All Aboard....Part I

“Local to Trenton, all aboard”, came the announcement.  Weary passengers boarded the train as it stood on Platform 11 at NY Penn Station. When travelling in and around the tri-state area  (New York, New Jersey, Connecticut), you will notice that there is a lot of diversity on the trains.

Train journeys usually consist of reading time for me, unless there is entertaining company on board.

I was on the local, coming from NY City to Princeton. 

Opposite to my seat was a middle aged guy, who was talking loudly on his phone in Hindi. Now as you know, when we pass through the underwater rail tunnel, normally everyone loses phone connectivity. And it didn’t matter if we had 3G, 4G, or Sprint, AT&T or Verizon.

            But in this case… underwater didn’t seem to affect this guy, and he was talking as loudly as possible for the entire car to hear.  Either others were invisible to him or he felt he was soundproof....  

At that point I named him “Loudmouth”. His non-stop chatter continued, and when we got to Newark (2 stations later), Loudmouth’s phone began to ring. I think that was his time of revelation, that there was no one at the other end of the line and he was babbling away to nothing.

Loudmouth gave everyone a hangdog grin and much to the vexation of the other passengers, took the incoming call.

As I looked around, there was a group of 6 who had occupied the seats in front of me. There was Grandpa, Grandma, Dad and 3 teens.

This group from 3 different generations was engaged in frivolous conversation. The teenagers were playing on iPhones or iPads and all had headphones.

Grandpa-(baby boomer) adjusting his glasses: “You whippersnappers need to enjoy the train ride and turn off those thinga-ma-hooeys.”

Kid1: (Nods and grunts)

Kid2: Grandpa, This is an iPad.  You can listen to music, surf the web, and do lots of other stuff.

Grandpa:  Music? Why, in my day, we’d all get together ‘round the radio and—

Grandma: Now, don't get started with your stories dear, we have to get off the train you know.

Kid2: Grandpa, here is the iPad; you can turn pages just like a book (shows swipe on the iPad).  Look, it’s Moby Dick, your favorite!

Grandpa: Why ain’t that the darnest thing… (Reads the page and then licks his finger and swipes the iPad, just like the old timers turned pages in a book)  What in the world? The page ain’t turnin’ son!  Young whippersnappers and them fancy gadgets…

Grandma: Dear,  what’s that?

Grandpa:  Looks like something called facebook.

Grandma: What in the Dickens’ is Facebook?

Grandpa: It’s a picture album, can’t ya see?

Kid3: No, no grandpa, it’s—

Grandma: Pictures? How do them pictures get inside there?

Dad: It’s a long process. (Turns to blackberry and sighs heavily)

Kid3: Its 2 clicks, take a picture and post it to a Wall.

Grandma: Wall?

Kid3: There is chat, you can also Poke or you can use the wall.

Grandpa: Walls don't talk.

Kid3: We share messages on Walls.

Grandpa: You mean graffiti. 

Kid3: No post

Grandpa: You need a mailbox, and a zip to get a post, son.

Kid3: That's email

Grandpa: A memo?

Kid3: What's a memo? We don’t call it memo… It’s a Poke or a Wall message …

While Grandpa and Grandma were busy figuring out the “Wall”, I turned my attention to the other side where, I saw a family of 4, mom-dad and twin boys about 4-5 years old.

They had acquainted themselves with a couple of nurses and the mom was talking to them about the twins. The boys just couldn’t sit themselves on the seats. It was as if the seats and their little bottoms were poles which repelled at the slightest touch.

Soon after, they decided to stand on the seats and wave at the other passengers. Next it was time to play Superheroes. And their magic “weapons”- A 12” plastic boomerang and 20” light sabers.

Until then, there was a hum and buzz at the back with people talking, which suddenly stopped at the sign of the Boomerang & Sabers. I could almost in an instant feel the verbal vacuum, and the general ambiance silenced to thinking, ”If these two are released into action, who will be the 1^st target?”

Now it was mom and dad’s turn to negotiate with the boys on which “weapons” they could have. The tables turned at that point – The boys wanted mom and dad to have the Boomerangs and they would keep the Sabers.

The negotiations continued …..the boys asked for - a Spiderman toy, a baseball, SNICKERS Bar, ice-cream sundae, sundae fudge with cherry on top, Roller-Coaster Car Racing Game, Batman Costume for Halloween, Lunch at Burger King, BK crown, visit to a Dinosaur museum…

Wow…. cute & creative! Cuteness counts, more marks for tenacity and leadership. ..

That got me thinking ….When I start my own company, I need those boys on the board…..Excellent tactic going for the big items all in exchange for the Saber! Or maybe I should carry my own Saber; that may take care of quite a few annoyances.

At that time a mom, a little girl and a bawling baby boarded the car. …. They found a seat right behind Loudmouth. Good thing - The bawling drowned out Loudmouths chatter and he moved to another car, Bad thing – we now had a bawling baby.

“Next Stop Princeton Junction,” came the announcement. Grandpa, Grandma and the twins were getting off too.

Time flies when you have such an interesting company ….  I didn’t even realize that I was on board the train for about 90 minutes…!  As we disembark, I am amused by the twins’ ongoing negotiations …, I bet it continued long after….

This train ride had got me all nostalgic about train travels in Bombay. ..I was reminded of one particular episode of my travel to Churchgate on a Goregaon local... (to be continued in Part II)