Railing
I'm a frequent traveler. Given I don't like taking the bus and airports are moving farther and farther away from cities, it is logical that train is my preferred medium. Aside from the fact that its a cheaper mode than the other two, it offers comfort too in terms of legroom, food, berths to lie on, ablutions to answer nature calls and in some newer trains facilities to use electric appliances - not to mention a chance to observe human nature from close quarters.
Putting together seventy odd diverse individuals into one box guarantees all sorts of surprises. Or should I say 10 people because the immediate neighbors are what I get to observe more keenly than the rest. I rarely befriend strangers when traveling. That in itself is rooted in my reluctance to divulge personal information rather than xenophobia, but I still seldom initiate any conversations.
Keeping my mouth shut automatically sharpens the visual and aural faculties. Normally a novel or the iPod would engage them enough for me to live in my own world during the journey, but at times it becomes impossible to do either because of distractions.Over a period of time I developed my own theory about the patterns into which these fall.
First and foremost is the berth I end up with. Almost always irrespective of the way I vary my selection, I land one very next to the toilet. There is no bigger torture than this for a normal human being even if he is suffering from heavy cold. It says so much about our civic sense or the complete lack of it and utter disregard for the next person who might need to use it. I can attribute my ability to hold breath for several minutes solely to this experience.
Second on the list are passengers who travel with infants and/or boisterous kids. Its amazing that they don't realize the inconvenience caused by the racket their progeny generate. I once saw a mom of a kid I'd have liked to kill; tee off when another traveler tried to restrain her brat. Being cooped up in a coach with a noisy kid makes me go want to go sit in the toilet and not hold my breath.
There are several more like huge families who bug everyone else in the compartment with their voluminous luggage, unauthorized boarders whose standard excuse is 'will get down in the next station', people who assume they are the appointed entertainers for the coach and blare music on their cellphones, those who won't switch off the lights at night and continue to chat in loud voices.
I find all this grating on my nerves when the mood is foul but when my disposition is sunnier I just accept this as a part and parcel of life. In either case, I continue with my policy of keeping the eyes and ears open and the trap shut.
I'm a frequent traveler. Given I don't like taking the bus and airports are moving farther and farther away from cities, it is logical that train is my preferred medium. Aside from the fact that its a cheaper mode than the other two, it offers comfort too in terms of legroom, food, berths to lie on, ablutions to answer nature calls and in some newer trains facilities to use electric appliances - not to mention a chance to observe human nature from close quarters.
Putting together seventy odd diverse individuals into one box guarantees all sorts of surprises. Or should I say 10 people because the immediate neighbors are what I get to observe more keenly than the rest. I rarely befriend strangers when traveling. That in itself is rooted in my reluctance to divulge personal information rather than xenophobia, but I still seldom initiate any conversations.
Keeping my mouth shut automatically sharpens the visual and aural faculties. Normally a novel or the iPod would engage them enough for me to live in my own world during the journey, but at times it becomes impossible to do either because of distractions.Over a period of time I developed my own theory about the patterns into which these fall.
First and foremost is the berth I end up with. Almost always irrespective of the way I vary my selection, I land one very next to the toilet. There is no bigger torture than this for a normal human being even if he is suffering from heavy cold. It says so much about our civic sense or the complete lack of it and utter disregard for the next person who might need to use it. I can attribute my ability to hold breath for several minutes solely to this experience.
Second on the list are passengers who travel with infants and/or boisterous kids. Its amazing that they don't realize the inconvenience caused by the racket their progeny generate. I once saw a mom of a kid I'd have liked to kill; tee off when another traveler tried to restrain her brat. Being cooped up in a coach with a noisy kid makes me go want to go sit in the toilet and not hold my breath.
There are several more like huge families who bug everyone else in the compartment with their voluminous luggage, unauthorized boarders whose standard excuse is 'will get down in the next station', people who assume they are the appointed entertainers for the coach and blare music on their cellphones, those who won't switch off the lights at night and continue to chat in loud voices.
I find all this grating on my nerves when the mood is foul but when my disposition is sunnier I just accept this as a part and parcel of life. In either case, I continue with my policy of keeping the eyes and ears open and the trap shut.
