A Train War

Around the end of May, I was headed to Goa for my holidays. I had to board a train that would take me roughly 18 hours to reach my destination. What took place on that train had been etched in my mind ever since.

I had boarded the train late at night when all the passengers were asleep. And so, I did not know my co-passengers on my journey at the beginning of the journey itself. However, the day's journey was quite interesting as I got to capture a glimpse of 'Chennai Express'. Looking back at the journey, I would divide it into three 'surgical strikes' if I may call it.

The first 'surgical strike' was at breakfast itself. At the start itself, you could sense a certain resistance between the two families. While one family was from Southern India, the other was from Madhya Maharashtra. And so, when the children arose to have their breakfast, there was a bit of grumbling from both parties. The interesting bit of this grumbling was that both grumbled in a tone that sounded like they were having a normal conversation. However, they did it in their native language so that the other would not hear. I picked out parts of the grumbling through my little knowledge of both regional languages. The grumbling mainly revolved around the type of breakfast the other was eating. 

"Oh! Look at the way they are eating the idli and sambhar. Puris are the best to eat in the morning."

This went on till both families finished off their morning meal, without sharing even a morsel with me, the neutral of both extremes.

Later in the day, came the moving vendors. We have all seen them when we travel by train. They move from compartment to compartment auctioning off their items at astonishingly high rates claiming that what they sell is the original and not the duplicates. Just a point of caution: They are duplicates!

Coming back to the 'war', the second 'surgical strike' was through the moving vendors. To be honest, I do not know what they had in mind but I gelt that they were devising a way to flaunt their money. Both families would stop these vendors irrespective of what they were selling and try to buy at least one of the items being sold. This went on for roughly two hours. Who knows how many vendors they would have stopped!! Towards the end from the cultural boundaries to the economic boundaries.

But, this wasn't the end of it, as the third 'surgical strike' touched the boundary of technological advancements. This began mid-way through the journey when the batteries in the phones began dying. Both the families began using the charging ports on their respective sides, while endlessly multitasking on it at the same time. It seemed like they wanted to prove to the other which had th[e better phone. To me, it was another aimless competition becoming a waste of time.

As I approached my arrival point, I mulled over these interesting series of events. It occurred to me that despite spending so much time together on a train journey, these two families could not come to terms with each other and spent their time completely competing against the other. Their focus seemed to be on who was better rather than how was the other.