Space

Since the pilot's in Mathura, I've had numerous opportunities to travel there by train. Usually, it's in AC class, where I spend a comfortable 2+ hrs to Mathura. But with my luck I've had the "fortune" of traveling by general class a couple of times.

When I learnt I had to go in general class - I was not happy (and apprehensive). The general compartment is crowded and you get an up close and personal aromatic reminder that you're in a country of a billion people, running on an infrastructure built in the 1940's.

Both times I was lucky enough to get a seat. I sit down and claim my space. The next 2 hrs are then an Indian lesson in "Space - A Communal Concept". Here I was claiming my space, and everyone around me was making space. Seating for 3 people? Lets seat 5 people. Kids making noise and elbowing you constantly? While I glared at the brat next to me so that he'd settle down, everyone else's response was - it's okay, kids will be kids. Chalta hai. And then this very same brat opens a packet of chips and offers them to me - the crotchety guy who has the window seat. When I was 8 I didn't share anything, unless forced to. I was sort of awed by the generosity of my fellow passengers. There was a humbling equality to the experience.

I can't help but contrast this to my fellow drivers on Delhi's roads. Such an overwhelming culture of "me". Cutting people off, taking a right turn when you're in the left most lane, driving in 2 lanes, because you don't want anyone else to get ahead and cut you off, double parking and triple parking so that you've effectively blocked traffic, honking just because you can. We all zoom around in our AC cars, sealed in our eggs just thinking about ourselves and oblivious to everything else. And I sheepishly admit, I am one of those selfish drivers.

But here in my train to Mathura, I have no egg to seal myself in. There are no veneers. This is a close contact sport. And as we zoom through the Indian countryside we jostle together in unison.

This notion of communal space is a very Indian concept. Lets hope I apply this lesson the next time I get behind the wheel.