"A TRAIN JOURNEY"

Many of us travel through trains. It is a special experience for every child. Every adult….. every time…. .
The glow on those faces fades away if…. Suppose the journey is by traveling in the general compartment.
Why?
Congestion…., need of private space…., Status symbol…. Blah Blah..
But for me it has been a pleasant experience. In fact “great experience.”
One such experience is what I wrote here. What I felt when I was inside traveling with a lot of strangers.

The general compartment is a great place to witness the different people with different in fact complex behaviors.
I can also put it this way. Say, like the famous Darwin’s statement “SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST” may be in lighter sense.

When one actually gets into this densely dense coach, he would actually pray for small space. Even the so called atheists will start to pray and change their beliefs .
So why not give our kalaignar a chance to travel in here… what say..? Hmm….
"Isn’t this a novel way to change the beliefs of non believers?"

One feels there is no space to stand. But, you somehow manage to find a place to sit. This would be so small that one would bet his own life on it.
I found different set of people in there. All of us belong to these sets.

Firstly, people who sit on floor.
They have the attitude of “come what may I would always lie down.” And they may even argue that “lying down is their birth right.” Lying down on the floor of densely crowded train and adding much trouble to the already existing chaos inside.
These people can compromise on any aspect of life and succumb to pressure easily. That’s the reason they sit wherever they want.

Secondly, people who sit on the edges of the seats.
These are the exceptional set of all. When I see them the famous camel’s fable comes into mind. They first sit on 1 inch of the seat and after some time you find them occupying the whole goddamn seat.
These are the opportunistic set a complete opposite to the above set and manage to solve their problems despite many constraints.

Thirdly, people who stand in that chaotic place.
Call them poor souls or people with morals and others stuff. Rather both as they can never mange to find a seat unless the compartment is empty.
They always face the music silently. God help them…

Now here is the other set which stand apart.

One set are the ladies.

Oh GOD! Females in their middle age with big mouths start quarrels with no proper reason and create a big scene for some trivial thing. Especially, the females who throng into these coaches along with their families or should I say their villages. In spite of the ladies coaches being comfortable they prefer to be in this compartment and raise a hue and cry when some poor guy sits beside them or unintentionally hits their foot.
This poor guy might have been coming after a hectic schedule at his workplace or going for an important work. For no fault of his ( unintentional mistake) they curse him and his ancestors inspite of askin for an apology.

Lastly, we see the people who make a terrific entry into this crowded place amidst the chaos. They are the VENDORS.
They make their living among such different set of people. Hats off to them seriously as the amount of commitment and skill they show moving from this berth to other amongst the fights. One may argue that he is doing this for his own bread and butter. Even then…… it still awes me the amount of trouble he takes to meet his ends.

Wondering about their “source” from which they derive that strength I get down at my destination.