I don't remember at which station we boarded the train. It was Amravati-Mumbai Express. When we got in it was crowded with the short distance travellers and we had to fight for our seats. We were six; lawyer, her mother (to be referred to as aunty), 17, 18, Doc and I. The rest of the group was split into two other compartments.
At the next station an old pervert who had the lower berth ticket in our row got in. He insisted on sitting next to the window. So doc and I had to shift to make place for him. Next while putting his bags under the seats his hand touched my thigh, though I was sitting quite far from him. I let it go thinking it must have happened accidently. The second time I lost it and confronted him. He said, he had asked me to move before he placed his bags under the seat. He even verified his claim with the family of four sitting opposite us. They said, they did not hear him say anything. This obviously didn't go down well with me and I called him an idiot. To which the man took offence. The hilarious part is, at this point Doc intervened and told the man I wasn't calling him an idiot. I wanted to ask her then who according to her was my ire directed at. Doc and I had 17 & 18 to take care of, so I did not get to my flying in the air and kicking stage.
In the meantime, GG our camp coordinator came and suggested that 17 & 18 could move to the next compartment and two of the guys from there could join us here. As is bound with rich, pampered kids (girls in this case), 17 & 18 wanted to check out the other compartment before they would decide to move. And as is bound with fearless, Ninja women, doc and I accompanied them to check out the other compartment. Doc in the front making way and I in the back making sure the girls were safe between us(do I need to mention the fearless, Ninja women).
Once we reached the other compartment, the girls decided they didn't want to move after all. We did an about turn, this time me paving the way and doc watching our backs. Holy cow! if the train was crowded before now it was overflowing with people. Apparently while we were on our mission, the train had stopped at some station and unchecked herds of people had got in. Somehow we managed to cross into our compartment and reach our seats only to find them occupied with more people. A sick man was sitting at the edge of one of the seats and his family - wife, mother and three men were standing. We had to fight with a woman occupying our side seat to get her off and make the sick man sit comfortably. There was 17, 18 and the sick man on the side seat. Doc, I, the little boy from the family of four and the idiot on one of the inside seats. On the opposite seat, lawyer, aunty and the rest of the family of four.
We realised that 17 & 18 would not be able to handle sitting on the side seat with the ever increasing crowd. So we exchanged seats with them. A fat man got in and seeing the one cm spare space next to me, tried to fit into it, but only managed to sit on my lap. I gave him a what's happening look, to which he asked me to shift a little. He was so fat, to accommodate him doc and I would have to get up and he would still be resting part of him on the sick man. Doc told him we wanted to have dinner so could not make space for him. Dinner finished, the man again asked me to move and make space for him. He had to get down at Jalgaon so he would sit only for 10 minutes. Now why in this world can a man not stand for 10 minutes! This time I gave him a speech. I asked him if we were women from his house, would he have liked us sitting crammed between two strange men. The man looked visibly embarrassed and even helped us put our bags back on the upper berth.
At Jalgaon some people got down and we got some space to breath. The 3 men with the sick man went to find a TC to get their tickets confirmed. After somewhile they came back with no success and requested me to somehow accommodate the sick man, his wife and mother and they went to the general compartment. They were going to Wockhardt, Kalyan to get the sick man operated. It was time to figure out the sleeping arrangement. Nine berths (it was the new train with 3 berths on the side) and 14 people. Idiot had his lower berth, the opposite lower berth was confirmed by the TC for the family of four, nobody had come for the middle berth above them (which we realised later). The 2 upper berths, 1 middle berth above the idiot and the 3 berths on the side were ours.
We asked the sick man's mother to find a place for him to sleep. Poor soul went up and down the compartment but every square inch of floor space was taken. Doc and I decided to give him one of our berths to sleep and we would share a berth. 17 & 18 chipped in, they wanted us to sleep comfortably as we had office the next day and they would share the upper berth as they were going to sit and talk anyway. After little urging we agreed to their plan. We asked the family of four to use the unclaimed middle berth. So there we were, the girls on one upper berth, Lawyer on the other, 2 members of the family of four in the middle berth and the other two on the lower, sick man in the opposite middle berth and idiot on the lower. Aunty on the side lower berth, doc in the middle and me on the upper berth. Sick man's wife slept between the seats and his mother in the aisle. Everything in place.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
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