Riding the rails

We had a humbling experience riding the rails in the second class unreserved car. We have ridden in the sleeper class with a reserved seat in the past which is quite comfortable, however this was just as insane as we had suspected it would be. We were to make an eight hour trip down to Kochi, and since we failed to plan in advance, the only tickets left were unreserved. As the train pulled in, we joined the mob that began pushing their way to the narrow doorway. As a woman, I actually got some preferential treatment, which meant less pushing as shoving. The car actually wasn't too packed, so we tossed our packs on the luggage rack and climbed onto another luggage rack ourselves (following suit from other passengers). We sat facing four fellows that seemed comfortably seated on the second tier, however our bodies don't have the flexibility to cram into such small spaces. A few stops down the way, several passengers climbed off and I erroneously started to think that we might have a comfortable overnight ride afterall. The next major town, a huge crowd poured in and my hopes of increased real estate vanished. A fourth guy joined our bench much to our chagrin. With three of us in a row, we could shift our positions and find some degree of comfort. With four, we were packed like sardines and it was impossible to find a comfortable position...and WE actually had seats! People were crammed in the aisle, sitting on laps, holding themselves up as they fought sleep and the rhythm of the train. For us it was more of a novelty to experience what it was like to ride in an unreserved car, but for millions of people this is the transportation that they use daily. It was quite a humbling experience and made me appreciate many of the long, bumpy bus rides--which is a luxury by comparison.