General Travails
Welcome back!
When was the last time you traveled in an unreserved/general compartment? No,I am not talking about the 3 or 4 hours that you spent in a general coach couple of days back.An overnight journey,a long journey,something over 35 hours?
Journeys back home from Warangal were always unplanned.Traveling unplanned and unreserved had its fair share of cool-ness albeit the load of problems it came with.And traveling in groups in general compartment was even “cooler”.No hassle of waiting in queues for reservation(pre-pre IRCTC ), just a couple of minutes spent in taking a general ticket,that’s all.
India of laborers,hawkers,urchins,hijras, and ticket less travelers. Lets not forget the dirt,dust,cockroaches and even rats.
From experience I have mastered the art of making myself comfortable in an unreserved coach,though I don’t travel like this any longer.
Outloo
Ya,you guessed it right.Bang outside the loo is the easiest location one can accommodate oneself in a general compartment.When the whole compartment is jam-packed,this location gives you more space than anywhere else.
Outloo will have cartons,trunks and other forms of luggage competing for a of space with you.Think! It is an opportunity.Improvise and sit on trunks,cartons(make sure the contents are intact!).If you don’t find any of these to place your butt,stand till your legs give way.Then sit on the floor,don’t think too much!If you are one of those, I am a very clean types, use a sheet of newspaper to sit.
When you are comfortably placed here,the most irritating creatures are not cockroaches ,beggars or the sing-for-money kids, but the loosers(loo-users).You will have to give way for people to answer nature’s calls.Soon you will find analyzing the pattern of loo-usage.
How many women,how many women are going in?Why are women going in more than men or otherwise? Thoughts like,”Why is this yellow saree woman going for the third time in an hour” will pass by.You will give a blank stare to the guy who comes out relieved;the stare would mean,”Didn’t you take a leak like 5 mins back?” Can’t help such inquisitiveness.
Other than this,trust me there is nothing better you can do here to ease a harrowing travel experience.
The only interesting twist in this kahaani would be having some army jawaans for company.You can pile on and they will manage to get you place to sit comfortably.
Half/Full Side-ies
If you manage to get close to an occupied side seat,stand close to the person. Ask politely for a half butt placement space.Most requests would be impolitely rejected. Never mind, keep your spirits high.Be aggressive.Persistence will win you a seat, I mean half of it.
If you don’t manage to get a seat,keep an eye on all seats around. You know the mannerisms when someone is going to get down at a station, right?Jump to that seat! Grab it!
The Normal Seat
Very optimistic you are if you feel you would get a seat here the moment to sneak into the coach.
You can find a place in between two people or try invasion from the end of a seat,with part-by-part body placement.
When you manage half a seat, you can try tricks like falling asleep over the seat-mate amongst other stunts to irritate him.
The top berth in general compartments which I guess is originally meant for luggage, is usually occupied entirely by someone who religiously follows the adage of early bird getting the worm. Do not be nice to him. Wake him up.!Ask him to sit and not lie down.
When sitting on the top berth,make sure your feet does not dangle,if they do, the guy sitting down will abuse you.
Be careful when you are having water or peanuts sitting here;an iota of carelessness will leave the guy down in fumes.
Side Luggage Rack
If you are desperate to lie down and belong to the adventurous types, this is your place.The side luggage rack(above the side seats) which can barely accommodate your breadth, is for you.
Push the luggage there to either sides.Get up there and lie down.If you are horizontally challenged ,even a bit, don’t try this stunt!
If nothing works, the floor is always there for you..Take you shamelessness-astra out and sit on the floor;you can reach home and take a Dettol-shower if you want.
Come what may,make sure your luggage is with you/next to you. through out.Use it as pillow,leg rest,seat whatever.Losing it does not leave you with good memories of a travel.
Aren’t you looking forward to a long unrserved journey? Now that you have read this much, please don’t say no. 
Image courtesy :ClicQ
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39 comments
Rats and roaches live in a/c and sleeper compartments too.
Once a rat ran over me in an a/c compartment.
May be you get some ‘cool’ rats there, but there is no difference in the variety of creatures you find in trains.
