What to do? - IV

CONTINUED FROM III

 By now the place is littered and a handicapped person sweeps the floor and looks for alms. This is a common sight in long distance trains. Again the evening turns buzzy and someone from a nearer bay appears and seeks to know who are allotted the 2 lower berths requesting for exchanges on the plea of “staying together as a family” or inability to climb up due to age factor with the sane advice “let your luggage be here we will look after”. Some oblige and some refuse on the ground of their being more sick or old and counter advice that you should have taken care of things while booking the tickets. The person murmurs “our uncle suggested we can adjust while traveling”. The non-yielder asks “where is the uncle?” and the reply comes ‘he is not traveling’. Dissatisfied of having lost an occasion for a quarrel the non-yielder tells ‘uncles and aunts have nothing else except untenable advice’. The seeker of berth is disturbed and asks “why do you drag our aunt here?” The non-yielder issues a dynamic warning “unless you move off now I do not know what will happen”. With no one coming to his rescue, the failed mission drives the man off to his place.

The non-yielder advices his fellow travelers not to oblige any one and narrates how he lost his baggage on the way to Tirupathi for having obliged a fellow earlier. One person who is in no position to oblige [his is the upper berth] tells that if we oblige now, some one would help us later. Taking it as an oblique reference to him the non-yielder shouts in a loud voice, if you are keen you oblige, but do not suggest morals. This shout silences every one for the next half an hour or so. Mr. MEENACHI wriggles to life and opens his eyes in search of water can and gulps a litre of water in one go. As he gets up, he realizes that his dhothi has unfastened itself and he quickly tightens it taut around, dividing the belly into two hemispheres. Though unwieldy, he is absolutely innocuous. By now it is time for food and so silence too. As night progresses, local conversations relating to job positions and mutual exchange of addresses, phone numbers happen. People retire at the berths allotted. Mr. Meenachi eats very little and retires on the floor leaving his berth vacant, silently displaying a respectability of character with just no utterance whatsoever. To continue