I was doing the overtime in the first week of April due to accounts closing work. During those days, I used to get Gandhinagar memu at 7:30 p.m. from Anand. Gandhinagar memu is the train for those commuters who work till 7:00 p.m. or 7:15p.m. in the evening. It is the train for those kind of people who thinks that they have got the train in the will of their forefathers or ancestors. Commuters used to go back home in it only if there is no other option. In the first week of April even I had no other option. In the last week of March, I was warned about the insanity in the train. Dharmendra Sir told me the route of train and warned me about the insanity in it. He advised me to sit with the commuters.
“This train starts from Dahod (a small city in Gujarat) in the afternoon. It reaches Anand at 5:15 p.m. It arrives at platform no. 5. If you reach station before its departure time then you should go to platform no. 5 to get the seat of your choice,” I was recalling the words of Dharmendra Sir while approaching Anand station on 1st April.
The departure of Gandhinagar memu was from platform no. 3. It used to arrive on platform no. 3 at 7:20 p.m. 5:15 to 7:15 was its idle time. It used to enjoy its idle time on platform no. 5. I climbed up the stairs and checked the time in my phone. 7:10 p.m. I had 5 minutes to get the seat of my choice on platform no. 5. I rushed to platform no. 5 and got the seat of my choice. After getting the seat, I looked around in the train. And all I found was dirt, filth and people sleeping on the seats by spreading their legs on the seat parallel or on the same seat. In couple of minutes, train left platform no. 5 and approached platform no. 3.
“If you sit in the train from platform no. 3 then sit with fellow commuters. Half of the train will be occupied by the people of Dahod and Godhra. And they are totally insane. They will do annoying things and you will have no other option than tolerating it quietly. So it is better to bear annoying behavior with fellow commuters.” I recalled the other part of Dharmendra Sir’s description of the train while the train was approaching platform no. 3.
At platform no. 3, I tried to find some known faces who commute daily with me but I didn’t find any. “If I would have sat in train from platform no. 3 then I would have lost the seat of choice as well,” was going in my head as I saw people adjusting and sitting 4 on the seat of 3. I took a sigh of relief. At 7:30 p.m. train left the Anand station. After two stations, a lady sitting in the opposite row bought some fried potato balls from a vendor. While eating those, she found green chilli in one of those balls. She pulled green chilli out of the ball and simply threw it in the air. Without even thinking about the people sitting in the train & that it is going to fall on someone.
That green chilli fell on my hand and I watched it through out. I can’t explain in words how I was feeling at that time. There was no meaning of even fighting with such people. Thus, I stood up from that seat and simply changed my seating coach. In other seating coach, a lady got in the train after sometime. She came and sat opposite to me and started eating an orange. After eating two slices of it, she simply threw it on the way. I don’t know what she didn’t like about it but she simply threw it on the way. People crushed it in few minutes by walking over it and the whole carpet became dirty. After some times moths and bees started enjoying the pulp of it.
I changed the coach again. Luckily, I found the coach where only few people were sitting. There, I sat on an empty seat. Soon after that, train was approaching Maninagar. So those who wanted to get off the train at Maninagar gathered at the door.
“You want to hit me? Come on hit me! Throw me out of the train.” A drunkard appeared out of nowhere and started saying such things to one of the men standing at the door.
That man was quietly watching him without uttering a word.
“Come on! Hit me. Once I got out of the train then I will not leave you,” drunkard continued. Man simply smiled at him.
After couple of minutes, his fellow drunkard arrived and they started fighting. Not physically but verbally. They were abusing & challenging each other. Nothing more than that.
Train reached at Maninagar and someone complaint about them to railway police. Police officers got them off the train before it left Maninagar. I reached Ahmedabad and took couple of deep breaths in fresh air. I deleted the last couple of hours from my mind and drove my bike to home. I commuted in that train for 7 days i.e. first week of April and there was the same insane scenario everyday. I was not allowed to take leave even on Sundays until the accounts were signed by the auditors. After commuting for the whole week. I named it insane drunkards’ train. Most of the people in that were insane drunkards and alcohol had nothing to do with their insanity. It was in their blood.
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