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1. I was happy to see the train already placed and ready for boarding as I entered the platform that
afternoon. I was happier to find my two-tier compartment sparsely populated, a bright-looking
young man sat hunched over his smartphone on the lower berth opposite to mine and the two
upper berths were unoccupied. The two side berths were empty too. I accosted the young man
perfunctorily and sat down on my berth in royal comfort after pushing my handbag under the
berth. Normally, I don't get too talkative with fellow passengers, because most of the times they
disappoint you with their casual time-pass manners and, to make it worse, they always seem to
take advantage of anything at your cost. Therefore, on my train journeys I mostly keep myself
busy with books and phones. Of course, I invariably enjoy the food on board, and in the night, I
enjoy lying down on the berth with the rhythmic movement lulling me into a good slumber. My
gastronomy works much more efficiently too than otherwise.
I felt a little annoyed when the train, supposedly a superfast express, refused to budge an inch at
the appointed departure time. My annoyance grew as the minutes ticked by. There was no
information or announcement, as usual, and on the platform, I couldn't detect any activity that
could possibly delay the departure, it wore a deserted look with all passengers already on board.
Finally, after half an hour, the train made the familiar screeching sound of movement. I felt angry
with that totally unaccounted for delay of thirty minutes that might, in the final count, result in a
late arrival by hours. I wanted to give vent to my anger with a few words addressed to my only
fellow passenger, but he was immersed in surfing on his smartphone and was totally oblivious of
the delay or anything; perhaps he had already developed a thick skin to all those antics of the
Indian Railways. A bit prematurely, I thought wisely. I relaxed now trying to push out the negative
thoughts from my mind, and hoping that the train would definitely make up for the lost time.
After one and half hours of non-stop running the train made a halt at a junction. More
passengers, reserved from that station, started boarding. A short and stocky middle-aged man
with a horse face, a brief moustache and a stubble littering his whole face, his wide forehead
making inroads further up and dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, entered the coach, and occupied the
lower side berth in our compartment. 'This goddamned train is already forty minutes late,' were
his first words, giving me the all-too-familiar warning. He had two suitcases and a bag with him.
Staring with undisguised greed at the empty spaces around us he pushed in the two suitcases
under each of our lower berths although the space under his own berth was empty. I'll refer to
this person as Mr. Negativity or simply N from hence. A tall and lanky student also boarded and
sat opposite to N, his reservation being for the upper side berth. N immediately got into a chat
with the student and embarked upon his observations about the superfast express: that the train
runs late up to 3-4 hours on every journey in both directions, and how he always suffers. To my
growing consternation, he found a ready and attentive audience in the student.
As it was getting dark outside, and as I was getting tired of N's greedy stares and pessimistic
forecasts, I drew the curtains across to put him out of sight, if not his constant negative chatter.
Just before supper time N pulled the curtains apart as if he owned the railways, and entered our
space. He sat down on the opposite berth, took off his shoes shoving the pair under my berth.
Then, I was not at all prepared for what he did next.
He began to undress right in front of me. His t-shirt pulled out, his trousers rolled down and
finally taken off, leaving him in his underpants which were, fortunately, of the traditionally long
variety. Then he pulled one of the suitcases out from under my berth, opened it and took a
perfectly ironed night-dress out with utmost care. He put it on with equal care and love. Then

2. folded his pair of jeans and t-shirt as perfectly as possible and placed those inside the suitcase.
Finally, he locked the suitcase, pushed it back again and left our space without even a glance at
me or at the young man who was smiling at me now. Of course, N left the curtains apart, and I
pulled it across instantly. 'My goodness! What an impeccable specimen!', I thought.
The night passed off peacefully though and I had a sound sleep. Just before breakfast time, a
tall, fair and handsome gentleman, smartly dressed in suit and tie and probably in his fifties, was
passing by us through the aisle; he stopped and retraced his steps examining the numbers of our
compartment, and finally sat down beside me, smiling sweetly at me. I didn't say anything; at
daytime two people sit on the berth, and I assumed the gentleman must have made his sitting
reservation.
Meanwhile, the train was running two-hours late and unfortunately, was prolonging it, instead of
making up. N was in a winning mood; the student too now was expressing his disappointment
loudly. I couldn't help interjecting at times, 'Don't be so pessimistic! The train shall definitely gain
time, there are not too many halts ahead.' N gave me a pitying grin.
By evening the ticket examiner came. We all showed our tickets. Looking at the gentleman's
ticket he muttered his disapproval and the gentleman muttered something back to which the
examiner seemed to agree, although unhappily. The handsome gentleman got off at the next
station giving me that sweet smile again. I realized now that he enjoyed the journey with only an
ordinary ticket, without any reservation, and I had grave doubt about the exact class of his ticket.
The train arrived at the station immediately preceding my destination. I checked the arrival time
and found that the train was bang on right time. Now, it was my turn to be in a winning mood. I
deliberately addressed the student sitting opposite N and told him proudly that this superfast
express always kept some buffer time, and so, the train would finally arrive on right time. N
looked disinterested, looking out of his window, for a change. I started packing my things up as it
would take only an hour now for arrival at my destination.
The train entered the town area, and I moved towards the exit passage with my baggage, not
knowing which side the doors would open to the platform. Suddenly, the train came to a
screeching halt at the traffic junction, waiting for the green lights. And, the halt went on and on
and on. My knees began to pain as I was standing in the passage hoping to get down soon. The
wait extended to nearly two hours, and when finally, it stopped I alighted as a totally disillusioned
man. N got down too, perhaps for a walk on the platform. As he passed me, he gave me a lazy
look, still his triumph was written large over it. Yes, he had a right to be triumphant, the train
would surely arrive at the terminus at least three-hours late. I cursed N or rather the negativity
syndrome, as I strode up the stairs with my bag thrown round my shoulders.
Chinmay Chakravarty is a professional creatively engaged in writing. He has a special liking to
see people happy and smiling always. So he has devoted a sizable chunk of his writing time to
humor pieces based mostly on daily life and observations. He was an officer of Indian
Information Service and superannuated from the post of Director, Press Information Bureau,
Kolkata in November, 2019. Published his first book on Humor 'Laugh and Let Laugh' in 2017.
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