Hey all, here’s a real story from me that I think many of you will relate to. It’s about a railway journey, which might sound a bit unusual these days since many of us travel by air. But hopefully, this will take you down memory lane to the days of long train rides, packed with luggage, books, and snacks to keep us busy.
It all starts with reserving your berth, which feels like preparing for an exam. If you get a confirmed ticket, you’re golden; otherwise, you’re stuck waiting for a result. Well, 26 days in advance, I booked my seat, and the verdict was in at 2:30 PM on the internet for my 5:30 PM train—I passed! A confirmed seat, but I didn’t score the top spot; I was seat 4. F30 (Female, age 30) had the first berth, an uncle at 2, and Captain Saab at 3, making it seem like we had a balanced little group.
As I boarded late, Captain Saab was already ahead, helping F30 with her luggage, setting the tone for what was about to unfold. F30, a charming Punjabi girl from Delhi, soon caught everyone’s attention. Cute face, athletic build, and a ponytail, she was full of life, chatting away on her phone with total expressions. She was loud, and no one dared to speak until her signal dropped. Once the phone went silent, it was time for the rest of us to interact.
I had underestimated the group dynamic—Captain Saab had already scored a point, but Uncle soon took the lead. Uncle, a human encyclopedia, asked everyone about their lives and even got the chaiwala talking, scoring us free tea in the process. Then, he predicted the train’s exact arrival time at Delhi and fixed the charger socket, scoring two more points effortlessly. Uncle was an all-rounder.
Captain Saab, trying to keep up, took out a romantic novel, which caught F30’s attention, earning him a second point when she praised his taste in books. But Uncle, the underdog, wasn’t thrilled with the romantic novel angle.
As for me, I was yet to score. I wanted to impress, show that there was no competition at all. Then I got a message. As I checked my phone, F30 asked if the network was back, and I nodded, thinking I could finally strike up a conversation with her. But before I could say anything, she checked her own phone and was back on another call—this time, softer, telling someone, “Only a few days left, and I’ll be all yours.”
Uncle took this as his cue to rest, complaining about back pain. Captain Saab went back to his notes. And me? Well, I decided to write this down to share with all of you.
-- Read Wise & Otherwise by Sudha Murthy recently, there she talks about a theory and conversation. May call it an empirical formula. Quantitatively, 'conversation' is inversely proportional to economic standing, very true with train journeys. Refer book review - https://mydiversepages.blogspot.com/2024/10/wise.html
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