A train ride is always exciting and an eye opener. The rusting iron smell engulfing u, the chitter-chatter of people around, the hawkers with the innumerable eatables which make u go hungry every second minute, the fight for the seats, the few inquisitive faces along with many aloof travellers when a new passenger walks into the compartment. Its a total mela in there. ITs difficult to explain who are more desperate, the guys who want to get in or those who want to get off the train.

Sunday while returning from Mysore, i took the 5 p.m. Mysore-Tirupati-Chennai Express, this was the first time i was coming by this train, leaving town ahead of the schedule. The train was jam packed and i had to find way to the Ladies compartment, the picture was worse there, not a place to sit. Found an upper berth and plonked myself there and got comfy with my book. But the bunch of noisy kids who were hell bent on making the three hour stretch a messy affair. The chai wala, the vada wala, the puri guy, all of them do a thriving business. They don't mind waking the sleeping lot, to sell their wares. A small bunch of girls, playing the game of Antakshri. A few tiffs to keep the kids quite ensue within the possessive moms. It was a good ride, though i missed creating a ruckus since my friends weren't around.

I generally travel by the 6 p.m. train, which is called the "Software Engineers train". The boogies filled with this breed of all shapes and sizes. One person comes early and catches the entire boogie (literally) for some 60-70 off guys who walk in like the Maharaja's after a while. U get to hear some wonderful conversations by these characters, some discussions which could put the industry pundits to shame. Topics range from fights at home to cricket, from the nosey customers to the wonderful phoren trips. From the number of flats/houses/land one owns to the fate of the guy who has not found a match as yet. Someone once suggested that all the S/W engineers should get together and make a union, now this was received with big "Boo", the guy was not seen in that boogie for the next three four weekends.

Once out of the train, it was a lonely feeling, though there was so much of noise around, people rushing to get to the required platforms, pushing and tugging. Its a sense of contradiction, the lonely being amongst the sea of humanity. At the end of the day, guess thats the state of affairs with all.