Hazards of train travel!

Last weekend I had to go to Chennai and I booked myself tickets on Charminar Express. Now, usually I give my preference as the upper berth. For one, it allows me to go to bed early irrespective of when the others in the compartment want to sleep and secondly, and more importantly, it allows me to get away from all the aunties and uncles who want to make small talk (which is mostly a one-sided interview). This time though, I booked side lower for both legs of the journey. I personally like side lower because you can stretch your legs and lean on the window- read your book in comfort as well as take in the scenery. The only itch is a nosy person on the adjoining seat.

While going to Chennai, there was this lady on the other seat who was listening to music on her cell and was mildly swaying her head. Seeing her so lost in whatever she was listening to, I felt at peace. But then she switched off her cell and started perusing some magazine. I could sense the danger signs but chose to ignore and avoided any eye-contact. But alas, that did not dither her. "So, you are going to Madras", she asked. "Yes", I said, momentarily looking up from my book and immediately diving back into it. "So, you work there?", pat came the next question. " Ah, no, I work in Hyderabad" and to preempt the next question, I added "but, my parents live in Chennai". She gave a friendly nod and proceeded to know where I worked, where my dad worked, how many siblings I had, what they were doing, whether I was a gult, and finally will I exchange my lower berth for another old lady who got the upper berth. I agreed and sunk back into my book and this time plugged in my ear phones. She didn't bother me until the next day morning, that too, only to know how long it would take to reach Chennai. Meanwhile she had a good round of discussion with others on rising property prices and how it cannot sustain, how IT people were screwing the economy by spending carelessly their high disposable income.

I wasn't so lucky on the way back. There was this rotund gentleman who seemed very disinterested and was preoccupied making phone calls. Again my hopes of a peaceful journey were dashed. He started with an innocuous "When does this train reach Hyderabad? " to discussing the seasonality of travel on that route, how it was different from Bombay-Hyderabad route, where I worked, what was the nature of my work, which sectors were going to outperform in the near future (IT is a laggard now according to him, "saturation ho gaya IT mein, construction sector mein badiya growth hoga.. investing in LnT anyone), why I was an underpaid MBA (He heard me wrong and thought I earned a lakh a year and I didn't correct him for my own amusement, till the time we discussed about my house rent.. he started wondering how I paid 6k a month in rent on an 8k a month salary.. our man was good at no.s), why doing an MBA from Bangalore was nothing great (again I missed out on IIM), why an MBA from Ahmedabad was the only worthwhile option in India (I still haven't figured out why he mentioned cities instead of institutes) and interestingly, the best place to get an MBA from was "Boston, Canada". Obviously, I didn't try to argue with that. I agreed that Boston, Canada was indeed the best and I will probably consider studying there in the future. To wade him off, I opened my laptop and started playing a word game. Our man asks me, "doesn't it require wires". "Well, It is running on battery", I said. "For internet?", he asked, "err, no, I don't have an internet connection here". So, after a good round of talking, I decided to go to bed early and woke up only after reaching Hyderabad station.

Train travel is boring, if you are traveling alone that is. I remember how painful those 26 hour journeys from Bombay to Chennai were during engg. days. One of the reasons for going home once in 6 months. If you are a male and < 50 years of age you invariably end up on the upper berth. And if you are the don't-like-talking-to-arbit-people kind then death only will happen.

PS: I could have taken a flight but it is easier to go home (which is 25km away from the city) using the local train from Chennai Central then from the airport. Also dad wouldn't have to drive all the way to the airport to pick me up.