It is not an everyday occurrence that you encounter all co-travelers of same age in your train coupe. This was the case when I traveled from Lucknow to Delhi. All the seven other occupants, including a representative from the fairer community, were what you would call young - the future flag bearers of India's destiny. Not that I have started considering myself among the older community, considering that I am still decidedly younger than most office-bearers of youth brigades of major political parties. But in my 30s, I was the oldest of the lot as the rest of the occupants were all between twenty and twenty-five years of age.
The purpose of this article is not to impart moral values and neither to compare the difference in attitude that has crept in the social values of a generation that is merely 10 years behind than me (or 10 years ahead, depending on how you look at it) and it doesn't befit to term it 'generation gap'.
If there are three aspiring doctors of Saraswati Dental College in Lucknow, two students of a Management Institute in Noida and two other bank employees who sell accounts and loans in Delhi, other than this writer with pen to carry as sword, you should naturally expect fun and frolic, jokes, lot of laughing and no seriousness. All this carried on till 12 in the night, before all including me retired to bed.
But what happened next alerted my thinking antennas. Before I mention any further, it is suitable now to add a line or two about the two bank employees - one male and the other female. The two were decidedly not married together, as the girl's husband had come to see her off at Lucknow. Though it was evident that all three knew each other and belonged to the same friend circle, the girl and this other guy were not all that familiar as they started conversation hesitantly, that too when the girl's husband had left, and initially talked about each other's office, their role therein and few common friends.
As night dawned and the date changed, there was a new action to catch among the motionless frames of human bodies trying to sleep. As the management student, who had chatted on his phone with his girl-friend since even prior to Lucknow Mail leaving the station at 10 in the night, prepared his bed around 12 only when the signals of his mobile parted company, one of the dentists, after bidding adieu to his friends on board called up his girl-friend at 12 in the night and greeted her with the line "so gayee thee kya" (Had you gone to sleep?) and followed it up with "ab uth ja!" (Now get up!). From then onwards, this guy talked and talked; it went on till 4 in the morning. It was apparent that this was their usual habit. Signals came and went and every time the train moved within the range of signals, he redialed to start conversation yet again. Seeing this, I was reminded of one of friends from college days who bought a costly pair of walkie-talkies from Nepal and gifted one of it to his girl. Every time he wanted to talk to her, he had to drive his car close to the girl's hostel wall, send the 'beep' signal from there and the two - the girl cozy in her hostel bed and my friend in his car - chatted for hours. There were also occasions when I accompanied him on the front side seat, sad fully delighting in their conversation. All that has changed now with the coming of mobiles, and this new generation is giving the mobile companies reason to smile at the cost of their parent's pocket.
Meanwhile, the girl had exchanged her berth with the doctor and opted for the side-upper while my berth was just under her. She along with her new found friend had dinner together while the two chatted, while seated on the upper berth.
I cannot tell exactly what development or conversation took place but by the time the dinner packets were discarded, the two had come dangerously physically close to each other. The girl put her headin the boy’s lap asthe two started a conversation tht wasto go on for next two hours. The man was definitely a good listener as he made the girl open up her chatterbox, non-stop till it was almost morning. Lying barely two feet under them, I could hear all the stories that she had to tell about her husband, how they met and fell in love, about mom-in-law, friends and relatives. If only I had ignored that she was lying in the lap of a person whom she had just become close, she appeared to be a devout wife. In between, the man added a few liners about his own girl-friend.
Desperately wanting to catch some sleep, the ceaseless chatter had become an irritant, as the stories told by the girl were coming to me at high pitch for the last two-and-a-half hours. As I lost patient, I addressed them with these words: "Please talk in a lower voice as I can hear each and every story of yourprivate conversation." To this the girl said “It didn't matter!" and went on.
However, this had a marked impact on the boy who asked the girl to lower down her voice. Moments later, they pulled up the blanket over them, both lying togethr on the one-and-a-half feet berth of the train, unmindfulof the rest o us. For next two hours, the shower of words was less frequent, though the chatter kept pouring down from top intermittently. As I lay, my thoughts wandered to empty berth on the other side. If not for the girl's husband who came to see her off, they could have done with one berth itself.
There's no way her husband was to find it out as he had been left behind in Lucknow. Even if he did get suspicious, there was no way he could muster proofs. And without proofs, he cannot even go to the court. Even ifhe did, the girl would surely be having other weapons up her sleeves. After all, the Domestic Violence Act and Dowry Act have only been strengthened lately.
