Train journeys

Travelling in a train has its own charm which can be compared to none. And the first preference is 2nd class sitting followed by Sleeper class and the least preferred one is 3rd AC or anything else. There are several reasons for this preference list, varying from the dislike towards tinted glasses of the AC coaches to the uptight people of AC coaches. Although, nowadays one wonders as whether one is turning into the same kind of an uptight person!

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Till college days, train travels were very limited. To be honest, guess this is one of the many reasons for not choosing any college in the native town :)

After joining college, travel by passenger train was part of the home trips. It was a 6 hour journey and one used to look forward to these trips. The thrill used to start in bunking 2 afternoon classes, then trying to catch a bus to central bus stand, getting down in a signal near station and running to the station so as not to miss the train :) My brother used to wonder why i make a great hullaballoo for every trip when one could easily catch a bus which takes only 5 hours. Well, one should never try to be too practical for everything. These were the trivial experiences which ought to be enjoyed to the fullest.

And the train used to be half empty almost all the times. One got to sit peacefully over a window seat, graze over the lush paddy fields & coconut trees, try counting the number of wagons attached to the freight trains, write about life, read novels and doze off in between...One even tried writing poems.(but wasn't a great success!)

Now that i am remembering those great days, i really seem to miss those lazy moments.

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One of the other interesting part of the train journey used to be the conversations with fellow travellers. Generally, when people come to know as which college one was studying, there used to be an immediate increase in respect. This would be followed by questions as how one prepared for 12th public exam and entrance, tips for their son/daughter/nephew/niece and general guidance as what courses to be pursued after 12th.

Honestly, at that time, one did relish those moments, as it was considered as yet another attestation of one's achievement. Nowadays one seems to kind of detest this kind of change in respect... because all these things seem to overlook the individual as an individual. hmmm... who said people don't change over years? :)

There were also a few nice general conversations. Once there was a lady, who told her entire life story as where she was born, raised and how her life was at in-laws place. She was telling me that she really wanted to earn a bit and be slightly economically independent. I was suggesting her that she should learn tailoring, learn to do painting and embroidery work on clothes and gave example as how one lady near my place was earning so much by working from home itself. (That lady used to charge quite heavily for the painting works!)

And the other time, there was an old couple sitting next to me and the person was telling me about his career with Indian Railways. We also talked about India and life in general. Only one instance of the whole conversation is still fresh in my mind. While talking about life, he mentioned that one ought to compromise in a family. And my question was,"But how can one compromise always? There is only a limit to which one can compromise". His reply was,"Why do you try to set a limit over compromise? It should be done whole heartedly and to the fullest".

I never agreed fully at that time...but then, i never thought of the whole heartedness till he pointed out. Also, at the end of the conversation, when he was getting down on a station, he said it was a great pleasure talking to me and he hoped that i remain a good citizen and do good things for the country and wished me goodluck. I was surprised and very happy to hear his words.

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So overall, there were quite a few nice moments of train journey during college life...

Nowadays, not sure whether one is the same person. Because, not often one attempts to strike a conversation with fellow travellers. There is always a professional distance. Maybe, as we grow old, we end up having lot of secrets in life or we become more appreciative of personal space or we seem to get easily annoyed over other individuals trying to ask questions about our personal lives. And honestly, we, Indians, are so curious about everything. The moment a person strikes a conversation, one wants to know his/her life story including one's job, salary, family, marital status,etc....

Few weeks ago, i was waiting in the railway station to catch a train over the weekend. A person was sitting next to me. Apparently, he's from a place near to my city. When he enquired about my destination, he was happy and immediately striked a conversation. 5 mins into the conversation, he started asking as how the recession is affecting our industry in India. 10 mins into the conversation, he asked me where i was working(both past and present). 20 mins into the conversation, he enquired about my marital status and started talking as how difficult it's to find a matching groom/bride nowadays, how in his days, he married the first girl whom his mother found for him. 30 mins into the conversation, he enquired about my caste and asked about the belief over horoscope. And luckily, the train arrived. If the conversation had continued, he would've for sure started matchmaking discussion. And the thing is, the person was so open to talk about his life and he seemed to expect the same from others... So, one can't even snap off easily. One ends up giving bits and pieces of information in all round about manner out of politeness.
On top of all this, at the end, when he came to know that i have booked a sleeper class ticket, he joked as whether it was a recession effect. I was actually ready to run off from that place, still smiled and said that i prefer sleeper class for an overnight sleep. And for that, he replied,"Yes, thats a very smart move. Only if a day journey is involved, AC coach makes sense".

So, eventhough, one politely dodges all the questions to a maximum extent, it's a totally tiring act. One has to be really careful as what to be said and what not. I truly regretted for sitting near that person.

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This is exactly the reason why nowadays, whenever one gets into the train, one starts listening to the IPod...So, this virtually shuts the outside world. At times, this makes the kids/children in the same compartment more curious about us :)

And last week, on an afternoon return journey, i tried the same. Got into the train. There were other individuals sitting and reading paper or chatting. I was the first one to take the IPod out. It successfully played the first video. Then it stopped. No more music to be heard. When one tried to play the music, it just didn't play it. After every few seconds, it automatically skipped to the next song. It was utterly frustrating. No amount of staring at the IPod seemed to make it work :)

So, one was left with an option to either read the novel, "The Sea" or open a long pending Kakuro puzzle book. I tried reading the novel and it just wasn't the right moment to read it. So ended up with the puzzle book. It was the first time i was trying to solve this puzzle and it seemed to be slightly difficult than sudoku. On top of that, there was only pencil and no eraser. It isn't easy to write the numbers on corners and figure out for the whole grid. So, one did end up cursing Apple dev team for writing such a pathetic IPod software :)

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And the next day, when i connected the IPod to comp, iTunes detects a corruption in the IPod and i was asked to Restore the IPod. Interesting, because this is the first time, it had happened.