and don’t give a damn about keeping the trains clean either. However they are nice otherwise. The political commentators: They eat news and excrete opinions. They know all about all politicians, scams, elections and corruption and don’t hesitate in sharing their knowledge loudly. “Iss desh ka kuch nahi ho sakta”, “saare neta chor hain” are some of their favorite lines. Though most of the audience is uninterested, they manage to instigate similar opinions from few who are listening and kick off heated debates. Pity they don’t get screen time in the animated political debates on TV news channels. The sleeper: He abides by the reservation class – he sleeps. He sleeps on the upper berth the whole day and on his own berth at night. In between he gets up only for food and doesn’t talk much.
Posted on: Tue, 18 Jun 2013 16:10:33 +0000
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