I frequently travel by this night train which leaves Chennai at 11.15p.m and reaches Bangalore East around 4.30 to 4.45 am. It allows me to catch some sleep in the train and wake up early for the next day. I said it allows me to sleep if people around me in the third class Ac compartment would do so. One night a family of three, a mother, a 25 year old son and the father were travelling with me. The train started at 11.15pm alright, and I spread my bed on the lower berth of the train and tried to go to sleep. My dear fellow passengers were not so kind to me. They dragged their suitcases for quite a while to lock them and then when I thought everything was settled,the son and the mother sit in the dark and chat loudly,laughing in between for their silly jokes. Well, if I being nasty, just listen to this- The son teases his grandmother-his mother's mom and says that "Inspite of Granny wearing all the cosmetic creams, she always remained dark.Ha! Ha!" The mother sheepishly grins and then the son qustions his mom loudly again,"Mom do you know the "Detroit of India?" The mom in her half sleep state mumbles something. The son admonishes her saying that she does not know such a simple thing. He then proceeds to explain, "Chennai, in Tamilnadu is the "Detroit" of India, because all the cars are being manufactured in Chennai." The mother again mumbles something sleepily but her aggressive son is still wide awake. Now he gives her some information on some of his classmates. His mother drops in a few hmms and errs and the son goes on and on. I sat up in my berth and tried to show through my body language that they were not allowing me to sleep. But no, they could not take the cues. I summoned up a lot of courage and then I looked straight into the eyes of the son in the dark and I said,"Will you please stop talking, I cannot sleep." Immediately, the son and the mother settled down to sleep and I was thankful that I could get alteast 3 hours of sleep.
My request to all the train passengers is :
1. Please be considerate to the other passengers. You may be going on a picnic, but the others may be travelling because they may have to work or they may be also be sick.
2. If you really need to talk through the night, please talk in low tones so that you do not wake up the others.
3. If you are travelling RAC, it does not give you the right to giggle and chat and stare at the other passengers.
Please make it comfortable for others and for yourself in the train. Learn to be a good passenger.
I meet 'the mother in the train' occasionally in the temple but she glares through me as if I have done a mistake.
I tried to smile at her but she turned her face away. Another case of rudeness. Maybe rudeness is in their genes. Ironically, the same boy had scolded another fellow passenger when he had accidentally dropped his water bottle and the water flowed towards his suitcases. He screamed that the passenger had no manners and that he should have atleast apologized before running out to get another bottle of water. Is it manners to chat loudly in the train when the others are sleeping? Is it manners to turn away from someone when they are trying to be friendly? Perhaps the son should read this and answer.
