We say we are cultured???

I was travelling home for Diwali vacations on October 14th 2009. After a hectic day of exams followed by quick packing, moving to Chennai and waiting their for 5 hours, I finally boarded my train at 10:30 PM. I was badly tired and had not slept well since 7 days prior to that owing to my exams( need not explain why? ), so I just wished a good sleep.

I climbed to my top berth and and fell flat after calling home and bidding good byes to some of my friends who were also leaving home for Diwali. While I lay paralyzed I just moved my eyes within the compartment to catch a glimpse of my fellow passengers (Just to be sure that I am in a safe place and people at least look good). There were few students whom I assumed must be returning home for the festival and some workers too (Chennai attracts host of cheap man power from poor states like Orissa, Bihar, Jharkhand etc). I was about to retire when I saw this " Old lady" sitting in the side lower seat exactly opposite to me. She was wearing an elegant green saree and her ornaments made her look younger than her age. Beside her was a fat dark man, of my state talking loudly to one of his colleague(both in their mid 20's) resting in the side upper berth and blaming railways for providing him the same seat as the old lady who happened to be a Tamilian (I learned later).

Well I understood that both of them(Lady and Fat man) were travelling RAC and hence the seat sharing. Then came the TTE, he checked the details of everyone's ticket and was about to leave when our own Fat dark man came with 4 colleagues of his, demanding an explanation for his seat sharing with the old lady. Although the TTE tried explaining, I guess they wern't ready to hear the same. Finally the TTE gave up and moved on leaving these 4 angry men looking angrily on the poor lady who couldn't understand a single word of what was happening around her. Finally the young men murmered something within themselves and went on to their respective berths. I guessedthey accepted the situation and retired. By then I had succumbed to my aching body and fell asleep.

I slept and dream t of Diwali sweets, diyas, mom's love poured delicacies and the lovely Festive moments with family and friends. All of a sudden the fireworks started in the neighborhood and we joined them. Although things were very satisfying I could silently hear, a chaos from some other world banging on my ears. I suddenly saw the beauty of the festival evaporating like steam from boiling water and I realized I was still travelling.

To my horror I found the dark fat man along with his colleagues shouting at the poor lady in a language that was alien to her. The lady as I said belonged from a well to do family and didn't bothered to answer them. The men must have been less than her Sons age if she had one. After a brief round of shouting the men threatened her of pushing her off the train if she didn't leave her seat. No one in the entire bogey cared to break their sleep although all would have heard the threat the men vomited on the poor lady. Finally scared, the poor lady left her seat and stood near the bath room door weeping silently.

I cursed the young men a thousand times and curiosity forced me to bend over my seat and see what the old lady is up to? I found her spreading her a newspaper near the wash basin and then sensing the unhealthy surroundings, she dropped the plan. She held the support of the berth and stood facing her back to me and wiped her tears occasionally. In the mean time the fat dark men enjoyed their sleep after a brief victory shout having forced the old lady out of their way (from their berth rather).

Thousands thoughts ran inside my mind. What on earth is this? Cant you do something? What if she had been your own grandma? would you have tolerated this? How about you go and offer your seat? Then my aching body shouted are you nuts? You are almost paralyzed damn it? Thousands of old ladies like her travel in trains and face such things or even worse, why the hell are you feeling so bad? You are not involved in this. Let her know the pain and reserve her tickets earlier and travel like a queen in a reserved berth next time onwards. Just shut your eyes, brain and go to sleep. I did just that shut my eyes, brain and fell back but what about the heart? I couldn't shut that, I could sense my pulse thumping like a galloping horse. I thought I must do something.

I saw here and there and thought if I should pick up a fight with those 4 dark fat idiots, then I thought I was alone and if they man handle me then none of these idiot sleeping corpse would wake up to save me. I saw the lady again, by now she had controlled her tears. I was sure she must have had an excellent upbringing else ladies in India have a huge tendency to shout, wail and use their tear machine to gain undue sympathy whereas she seemed really composed even in the worst case. I was sure I would offer her my seat. Then I realized how would she climb the top berth. Another problem: I had to buzz some of those corpse and convince them to exchange their berth.

Again I got those thoughts, why the hell are you getting involved? But this time I was too strong to buzz. I rang some of my close friends just to garner enough confidence and luckily all my friends supported me. One of them said just treat it as if you had one more exam. I went to the elegantly dressed old lady and tried to sound as normal as I could without letting her feel that I am doing her a favor. I was sure she held a very high self esteem and the guts to travel the entire journey without sitting. She welcomed me with a smile despite the pain and I was so relieved seeing her smile. I couldn't explain her since I didn't knew Tamil and she didn't knew any other language. My gestures worked and she got me. I was right, she thanked me again with a pat on my head but refused to inflict any pain on me coz of her. I too had made up my mind and didn't buzz. Then I went to breath life to a corpse lying in the lower berth of my compartment. To my horror that idiot was watching everything with big wide eyes and so were the rest. What a shame? I requested him to move up so that I and the old lady could share the lower berth. Thank God, he agreed.

Me and the elegant old lady sat in the lower berth.. Happy and satisfied with what I achieved I returned to my Diwali dreams. When I woke up the lady had alighted and left a small note of blessing for me. The rest is history.....

Well what are we? Are we cultured? Is it safe to leave our loved ones travelling alone on a train? Even if she had a confirmed ticket, do u think she could have done anything if threatened like this? Who do u think are responsible: the 4 dark fat illiterate men? sleeping corpses? Indian Railways? or the lady's loved ones who let her travel alone?

Well am no politician, just wanted to put a message across that " U CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE". DO IT....