Then I thought why was it that I was the only person who appeared disturbingly bothered. Rest of the co-passengers woke up and then went to sleep, while the doctor chatted on his phone all through the night. Ten years have made so much of a difference, I thought, and didn't go to sleep. I couldn't!
The purpose of this article is not to impart moral values and neither to compare the difference in attitude that has crept in the social values of a generation that is merely 10 years behind than me (or 10 years ahead, depending on how you look at it) and it doesn't befit to term it 'generation gap'.
If there are three aspiring doctors of Saraswati Dental College in Lucknow, two students of a Management Institute in Noida and two other bank employees who sell accounts and loans in Delhi, other than this writer with pen to carry as sword, you should naturally expect fun and frolic, jokes, lot of laughing and no seriousness. All this carried on till 12 in the night, before all including me retired to bed.
But what happened next alerted my thinking antennas. Before I mention any further, it is suitable now to add a line or two about the two bank employees - one male and the other female. The two were decidedly not married together, as the girl's husband had come to see her off at Lucknow. Though it was evident that all three knew each other and belonged to the same friend circle, the girl and this other guy were not all that familiar as they started conversation hesitantly, that too when the girl's husband had left, and initially talked about each other's office, their role therein and few common friends.
As night dawned and the date changed, there was a new action to catch among the motionless frames of human bodies trying to sleep. As the management student, who had chatted on his phone with his girl-friend since even prior to Lucknow Mail leaving the station at 10 in the night, prepared his bed around 12 only when the signals of his mobile parted company, one of the dentists, after bidding adieu to his friends on board called up his girl-friend at 12 in the night and greeted her with the line "so gayee thee kya" (Had you gone to sleep?) and followed it up with "ab uth ja!" (Now get up!). From then onwards, this guy talked and talked; it went on till 4 in the morning. It was apparent that this was their usual habit. Signals came and went and every time the train moved within the range of signals, he redialed to start conversation yet again. Seeing this, I was reminded of one of friends from college days who bought a costly pair of walkie-talkies from Nepal and gifted one of it to his girl. Every time he wanted to talk to her, he had to drive his car close to the girl's hostel wall, send the 'beep' signal from there and the two - the girl cozy in her hostel bed and my friend in his car - chatted for hours. There were also occasions when I accompanied him on the front side seat, sad fully delighting in their conversation. All that has changed now with the coming of mobiles, and this new generation is giving the mobile companies reason to smile at the cost of their parent's pocket.
Meanwhile, the girl had exchanged her berth with the doctor and opted for the side-upper while my berth was just under her. She along with her new found friend had dinner together while the two chatted, while seated on the upper berth.
I cannot tell exactly what development or conversation took place but by the time the dinner packets were discarded, the two had come dangerously physically close to each other. The girl put her headin the boy’s lap asthe two started a conversation tht wasto go on for next two hours. The man was definitely a good listener as he made the girl open up her chatterbox, non-stop till it was almost morning. Lying barely two feet under them, I could hear all the stories that she had to tell about her husband, how they met and fell in love, about mom-in-law, friends and relatives. If only I had ignored that she was lying in the lap of a person whom she had just become close, she appeared to be a devout wife. In between, the man added a few liners about his own girl-friend.
Desperately wanting to catch some sleep, the ceaseless chatter had become an irritant, as the stories told by the girl were coming to me at high pitch for the last two-and-a-half hours. As I lost patient, I addressed them with these words: "Please talk in a lower voice as I can hear each and every story of yourprivate conversation." To this the girl said “It didn't matter!" and went on.
However, this had a marked impact on the boy who asked the girl to lower down her voice. Moments later, they pulled up the blanket over them, both lying togethr on the one-and-a-half feet berth of the train, unmindfulof the rest o us. For next two hours, the shower of words was less frequent, though the chatter kept pouring down from top intermittently. As I lay, my thoughts wandered to empty berth on the other side. If not for the girl's husband who came to see her off, they could have done with one berth itself.
There's no way her husband was to find it out as he had been left behind in Lucknow. Even if he did get suspicious, there was no way he could muster proofs. And without proofs, he cannot even go to the court. Even ifhe did, the girl would surely be having other weapons up her sleeves. After all, the Domestic Violence Act and Dowry Act have only been strengthened lately.
Then I thought why was it that I was the only person who appeared disturbingly bothered. Rest of the co-passengers woke up and then went to sleep, while the doctor chatted on his phone all through the night. Ten years have made so much of a difference, I thought, and didn't go to sleep. I couldn't!
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