The seed for the following blog is a recent argument with my girlfriend. The story begins when she asked me to buy her a train ticket form Delhi to Ludhiana. The date of journey was pretty close, as a result of which, the 'best' train for this trip - The Amritsar Shatabdi, was already booked. Since the trip could not be postponed, I went for, what I thought at that time to be the second best option, the famous 'Garib Rath'.
The Garib Rath is a relatively ordinary train. Though it boasts of only AC compartments and above, but as the name suggests, it an inexpensive train which travels through the hinterlands of Bihar before reaching reaching Delhi and then finally travels from Delhi to Amritsar.
My argument began when my GF expressed an immediate dislike to the train branding it as a low-class train compared to the 'so-called' high-class Shatabdi. I flatly disagreed with her. My point of contention was not the fact that it offered transport to poorer people, but the fact that she segregated people so casually on the basis of the train they travel in. I have always believed that the 'class' distinction is a myth. People are generally good. I have personally found train journeys to be a breeding ground for rich discussions which partially owe they genesis to the varied 'classes' of people involved.
But alas, as is frequently the case, she offered an argument which was beyond my logical skills to defeat. During her brief journey, she was hit upon by two guys! One of them was relatively cultured and offered conversational pieces to engage the attention of the subject. The other was more uncouth, said less but stared much more. Now, is she right in assuming that Shatabdi would have had a better set of people? I would have to say yes. Is she right in assuming that a cheaper ticket usually reflects a baser level of mentality in people? I would still have to say yes.
What is an even more obvious fact is that women in this country need to spend more for travel not for the sake of comfort but for the sake of feeling safe while traveling. A guy would choose an AC coach over a sleeper because he wants to travel more comfortably. But I would imagine, that the kind of people he will come across is lower down in his priority list for choosing between the two options. But its not the same for women, especially single women. This is unfortunate!
2 comments:
Guess you could say the same every time your GF took an auto instead of a bus...but then money has always meant security everywhere. Such is the nature of the world we live in...
interesting post but then you must note that being in the A/c compartment would surely mean that you would be more prone to thefts/attacks etc.. so showing the money might prove to be harmful too
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