This happens everyday on the train between Vashi and VT – school kids, none of them over 12 get on to the ladies first class compartment somewhere near Kurla (or Wadala on the way back) – and one or more of the woman start shouting at them to get off – hey, don’t you know this is ladies? first class? (yeah, right – what are boys of 8 and 10 doing with ladies anyway? and what are they doing traveling in first class? gasp!). I watched for a couple of days (very new to the train business having been out of touch for some years, not wanting to get pushed off or something) and then started protesting. What do you lose if they travel for few stations in this coach? Let them stay.
But they don’t have first class passes, pat comes the answer.
So what? Let them travel. What do you lose? (aapka kya jaata hai).
Then this gem – par aap jaante nahi hain – yeh loge chori karte hain (oh you don’ know – these kids steal) – heard more commonly than I would have believed. School kids in uniform, who can hardly stand straight up, their backs bent under the weight of their bags and books and lunch boxes.
Why? Why are people so petty? I know just how much my pass is subsidized by the poor government – why should school kids be made to pay anything at all to travel to school by the local train? And why is it that anyone who cannot actually afford the pass suspect?
Do college kids count too? 🙂 We used to get a subsidized student pass in those days, and the kind of snide remarks we were subjected to in our four years of college was enough to put us off train traveling forever! Just the kind of remarks you have mentioned here.
I can’t imagine how anyone could be equally hateful towards small school kids! At least we were old enough to give as good as we got, and laugh it off later, but I can’t imagine how the poor kids would feel!