In between stations

I have been travelling alone since time immemorial and during many of my train journeys I have met many curious passengers. I have come across many curious uncles and aunties, curious men in their late twenties to fifties who try to gel despite my cold response.

I have learnt to maintain distance with strangers and at the same time not get restless during long journeys, I always carry novels which are atleast as thick as the best available encyclopedia, which I use as a means of self defense as soon as I sense that people are getting ready to start their 'let's know' session. I try to give an impression that I am lost in the world of magical web created by the words. While reading, I do manage keep a tab on the happenings taking place around me.

I wonder why people are so curious to know about strangers and especially if it is a single woman, people just cannot control their urge to "inquire". Most of the times I have succeeded in discouraging people to start a conversation by using simple defense mechanisms like giving cold stares and holding onto ‘my encyclopedias’. However, every now and then, I have come across curious passengers who believe in ‘never say die’ motto.

I remember one such incidence, when I was the only woman travelling with seven male co-passengers out of which six were in their mid-forties, shady-looking men, travelling as a group. On day one of train journey, they tried their best to start a conversation, but with my state-of-art devices I defeated them. 

On day two, they started encouraging the male co-passenger who was not part of their group and was seating beside me to start a conversation. So I realized that I need to device an ingenious method this time to ward off the evil. Thanks to advances in technology and the network connections which follow wherever you go, I dialed a friend’s number and started a conversation which was not very loud, but loud enough to be heard by the guy sitting beside me. My friend on the other side asked, “How are your co-passengers?” To which I replied,“People can be so shameless, even after you give them all indications that you are not interested in having a conversation, they still keep trying.” To my luck the guy seating next to me, who by now was almost ready to invade my private space, had some social sense and upon hearing my conversation he was somewhat embarrassed and decided to retrace his steps. Thank God!

Well I had a couple of good experiences also with uncle and aunties, who were nice enough to start a conversation not out of curiosity, but because it's a long journey and sharing travel stories helps one forget about the time during long journeys.