The Insensitive Co-Passenger

Travel is something all of us look forward to. Its what helps us unwind and rejuvenate as we get out of our mundane lives and await new experience our travel has to offer. But what if your pleasure turns into pain at the very beginning of the journey?

I took a flight to Mumbai a few months ago to take part in a poetry recitation. I occupied an empty chair between two gentlemen as I had walked enough to board my flight at 4.30 a.m.

A boy in his 20’s (I don’t address him as a gentleman for a reason) sat in a chair in front of me beside a couple. When zone 4 passengers were asked to go ahead and board the flight, he hastily got up and walked on.

The man sitting next to him, called out “Excuse me, you forgot your cup” pointing at the forgotten cup of coffee. He turned, picked the cup, smiled wryly and headed back.

“Excuse me, there’s coffee spilled on the seat”, he said again. The boy rolled his eyes and carelessly wiped the seat with the sleeve of his t-shirt and ran back before he could be called again.

The couple gave each other a disappointing look as they noticed some coffee still spilled on the seat. I wondered how ill-mannered, educated people can be.

On the flight, I noticed a group of friends all seated in different seats to their bad luck. They got up as soon as the ‘fasten the seat belt’ sign was off and leisurely hovered all over the aircraft catching up with their friends.

A man beside me called the airhostess at least 7 times asking her for water every time. I admired the patience she had with this person who sat next to me.

One other time, I was travelling to Chennai in an AC coach. A man about 4 rows away from my seat played tri-lingual Facebook videos continuously for 3 hours when everyone around him was trying to sleep. Unable to take it anymore, I got up, walked up to him.

“Excuse me. Could you please reduce the volume?” I asked politely.

“Ah? Ah!” He replied in his accent and went back to his reels.

He did not pay heed to my request and continued for another half an hour before he got bored and started snoring in a few minutes.

A woman on my side was travelling with her two children. She fed her children as soon as the train left its station of origin. The stench of the food filled the coach as soon as the boxes opened. 30 minutes later, one of the children vomited. 5 minutes later, she gave them potato chips and chocolates. The wrappers were irresponsibly scattered around their seats and then they slept for 2 hours.

They were given more food when they woke up and I looked in disbelief and they cleaned all the boxes in front of them.

Behind me were three women who seemed to have the time for their lives. They spoke, laughed loudly and fiddled with the shade blind every now and then making it look like we had barged into their homes uninvited.

When the TTE had asked to check our tickets at the start, he said, “Your son is 9 years old and that woman there claims her son is 7 years old”, pointing at a woman sitting one row away.

I got up to take a look at her son and he looked more than 10 years old to me.

“Don’t I know the difference between a 7 and a 10 year old?” He asked me without expecting an answer.

“It’s always better to travel comfortably.” I responded with a smile.

“The fine is way more than the price of the ticket but some people don’t understand”, he added before moving ahead.

The woman later got up and sat across from me. “How old is your son?” She forced a smile.

“9.” I replied

“My son is 10. I did not know I had to take a ticket for him. I thought he could sit in my lap. I had to pay fine unnecessarily.”

“It is advisable to buy a ticket for children above 5 years. It’s just half the price for ages 5–12.” I said and she raised her eyebrows as if this is something she heard for the first time.

All of this was a little amusing but mostly distressing. I realised that a few kinds of travellers are capable of leaving us agonized.

While it is painful to go through such experiences, I’d like to share an incident that happened years ago.

I was travelling with my family and all our tickets were not confirmed despite booking them long before the travel date. We had 4 confirmed tickets amongst 6 of us. My sister was annoyed at the thought of travelling without reservation.

My father, being the typical middle class man, asked us to adjust as we had no choice. So we took our seats and wondered how we are going to spend two nights with the shortage of berths.

A couple in the same compartment smiled at us occasionally and had a casual chat with my parents. The first night on the train was a little traumatic. We woke up the next morning dreading another night of adjustment when the couple started talking to my parents again.

“We will deboard at Miraj junction at 12.pm. You can keep our berths. We saw how uncomfortable your kids were last night”

All of us were surprised at this heartwarming gesture that was totally uncalled for.

“Thank you so much. But the TTE would have the list and the berths may have been allotted to other passengers”

“Don’t worry about that. We have a reservation till the destination. We just had a change of plans. It would be wise to let you use the berths. Why cancel them and waste money?” uncle added.

They deboarded as informed and we spent the rest of the journey grateful that we met these absolutely sweet and considerate co-passengers.

Let us avoid being the reason for our fellow passengers’ discomfort. Let us uphold the dignity of public property and public spaces.

I pledge to practice travel etiquette, keep distance when I find an Insensitive Co-passenger and try my best not to become one. After all it costs nothing to be kind.

CHEERS!

GOD BLESS!!

CHS