Friday, June 18, 2010

Train Conversations

Train Conversations

Train journeys, as I have said in my earlier post, are an irreplaceable part of life in Mumbai. Since the office crowd generally travels in the same train over a long period, there is a possibility of forging friendships with regular co travelers. Train friendships are quite common in the Mumbai locals. But in my 3 years of Mumbai train travel, I have also come across some different kind of interactions… one off interactions between people travelling together for that journey… bidding goodbye after the journey as friends, probably never to meet again. These conversations help in passing the time faster and before u you know, it is time to get off…!!!

Yesterday I travelled alongside one such pair who was chatting. I realized that they have just met. The fat lady was the one indulging in most of the talking while the thin one mostly listened offering sympathetic comments at the right junctures. Sample this:

Fat Lady (FL): I have the habit of forgetting packages on train racks…
Thin Lady (TL): (Sympathetically) that’s bad…
FL: Yeah… once I left this lovely lunch box-water bottle combo… I had just purchased it from Marine Lines… so beautiful they were… costed me 300 bucks… imagine…I lost 300 bucks on the rack…
TL: (sympathetic clicks of the tongue)
FL: You know, I had also bought a lovely saree on the same day, luckily I gave it to my friend for safe keeping… else I would have lost the saree too…
TL: (coudnt u give the other stuff also to your friend?) yeah that was really lucky for u…!!! ;-)

Needless to say, for FL the journey might have felt very short… I hope the same was the case with TL!!!

Another time, in a crowded Virar, I witnessed a conversation between a very Posh looking lady carrying a stylish small clutch bag and a simple service class girl looking tired after a long day in office. Here’s what transpired:

Posh Lady (PL): That’s a nice bag you have.
Simple Lady (SL): (probably surprised at the praise of her very unstylish utility bag) ohh… thanks.
PL: You might be able to keep a lot of stuff in it na…?
SL: Oh yes, the usual things apart I am also able to keep my tiffin box and water bottle.
PL: And look at me… mera yeh chhotu sa bag… I can’t keep a thing!!!
SL: (smug, no comments)
PL: Where did you get the bag from?
SL: This bag is easily available… you can get it at Borivali market for 150 bucks…
PL: That’s great… I m going to Borivali Market this Friday…!!!
End result being both PL & FL enjoyed their journeys…

Trains are actually a study in human nature for a person who is new to them. I have seen women in groups berating their mothers-in-law, singing ‘happy birthday’ for someone turning a year older, sharing goodies with regulars, etc. No one even knows the others’ names… but probably, this world away from office and home is a time when most chill… and though inane at times, train conversations might go a long way in easing the minds of the speakers and helping them look forwards to the responsibilities waiting for them as they step out of the compartment…!!!

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2 Comments:

At 4:41 PM , Blogger Adarsh A. Varghese said...

Hey. Thanks for your lovely comments on my blog. And on trains - for the two years that I have been in Bombay, I have taken a train probably only once!So I do miss out on all the train chumminess!

 
At 10:54 PM , Blogger SRILAXMI said...

hey adarsh...

thnx for visiting... do post more regularly on ur blog... its a treat to read it...!!!

 

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