Recently I travelled by train to Mangalore from Chennai with a marriage party. We were in a 2nd class sleeper coach, that was connected to other coaches by vestibules.
After I settled down, first part of the drama started. Several passengers entered through the vestibule from nearby coaches searching for their seats. Earlier travel was with a hard cardboard ticket; now a day it is with a computer printout /cell phone message. This results in great confusion as passengers are still not conversant with the methodology. In our coach there was confusion on seat occupancy. There were also passengers with unconfirmed reservations, who silently hunted for seats. Only person who could resolve the problem was the TTE, who was nowhere in sight. The battle of words was won temporarily by the strong while the weak had to wait for TTE’s arrival. Several passengers were also standing in narrow corridors leading to the toilets holding suitcases and beddings of all shapes and sizes. The blockage of the passage went on to such massive levels that people had to push through the wall of luggage to reach toilets. There was also a babble of loud voices in the background. People seemed garrulous and quite proud of their own voices. There were vociferous discussions, and acrimonious debates, mingled with high pitched wailing noises from babies averse to the unfriendly surroundings.
After ten minutes of the train’s departure the benign presence of the TTE could be felt. He looked like a film star as he was thronged by a mob holding proofs of journey and begging for seats. He was nonchalant and went through the job with less ado. At the end of examination some passengers were asked to go to other coaches, but still there were large numbers who were left out and who continued to haunt him.
The initial hubbub having subsided I thought mother peace would prevail with her calming effect for the rest of the trip. At that time I was not aware of my erroneous thinking. Within minutes the peace was shattered with the start of the parade of the vendors. The average Indian passenger would like all comforts of home to be replicated during a train journey also. In earlier times trains used to stop almost at every station so that buying food or beverage was not a problem. With the advent of superfast trains this convenience got curtailed. To overcome the problem a diner car was attached to the train and vestibule system was introduced. But with huge number of people travelling on the train accommodating them in the diner car posed severe problems of space. Some railway man got a brain wave which resulted in a continuous parade of vendors carrying food and beverage eliminating the need for a diner car and also fulfill commuters’ needs.
Peace would have still been ensured if only vendors moved quietly. But to impress passengers with their presence they invariably shouted with loud voices about their products and broke the silence. Most of the materials were carried by hand in big open boxes and not by trolleys. The passage was so narrow that only one person could walk at a time, preventing the use of trolleys. If someone wanted to buy, a cup of coffee, the vendor placed the big can of coffee on the nearest vacant seat to pour out the drink. People sitting around had to be careful as the hot drum suddenly came in contact with their bodies and coffee got sprayed on to their dresses. The occupant of the seat on which the coffee can was kept at times got quite a shock when he returned as the can invariably leaked and left a circular mark of the highly staining liquid on the seat. Most of the people were unaware of the damage done to their seats and their bottoms get drenched without their knowledge. Nobody seemed to bother and everything was carried out as a matter of routine.
As I was observing the proceedings, a person from our group left for the toilet, and a passerby quietly occupied the seat. When I asked him to vacate he said that he would do so when the original occupant returned. A chaotic atmosphere akin to a bazaar prevailed all over the compartment. Perhaps I was the only person who felt out of place, everybody else looked as though they thoroughly enjoyed the scenario. Casual atmosphere prevailed allover to such an extent that there was no question of privacy. There was no distinction between people known and unknown. There was a thorough mix up. Heated discussions on various topics were going on among some of our party members. Some of the strangers were keenly observing the proceedings and would have merrily butted in if given the opportunity.
Slowly the night was creeping in but there was no abatement of activities. There was a program of “Antharakshi” (singing popular film songs) going on nearby. People were piled up in that small place; more of observers than participants. Loud music was pouring out and one was forced to listen without choice. Wherever the train stopped, there was an inflow of passengers searching for vacant seats. Since the Antharakshi was going on and people had gone to observe, most of the seats were vacant. Every new passenger tried to occupy a vacant seat and some of us had to keep a constant vigil to keep the seats intact.
After some time, vendors started parading with the night dinner and the passage got crowded for a long time. By the time we went to sleep it was nearly half past ten. I occupied the upper most berth which was a vantage point to observe the passage. The lights were switched off but after midnight I suddenly woke up to find a stranger sitting with number of luggage on the passage. Only after much persuasion he could be forced to move out.
In the morning, I woke up from a good slumber after hearing the loud voice of a tea vendor. There was crowd at latrines and wash basins and it took a long time of waiting to finish activities. Finally we reached our destination of Mangalore without any further mishap.
I realized in the end that the passage in the train was similar to “The Great Indian highway” described by Rudyard Kipling in his famous novel “Kim”; which was always crowded with its own characters and its own activities.
