Your berth or mine?

A few weeks back I was travelling from Banglore to Chennai to meet a few friends.The train started after 11.30 in the night.Maybe everyone had gone beyond their getting-into-bed times.I noticed that all my fellow passengers including me, were not in a hurry to call it a day.Three young ladies were chattering away and nibbling at chocolates.Two young men were chattering away about(no prizes for guessing) technical jargons.Well.. you can't miss software proffessionals anywhere you go.Being in the field myself I did not stop myself from trying to decipher where and on what and for how many years they had been working.Without much strain I got to know that they were both about 2 years experienced and that they worked in respectable firms.

Dousing my curiosities, I happily settled down with my music player and a book I had won over from Letha after a squabble.In about an hour everyone was ready to settle into,for the night.Mine was an upper berth.As I prepared to climb up,one of the men asked me whether he could swap his berth with mine. Since his was a middle berth I did not have a problem.I agreed.

I heard the other man asking his friend."Hey why do you want the upper?".And my friend was like "Oh I dont want anyone to disturb me yaar.It is so much peaceful up there.The middle berth will have people either staring at you or dashing against your feet as they pass by.I choked on the water I was drinking out of a bottle.Pretending not to hear I struggled to tie up my hair while settling into the middle berth."You are right there, and yeah....verrry little head space too".The other guy offerred,seeing me struggle to keep my head high.I would not attempt any yogic posture other than a Shavasana in the middle of the night ,I wanted to assure him.Suppressing my irritation I smiled brightly at him and said."You should not have enlightened him in front of me".They grinned and went on their way to the upper berths.

The train was scheduled to reach Chennai at 4.30 am.I woke about 15 minutes early and went ahead freshening myself up.When I returned the guys were just waking up.Stiffling a huge yawn my friend was saying."Arrey yaaarrr the mosquitoes ate me alive.The fan wind was not coming onto me"."Yeah exactly!Even I was awake almost all the night.I had just slept when my alarm went off!".The other guy was saying.Both of them had not noticed me come in.They looked down at the same instant while I looked up at them innocently.

"The next time am asked to write an essay about the advantages and disadvantages of using the upper berth I will not get stuck".I said suppressing a much awaited giggle.As we grinned sheepishly at each other,I added hurriedly."Hey no hard feelings.Bubbyee".With that I dashed out into the already buzzling Chennai Central station.

Hard feelings or not they were just two other faces in the crowd.