Nothing in particular

Scene 1.

It was a December night. The train started moving. I was on my way to Chennai from Bangalore. Got an Upper berth. Six of the remaining seven seats in the box were reserved by octogenarians and the seventh (middle berth) was empty. The list said that it would be a thirty year old man who'd get in at the next station. The old man who got the other upper berth didn't know what to do. None of the others could climb all the way up and people in nearby boxes had turned down his request of exchanging seats.

It took a few minutes to reach the next station and the much looked-forward to 30 yr old got in. He had one look at the old man, the empty upper berth and started shaking his head, "No no no no" and told the old man that booking the upper berth was not his concern in Kannada. Thatha (that's how we call very old people in Thamizh. means 'Grandpa') was thamizh but he guessed the content though. Thatha didn't push his request much because the guy looked dead tired.

The corresponding paati (grandma) was in lower berth and she asked him, "Enna naa solraan?" but he had no need to reply. The guy set up his berth and jumped on to it and switched the iPod on, clearly telling them he doesn't want to be disturbed. The thatha whispered something to paati and waged a battle with the holding rod to get to the upper berth. Slowly, but surely, he made it (though he needed a glass of water immediately).


Scene 2.

I had slept through that day and hence found it difficult to sleep. It must have been sometime over midnight. A guy walked into our cabin, checked his ticket with light from his mobile and woke the guy in the middle berth. 'Yeh tho mera seat hai...' he said.

The guy got confused. 'Arre what? The TTE has already checked. I've booked this till Chennai'. The new guy said, 'No sir. Yeh tho mera berth hai. See? S3, seat 5.' The middle berth madhavan didn't have much patience. 'Please. This is the only chance I've had to sleep in three days. Go check with the TTE. I've also got S3 seat 5 only.' The new guy was unfazed. 'Par yeh tho mera seat hai sir. I also have to sleep na? You're travelling in my ticket and are not even listening to me?', and he switched on the light. Finally, this guy looked into the ticket and said, 'Guru... This is yesterday's ticket.' The new guy was still for a couple of seconds, looked at his ticket once and said, '@#$% !' After saying sorry to the middle berth guy, he left.


Scene 3.

Must have been around four o clock in the morning. There was some external noise in my dreams. I realized I was dreaming and got up to see the thaatha halfway between the upper berth and the floor wondering where his next step should be. Before I realized what was happening, his feet slipped and almost fell. His hand was firmly on the holder so he was literally hanging there.He let go of his hand after a couple of seconds and managed to stand on the floor. I was sitting up by now, and he motioned a 'sorry for the noise' gesture. His face said he hurt something somewhere but he just walked towards the restroom.
I was sure he pulled some muscle somewhere, so was waiting for him to come back in case he needed help. He came back soon and knew that the Upper berth had won the war. He wasn't going up there again!

He woke the 30 year old and requested him to go up again. He gave that 'wtf' look and said, 'Your Chennai's just one hour away!.' 'I seem to have hurt myself coming down, sir. please, if you don't mind...', thatha said. The guy didn't know what to do and reluctantly picked up his bag and moved to the upper berth. The thatha happily slept in the middle berth covering himself from head to toe.


Scene 4.

5 10 AM. Chennai Central. It was still pretty much dark with only the mild yellow lights on.

The paati was up and packed. I was getting down from my berth when the paati was looking at the other upper berth nudging the 30 yr old with a stick, saying, 'Yen na, station vandudthu... Ezhundrungo...' The guy got up and looked around.  I could see tears welling up in his near bright-red eyes as he sat upright and said, 'Please amma, Nange malgokke bidi. Pleasssee.' [Let me sleep. Please.]

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PS: Not entirely true. - 'I' isn't me here. Not entirely my own - a partially true story
Special thanks to Vibha for the kannada translation :)