Besides this, train journeys are really tiring, with all the pushing and the yelling. But at the same time, I often have ‘chamko’ moments while travelling, especially when I am standing at the edge of the compartment occupying just two steps of space and one hand gripping some part of the train for support, this is when the world seems like a wonderful place waiting to be explored.
But this post is particularly about my today’s journey. When I reached the platform, I found the place to be particularly empty; there was an absence of the huge herds of people waiting to get into a stampede. So I began to wonder why. Nor is it a public holiday and nor is it getting flooded, there is no current threat of swine flu either, I thought, but I dint get the answer to my queries. Just when I was busy brain storming, I saw the train arrive and numerous women made their way out, unlike other times; this time I had to make efforts to climb in, since, often when a train arrives you do not even come to know how from the platform you get teleported into the train.
The compartment was reasonably empty and just when the train caught speed, I saw this boy climb in. He must have been around 20 years-of-age and he looked quite presentable. I was confused for around 2 seconds, till I saw him open a blue bag and let out a set of kurtis. He also recognised a lady in the train and waved at her with a smile. I just stood there staring. I had recently brought quite a few kurtis, but with women, there is an urge to shop and being loyal to my gender, I found myself completely awe struck.This is when there was a huge battle between my brain and the heart. There was a particular white kurti that I really liked and I could have easily purchased, but my brain kept yelling out the fact that there were four new ones lying at home. This kurti went through a million hands till it finally came to mine and I inspected every little bit of it, after I was convinced that there are no holes or stains in that piece of cloth, out of nowhere the lady who was a regular customer just snatched out of my hand. She behaved like she owned the guy, she kept ordering him around and treating him like personal property, this really irked me, but I did not fight to have it back.
Instead my brain immediately switched lanes and I was driving on another thought now, this lady was behaving so very greedy that it was intriguing to watch her. She knew I had an eye on the kurti and hence, she decided to hold it in her hands till I got off. Besides, the best part was, that piece of cloth wasn't even her size! She just kept asking the boy "Mujhe ye fit aa gayega na?!" the boy would sincerely reply "Nahi maadam chota hai" to this she would say "accha mai le jaati hu, kal nahi hua tho return kar dungi"
Finally, it was time for me to get off, the last thing I saw was, she took his number so that she could call him if it does not fit. Just while getting off I heard the boy saying "maadam aaj ladies local mai aaye ho tho kuch le he jaow" And this statement of his, explained everything. The lack of people, the typical behaviour and the whole kurti session. All I did was looked back, smiled and thought, this journey was truly a ‘Ladies Special’ and in the form of an immediate confirmation came shrieking voices of two women battling it out for a seat, the train sped off.
