Sudden travel plans and last minute ticket bookings and as it was a long weekend tickets were full and mine was wait listed.
Status got stuck at RAC1 and I thought that it will move but boy I was wrong! Chart prepared and it was RAC only.
I'm a tall guy and was totally low as it was always a bad experience for me to get the seats in the side part i.e side-upper or side-lower. But this time it was more bizarre. RAC!
The train departed from Kayamkulam and I saw one or two people quarreling in the coach as they never heard of RAC and thought that it's their seat. They settled down after some uncle helped them to understand the procedure.
Then came Alleppey. Entered this girl with a suitcase. When I saw her it reminded me of the situation in the movie Vaaranam Aayiram(Tamil).
His brother came with her and told me that it's her seat. I said the other half is mine and then I sat quietly listening to my songs. He then told his sister to sit and asked me and the other family in our compartment to take care of her sister as she was traveling alone. The train departed from there. I kept sitting quietly.
It was evening time when I boarded the train. Quickly it became dark outside. As my legs are long, I pulled up my half of the sleeping seat up in order to sit properly. That girl was watching me through out the whole evening and early part of the night and so as the other passengers (it was normal for me, I'm talllll). After having dinner everyone started sleeping and it was getting harder and harder for me to think of ways to adjust with that girl.
The girl sat quietly till now. Suddenly she started making small talks. She was interested in talking but I was more into my thoughts and kept quite. She then asked me to confirm one more time with the TTE about any vacant birth. I nodded and reached the door and as I suspected she wanted to stretch her legs because it was almost 3–4 hours and we were just sitting there. I searched for TTE even though I knew nothing's gonna happen because this is not the first time for me to travel with a RAC birth. This TTE appeared to be honest, distributing the seats without any money but the problem was, there were no vacant birth. He told me that he can't do anything until Erode.
I came back and saw that girl having some peaceful time and I thought of giving her some more time as she was behaving so calmly. I told her to sit for some more time as the TTE told me that there are almost zero chances of getting a seat.
After sometime, I went inside and she was lying on the birth, using her phone. She sat up seeing me and gave me half of the seat.. I was using my phone and when I saw up I found her staring at me. She asked “You don't talk much ha!?”. I stared. She got scared that maybe she offended me. I signaled her whether she wants tea or not as Aluva station was approaching. She nodded yes.We bought two teas and some biscuits and chips as I saw her not eating much in dinner. The train departed from there.
She then silently whispered “I'm finding this situation somewhat similar to the movie Jab We Met” to which I couldn't control my laughter and we both started laughing loudly, realizing that we are disturbing other people. I said “Yes, almost similar but not same”. Her eyebrows got raised in surprise, “so you cannnnn talk!”. “Who told your brother that it's my seat also!” I replied. She again laughed loudly.
Then she started talking non-stop. Some topics were interesting, some were not. Then she asked me to share something. I told her some basic “tell me about yourself” stuff which I had prepared for interviews. It was good as she was listening with so much interest. Then I told her to sleep for sometime as I won't be able to sleep even if I'll get the full seat also. She nodded and told me to wake her up after sometime. I kept sitting on the edge of the seat watching a series on my phone which I downloaded for the journey.
It was evening time when I boarded the train. Quickly it became dark outside. As my legs are long, I pulled up my half of the sleeping seat up in order to sit properly. That girl was watching me through out the whole evening and early part of the night and so as the other passengers (it was normal for me, I'm talllll). After having dinner everyone started sleeping and it was getting harder and harder for me to think of ways to adjust with that girl.
The girl sat quietly till now. Suddenly she started making small talks. She was interested in talking but I was more into my thoughts and kept quite. She then asked me to confirm one more time with the TTE about any vacant birth. I nodded and reached the door and as I suspected she wanted to stretch her legs because it was almost 3–4 hours and we were just sitting there. I searched for TTE even though I knew nothing's gonna happen because this is not the first time for me to travel with a RAC birth. This TTE appeared to be honest, distributing the seats without any money but the problem was, there were no vacant birth. He told me that he can't do anything until Erode.
I came back and saw that girl having some peaceful time and I thought of giving her some more time as she was behaving so calmly. I told her to sit for some more time as the TTE told me that there are almost zero chances of getting a seat.
After sometime, I went inside and she was lying on the birth, using her phone. She sat up seeing me and gave me half of the seat.. I was using my phone and when I saw up I found her staring at me. She asked “You don't talk much ha!?”. I stared. She got scared that maybe she offended me. I signaled her whether she wants tea or not as Aluva station was approaching. She nodded yes.We bought two teas and some biscuits and chips as I saw her not eating much in dinner. The train departed from there.
She then silently whispered “I'm finding this situation somewhat similar to the movie Jab We Met” to which I couldn't control my laughter and we both started laughing loudly, realizing that we are disturbing other people. I said “Yes, almost similar but not same”. Her eyebrows got raised in surprise, “so you cannnnn talk!”. “Who told your brother that it's my seat also!” I replied. She again laughed loudly.
Then she started talking non-stop. Some topics were interesting, some were not. Then she asked me to share something. I told her some basic “tell me about yourself” stuff which I had prepared for interviews. It was good as she was listening with so much interest. Then I told her to sleep for sometime as I won't be able to sleep even if I'll get the full seat also. She nodded and told me to wake her up after sometime. I kept sitting on the edge of the seat watching a series on my phone which I downloaded for the journey.
I sat there for about 2 hrs and then went for a small walk. I thought of waking her up but couldn't. I have a sister and a mother at my home and they too travel. So I treated her like that because maybe someday somewhere my sister or maybe my mother will also get treated in the same way as I'll treat others. 'It’s my thinking'. We can only hope for the things which we can't control. So I never woke her up. She kept sleeping there for the whole night.
Train halted at Whitefield station before reaching K R Puram and I realized that it'll be near to my destination. So I got down there. I waved at her through the window only and she waved back too. I then took a rickshaw reach my destination.
Now, I'm traveling from my childhood and got so many times RAC seats. It didn't mattered to me when I was a child as it was easy to adjust with my parents around me but as I grew up it became harder and harder (for me). Usually, when I get an RAC and it's hard to cooperate because of some foolish people, I pull my half up and sit there for the whole journey. I don't argue. It's a waste of time. Also, I talk a lot, but only to people I love and trust. So mostly I keep mum.
My Other Train Journeys:
