Train Travellers

A couple of days back I read an article where the author’s brilliant observation led her to classify the people she encounters in the Mumbai local trains in various categories. I travel to work everyday by train in Melbourne and more often than not come across people with peculiar or interesting habits. Then I noticed that these habits are not really specific to those people. Everyday I can see new faces with the same habits as I saw someone else with just the other day. Completely inspired by what that author wrote, I decided to classify people according to their travel habits in the Melbourne train network.

The most common one is the “Ardent sleeper”. These are the people who are absolutely unfazed and unperturbed by the happenings around them. They get into the train and are happy to scan the length and breadth of the train to find a seat that’s either next to the window or the body of the train. The reason? Well, it’s simple – to support their head while they doze off! Within moments of sitting down, they close their eyes and probably don’t even open them until seconds before the station they have to de-board. Not getting a seat where they cannot support their heads doesn’t stop them from sleeping. It will be a bit of a disturbed sleep with the head’s involuntary movement with the train, but nevertheless they manage to sleep. Those who get too comfortable sometimes even start snoring much to the amusement of others.

Then we have the “Music Lovers”. Their love for music is so strong that it transcends beyond the boundaries of….their headphones! Even if you are sitting on the seats in the opposite aisle, you can still hear the sounds of heavy metal that you probably won’t like to listen to the first thing in the morning. Constant ugly stares fail to distress them enough to lower the volume. Sometimes you can also overhear music in different languages! That’s when you know, these specimens are not one of a kind.

The “Friendly Sorts” will befriend anyone they see for a week at a stretch and become train-pals! Sometimes it becomes difficult for a third person to surmise their actual relation. I once met a friend on the train and saw her in deep conversation with a lady. I guessed she was her colleague. Later I discovered she was actually her train-pal! To my surprise the train-pal knew most of my friend’s history and not only hers but also of her other friends’ (thankfully not mine!).

With the coming of the iphone, I’m compelled to give due recognition to this variety of people. They are the “Gizmo Geeks”. Like a friend says – In a seat for 6, at least 3 will be fiddling with their iphones. They will play games, read news or watch movies. It gets even more amusing to watch them when they sway their phone trying to play a game with the accelerometer. If they are having a conversation with someone, they will instantly Google more information on it and then show off the advantages of having an iphone! For the entire duration of their journey, they fingers are exploring applications and eyes glued to the screens!

Now, the most annoying category of people – “The loudspeakers”! I don’t mean to be harsh, but they really are akin to loudspeaker. When they start talking on their phones, the entire carriage can hear their conversation and guess what the person on the other end must be saying. It can get even more annoying if they converse in another language! I once had this person sitting next to me shouting his lungs out in Punjabi! Soon I found people giving him dirty looks and turning around to see who this specimen was. He was so loud that I was actually forced to get up from my seat and move to another one far away from him to save myself from a hearing damage!

A friend of mine pointed out another category to me that I had missed. But these are the people you just can't miss noticing - "The Glam Dolls". Their bags are inundated with cosmetics of all kinds! They are so proficient at applying make up even while standing. The moment they sneeze, they fish out their mirrors to see if everything is still in place. A few touch ups through the journey are a ritual that they must follow. Some of them have more make up in their bags than one could find in Priceline or Target!

Well, confession time now! I think I too befit one of the above categories – The Ardent Sleeper! The train puts me off to sleep, I find it simply hypnotizing. I wake up in the morning with the thought that I’ll get another 40 minutes to sleep when I’m on the train and keep my fingers crossed to get a seat on the train where I can sit next to my husband and doze off with my head on his shoulder! Much to my chagrin, I have actually managed to miss my station while fast asleep and reached a station I have never been to , feeling absolutely spaced out!

Life’s like that…what you find in others, you’ll also find a part of it in yourself. So, what kind of a train traveller are you?

Promises We Make

The day I decided to start blogging, I promised to myself that I will try and write as often as possible. A fortnight later all that I find myself doing is re-reading my first blog, marvelling at how beautiful it looks in shades of pink, playing with the settings and still trying to figure out why my blog doesn't come up in search results! (PS: 8 June 2010 - I have changed the colors of my blog :-p)Its getting a bit hard to get get my thought process in place. But I'm sure sooner or later I will...just time and devotion is required!

The other day I was wondering how many times I have promised something to myself and how often I just give in to the temptation that lead me to break my promises made to myself. I promised to myself that I will refrain from eating junk and seriously start losing weight..hmm..not fulfilled...then I promised that I will never ask Rak to take me shopping considering how often I ask him to and thought to myself that he knows me well enough to understand. But just a day later I ended up blurting it out to him - " Rak, why dont you understand what I'm trying to say. I dont want to say it but because you dont understand I have to say it..Please take me shopping for summer clothes!! :-) " He took me around much to my delight! Though that's a different story that he was the one who ended up shopping and guess what I bought - A wash bag!

I'm not saying I don't live up to my promises. I always try and live up to the promises I make to others, but with myself I end up being more lenient than I should be. Someone recently said to me - if you dont respect yourself, don't expect others to respect you. I thus promise to myself today that I shall keep up to my promises made to myself!
Life's Like that..it teaches you a new lesson everyday, a lesson of life..of self improvement!