Train woes
I had planned not to rant about it -- but two days in a row is one 'two' much!
Yesterday, somehow by some sheer unprecedented luck, I managed to get a place to rest my butt in a really crowded local train. Even so, I was far from being comfortably seated in the stuffy and hot compartment, what with the less fortunate crowd of standees constantly falling on each other and on those seated.
And a woman elbowed her way to where I was seated and thrust her five-year-old son at me and said, 'Isko zara god mein bitha do' (Will you seat him on your lap?).
So, I replied with a curt "Nai."
And the reaction my negative response evoked has to be seen to be believed. Her maternal instincts awoke like a disturbed tigress and she gave me a dirty look and said, 'He's just a kid." To which, I gave my oft-used response, "He's your kid. When You get a place to sit, he can sit on Your lap."
Now my point is, she asked me for a favour and I refused. When you ask someone for a favour, there are always two possibilities. Either that person will say yes or no. And that person has an equal right to agree or refuse.
I believe I had the fundamental right to refuse to allow her son to sit on my lap. Besides I am not a public bench in a park on which someone can dump their kid for about 40 minutes.
Now for incident No: 2. It being Sunday, the crowd on the train was entirely different from the experienced office-going crowd I usually encounter on weekdays. This crowd has no idea about the fine technique of boarding a train, nor does it know the correct manner of standing or sitting in the train.
Another thing I hate about Sundays is the fact that the train is always over-crowded, regardless of whether it is peak hour or not.
So having missed three trains, I gave up and managed to board a jam-packed train. And much to my delight, after a lot of jostling, I managed to find a comfortable place to stand by the door. A couple of stations later, a fat Gujju woman boarded the train, along with her daughter, who in turn had a kickig and screaming infant in her arms.
"Let her stand in your place -- she has a child in her arms," said the woman to me.
That essentially meant jumping out of the train, cos there was absolutely no room for movement. So I said, "Where do you want me to move? I can't move. The train is so overcrowded."
And she said, "Exactly. That's why I asked you to move."
Now, how can I fight that logic.
Well, that's it! I want this magnet on me that attracts these mothers to me turned off pronto!!! Are you listening?
Yesterday, somehow by some sheer unprecedented luck, I managed to get a place to rest my butt in a really crowded local train. Even so, I was far from being comfortably seated in the stuffy and hot compartment, what with the less fortunate crowd of standees constantly falling on each other and on those seated.
And a woman elbowed her way to where I was seated and thrust her five-year-old son at me and said, 'Isko zara god mein bitha do' (Will you seat him on your lap?).
So, I replied with a curt "Nai."
And the reaction my negative response evoked has to be seen to be believed. Her maternal instincts awoke like a disturbed tigress and she gave me a dirty look and said, 'He's just a kid." To which, I gave my oft-used response, "He's your kid. When You get a place to sit, he can sit on Your lap."
Now my point is, she asked me for a favour and I refused. When you ask someone for a favour, there are always two possibilities. Either that person will say yes or no. And that person has an equal right to agree or refuse.
I believe I had the fundamental right to refuse to allow her son to sit on my lap. Besides I am not a public bench in a park on which someone can dump their kid for about 40 minutes.
Now for incident No: 2. It being Sunday, the crowd on the train was entirely different from the experienced office-going crowd I usually encounter on weekdays. This crowd has no idea about the fine technique of boarding a train, nor does it know the correct manner of standing or sitting in the train.
Another thing I hate about Sundays is the fact that the train is always over-crowded, regardless of whether it is peak hour or not.
So having missed three trains, I gave up and managed to board a jam-packed train. And much to my delight, after a lot of jostling, I managed to find a comfortable place to stand by the door. A couple of stations later, a fat Gujju woman boarded the train, along with her daughter, who in turn had a kickig and screaming infant in her arms.
"Let her stand in your place -- she has a child in her arms," said the woman to me.
That essentially meant jumping out of the train, cos there was absolutely no room for movement. So I said, "Where do you want me to move? I can't move. The train is so overcrowded."
And she said, "Exactly. That's why I asked you to move."
Now, how can I fight that logic.
Well, that's it! I want this magnet on me that attracts these mothers to me turned off pronto!!! Are you listening?