It took me a while to gather courage for boarding a shuttle (local train) in Delhi when some work demanded that I go to Faridabad from Delhi every day. By car and by Delhi Metro it was a painful long journey of more than 3 hours and in the melee, it didn’t even seem worth it because the entire travel duration (To+Fro) via car on the very first day lasted no less than 5 hours and 15 minutes plus, all thanks to traffic.

But then I chanced upon the local train that caters to people of National Capital Region and connects Delhi to Faridabad in just 20 minutes! This was no less than a blessing yet, apprehensions regarding the safety, cleanliness and timeliness again came to haunt my thoughts. As my thoughts were getting paranoid by the minute, I was in for a major surprise! The train fare was just Rs. 10 and then another surprise soon followed when the train (wait for this one) came on time! To be honest in my subsequent travels the maximum delay that I ever encountered lasted for no more than 10-15 minutes and that was mostly on account of suicides or attempted suicides that the made the trains go off the schedule.

Now comes the second part, once one boards a train, what matters the most? Comfy seats or warm co-travelers? Or both? Well on my part I was willing to stand in the smoldering heat all because the travelers were nice. In fact, for a moment it seemed that almost all sections of Indian society were represented in that small and packed shuttle. A Punjabi farmer, a student from Assam, some bunch of women singing songs of Garhwal in the honor of Lord Ram, porters from Bihar, shopkeepers from Ghaziabad, businessmen from almost parts and other several thousand people take the railroad to shorten their commute time. There is also an exclusive ‘Ladies’ compartment but I alternated between it and the general compartment so as to feel the difference between the attitudes of the people who travel in them. What I noticed in the woman compartment was that it had a steady number of men too; yet, they never bothered to occupy any seats and were quick to get up if they found any woman entering the coach. The lazy or the unwilling ones were harshly rebuked by men and women passengers alike but the women never bothered any senior male citizen and were quick to offer their seats if any of the old men were unable to find one by themselves. To be fair to men, Ladies compartment is not that overflowing with humanity in ‘non-peak’ hours.

But the situation was like a battlefield in the general compartment overflowing with people of all ages and genders. There was virtually no space for anyone to stand and a jostle to keep one erect was no short of a miracle in itself! Another thing that caught my attention was that the uneducated and labor class people did not even try to occupy any seats at all and preferred to stand. Ram from Balia, Uttar Pradesh, whom I spoke and who was kind enough to give me a small place to stand on, gave a very logical answer, he said, the ones who occupy seats are the ones that get sandwiched the most, so it makes more sense to stand for 30 minutes than sit with heaps of luggage, children and men around. ‘Also, the sweat sometimes runs down your shirt, better to stand!’ His 12 year old son, Shipu, however, likes to sit and also likes to participate in talks and gossips that go around in the compartment. A chirpy boy, he plans to start a tea stall and does not like his father’s part-time farming profession. When asked why he would want to start a tea stall? He was a bit reticent to answer and instead hid behind his father, to this Ram said that he wants to be ‘Bharat’s (India’s) Prime Minister.’

Also, while most men, understandably tired due to carnivorous heat, at times ignored standing women passengers, yet there were several who would fight and deride ‘educated men’ for ignoring the ‘ladiej and auntiez’ and sometimes would successfully make a reluctant man to give into their demands and offer their seats to a very much embarrassed ‘ladiej.’ Needless to say, post their little victory their enthusiasm was worth seeing!

While passengers that take shuttle for to and fro for work or studies are the ones that are in the majority, yet there are also others who have made even this journey a profitable business! So you have beggars, who would slither around in the compartment without shirts (mostly in woman compartment, they do not rebuke as severely as men!) and would come and wipe your shoes or simply scratch the floor or sing songs to attract a few coins. Mostly, they make close to Rs 50 in 20 minutes (roughly a dollar) and the money is spent on food, clothes and medicines.

The ladies compartment is also a great place for business. Here it is easy to spot women selling candies, earrings, and packets of rice chips, needles, threads and whatnot! These ‘entrepreneurial’ women make more and are a regular in these trains. Regular passengers share food with them and buy stuff without ever bothering about anything. The trust, the faith, the kindness and the chirpiness in the humble train indeed is enough to open eyes of the city dwellers to a resilient and sturdy India that is looking for bigger challenges ahead. The awesome journey that I undertook for 10 days made me see an India that I had never seen.

(Rights of all pictures rest with Namta Gupta but free to use after adequate crediting)