Overheard conversation in a sleeper bogie

by Anoushka Nair (India)

I didn't expect to find India

Overheard conversation in a sleeper bogie. The weather, the Amritsar train tragedy, the Kerala flood tragedies. Tragedies. Strategies for survival and living. Sad things that happened to me, sad things that happened to you. Loop of offering food and saying no, loop of not offering and passively asking for it. A kid asking for water, his mother doesn't have money. The kid doesn't understand. He is crying now. Another kid asking his mother for food. A mother and daughter hugging, crying and talking. He is still crying for water. Strangers falling into something greater than mere acquaintance. Falling in love with the concept of human interaction, hating humans, someone with a reservation comes in . Everyone hates him. You have to shift bogies, you shift bogies. And again. And again. The child is still crying. More people come in. Dilli and the mishaps. Dil walo ki Dilli (dilli belongs to those who have big hearts) and my mishaps. Where are we? A crowd of school kids just got in. They have a kho kho match day after. National level. Six kids, one berth. How to behave in society, society, government, blaming the government and the society. The declining trend of talking in Hindi. Phone calls home, phone calls home but it's not really home, phone calls far away which sound like home. The kid stopped crying. Did he get water? Where have we reached? Paise(money), dadagiri, aaj kal ki soch( new generation's thinking) and something about maan ki santhushti(self satisfaction)? A debate-discussion on a long forgotten topic,neither backs down from it. Karma and it's cycle, it's working and our virtue. They stopped the debate and are now talking fondly over chai. Chai mixes their opinions with the mishti(sweetness of the tea) in it. Their love for chai. Chai is heaven and they want chai in heaven. The kid and his mother are getting out of the train. He is sleeping. I don't think he got water. Did we get there?