Indian Railways is the heart of the Indian travelers. Everyday, millions of passengers board several trains moving from one destination to other, reaching their passengers on time. With such a big crowd of people come millions of stories and instances. As the crowd travels from one destination to the other, they have to spend time keeping themselves engaged through the journey. Here are 16 common things and habits which can be seen in the Indian travelers along the journey…

1. Reading that favourite novel:

This breed rarely picks up its eye out of the books to notice anyone around. They are so engrossed in the story that reality hardly makes any sense to them. These people are avid readers, serious bookworms, bitten by the anonymity of the story, the only time they will look up is when they are either about to eat or preparing to go to sleep. They are least disturbances to the passengers around.

2. Noting the names of the stations between source and destination. These travellers are the ones with great acumen for travel knowledge. They are the walking encyclopaedias of train information and they take pride to spread their knowledge around with the fellow passengers. You will often find these passengers looking outside the window trying to make note of every single station they pass by. They also know whether the train is on schedule or not, and surprisingly, what is the reason behind that ‘intermittent’ delay.

3. Play cards They are generally a family group or a friends group taking a longish journey and the best source of keeping themselves engaged is playing cards. These passengers generally cover the entire space of the berth, making it difficult for the rest of the passengers to pass by with the luggage. They often start with two people in the beginning, but eventually, a mob surrounds them, anxiously trying to find out the verdict of the game. Overall, a highly social crowd to get into, and often a chaotic one as well.

4. Play chess I put these two games separately as the two of them differ in their crowd. The chess players type passengers are the ‘deep thinking’ type individuals. When seen from far off, they will be so deeply engrossed in the game that there will be a stern look on the face; as if the world is about to meet is end, and they are the heroes the world is relying upon on a ‘judgement day’. These passengers save the most of their travel expenses as they neither feel hungry, nor thirsty. They are so much into it that the time just halts for them.

5. Music Lovers This type of passenger has no time to listen to the train announcement or the train signals. Often equipped with his hi-tech earphones and pods, they will be found with their eyes closed and making weird faces in the crowd. You can also hear them humming the songs loudly, irritating the ones around, with their cranky voice. And if that’s not all, they will also go off to sleep with their headphones on. Till the time their headphones are not uprooted from their ears, they do not seem to be responsive to anything around. They also have the habit of keeping their eyes shut while humming, adding up to the irritation of others around.

6. The Newspaper Readers According to these passengers, they are the Mr. Perfect choice of putting the nation in place. They read the whole paper one after the other, and after gathering all the information, rattle out to the other passengers around. Often such passengers find great company of other people, as they are good at touching the sensitive issues of the public. They get mass recognition almost instantly, and start exchanging contact numbers upon reaching their destinations, as if the other passengers were known to them since ages. These passengers talk to everyone else, but their own wife sitting next to them. The wife often does not speak either.

7. Take a long sleep on the upper berth without being disturbed. They are the passengers who have never slept for ages. They can manage the in between times to sleep whenever they can, and sleeping is the most important activity of their life; even if the sky has to fall apart, they will not compromise on it. They will usually occupy the upper berths, and will drown themselves in one dark corner of the bogey once the train starts and often get up suddenly when the train stops at some station, to find out whether they have reached their destination or several stations gone beyond it. They seldom get up before their destinations. They also are the ones, who never lose their luggage on a train, as their stuff seems to be alienated due to non- visibility of its beholder.

8. Watch your favourite movies on tablet. They are the movie collectors. Watching movies is a passion. Grant them a gadget and they will make sure they do not miss out any latest movie that hits the screen. Not only that, they would also repeat watching few movies back to back as they happen to be their favourite. Such passengers try to buy a seat next to a charging point, and if they do not find one, they exchange one from a co-passenger, as they have to continuously charge their tablets and PC’s. They have to be on 24X7 as they cannot miss out a single footage.

9. Click photos of the favourite stations on the way. These people make the best of the opportunity available to them. They generally choose the window seats, trying to click the photos of the scenic beauty on the way. They like making a photo collection of their journeys and such journeys inspire them. They could also be found occupying the open doors of the train sometimes, trying to click through them. They are often a rare breed trying to make the most out of their travel.

10. Write a poetry or novel on the go. The poets and the novelists are people of taste. They require a mood and a setup to construct their stories. These people will be visible to you in person but not in their true identity. They are keen observers and they observe the things around; people, places, characters, and behaviours. They are in the constant look out of their ideal protagonist and the backdrop of their stories. They easily mingle with the crowd and are busy spinning the story in their minds. And a train journey sometimes takes them to places where they find their perfect story.

11. Make new friends. Some people are good at making friends with people and a train journey is often a great platform to do that. These people are talkative, witty and expressive and they keep the crowd engaged with their wits. They ask out the people, help them enroute and believe in cooperation. Again a rare breed to find these days!

12. The perpetual eaters. People have to eat to live. These people have their equations altered. They live as they have to eat. They have two taste buds, one in their stomach and the other on their tongue. The sleepy taste bud inside the stomach wakes up, once it smells the whereabouts of a train, and this passenger starts feeling hungry. They will not only carry a separate bag of food for their train journey, in which the entire house will be literally packed up, but also, they eat whatever passes by. And what is the protection against indigestion. Of course, digestive pills; Pop a pill and pop goes the weasel. When they leave their seats, they leave the aftermath of war behind them, with litter and waste all around, little realizing the pain they cause to public property.

13. The overanxious young crowd. This breed is never satisfied with the faces of the passengers in their berth. They like to explore. They are outdoor animals suffering from claustrophobia and always feel the itch of moving around. So, they get up and just start walking through from one berth to other until they reach the last corner of the train. It includes both male and female categories; the male category is not satisfied with the faces of the women in their berth and so they look around for changing their seats, and the female category is often bothered that their group is the most boring one and the other group must be enjoying itself the most in the next bogie. You will find this crowd continuously moving from one end of the train to the other in search of ‘something’ they never get till the time their destination comes.

14. The ‘Tota-Maina’ Couple. This couple also often confides on the upper berths and are engaged in mysterious and chirpy conversations. The world may fall apart but their stories continue till the journey goes on. Had they not had to step out at their destinations, they wish they could continue on an endless journey like this one. This couple behaves as if the whole crowd is only looking at them when actually nobody does.

15. Manage the WallMart Business. This guy is constantly pestered by phone calls from his clients and employees. He either keeps calling someone, or someone keeps calling him. He manages his entire Wall-Street through the train journey, trying to make up for the deadlines and payments, and often abusing his employees on the go, for going off to sleep in his absentia. He rarely interacts with the crowd around, as he rarely gets a chance to do that.

16. Mr. StepIn-StepOut. This crowd is again an uneasy one. No matter whether it is required or not, this type waits when the train comes to a halt. They are anxious to step out of the train and have a feel of the station; even if it has to be sometimes at the cost of missing the train from behind. They are rarely sitting on their seats and are found manning the doors, often discussing the most important national issues, and their families are constantly worried whether they have boarded the train or not.

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