Unreserved compartment is a whole different turf, you find the ‘baggage man’ or the ‘hankerchief man’ who reserves seats for his friend.
You find the ‘ i wont move an inch’ person who wants the entre plank to sit.
The overnight travel i can remember is years back(when I was around 8 or less) when my family missed a train back from Velankanni to Chennai and we had to take the unreserved coach in another train.
Wow that was an experience, I remember standing in front of the door…. the doors opened and the next thing I know I am on the baggage rack. My dad asked me to act like am sleeping so that no one will ask me to move from the rack and I did manage to do a bit of snoring too…
I am sure that was a dead give away.
I’ve travelled once like this betweek Chennai and Bangalore…
If you can reach the station before the train arrives and manage to grab a seat nothing much bad in these general compartments…
Also ticket fare for general compartment is less than the toll one would pay at the toll gates between Bangalore and Chennai..
Been there, done that
After the first few hours, you stop worrying about sitting on the floor and the Mallu sense of hygiene soon vanishes. Jawans are great to have for company…normally they have bottles with them and they don’t mind sharing with fellow outloos
again..been there..done that
Well very recently too..last thursday when I travelled from hyd to bangalore..
and well to add fuel to fire..the moment I landed in bangalore bombs went off all over..
well the general compartment experience is awesome..
very well put..:-)
Must try travelling with the jawans though..for the bottles
I once travelled from Chennai to Madurai as an Outloo. 8 hours of back breaking, stinking fun. Good post, reminded me of that!
@Xylene
You seem to be more experienced.
@Philip
He he, thats very tue.
Jawaans-did not mention this knowingly
@Layman
Thanks.
@Dinesh
Thanks Dinesh.Good to find more been there done thats
LOL been there done that
once we couldn’t find place in the general compartment and got into the luggage compartment! Now THAT is real fun 
n hey wgl- tvm 35+ hours? kalla! 
aalkaare patticho! 
Nice write up
keep going
I travelled once by general from Palakakd to pune .. 30 hours of sitting near outloo, side rack( i wasnt horizontally challeneged back then ;0) )
Its one unforgettable experience …Met quite a few “interesting ” people too !!!
PS: finally the hartal is over .. (now dont ask me to explain this !!
)
@Tony
Thanks da.
@Deepti
Thanks lady for visiting.
Even I have met many “scandalous” ppl!!
I am growing up to your sense of humor
-Nikhil
i wondered how you’d left out my fave territory.. it was reserved for the end
@manuscrypts
Ohho!Never knew you were a generalist too
@Shrinidhi
Missed to reply to your comment.
That is a 5 hour journey, saar!!
Funny post
But Yeowwww!!! In front of the toilet? Yeowwwww!
I like end-seat invasion, wake-em-up-upper-berthers , even on-the-floor is alright.
By the way you find singers in trains annoying? I kinda like their singing.
Oh shoot!!! These were my nostalgic memories I had kept for those feel good moments of my life…
Sitting on top of the luggae which is sky high, and if your a stuntsperson, you can manage to stay with your neck at 40 degrees and your hair not getting sucked into those rusty fans…and inspite of all this when you get down, you long to get back to the same awkward space, you’d asked the next passenger to hold for you, becos you think he understands….
but this is travelling, not the ac…closed tinted window kind of travels….
I just took my kids, ona second class sleeper journey recently, as a beginning, an dit was a real experience for them
@Ms Cris
During summers,when the coach turns into something like a cauldron,when the Telengana hot air continuously blows onto your face, everything around you in annoying.
@prats35
)
Ohho! Good! So you giving your kids a dose of general coaches? Else who knows there may be a general-ation gap(sad one, nevertheless
Remember the pen-trick to start the fan?
Loved the post bro….
amazing… Used to be the Unreserved traveler for 4 long years in Engg. But particularly one journey was fun, we were going back home for Diwali and we captured a coach locked it as all the people were from our college. We also had a fair share of fun with the freshers that day… General Bogie all to the college mates amazing experience it was.
Enjoyed this post! I traveled once from Mumbai to Vadodara overnight in a general compartment. Man, what smells! Several million of my olfactory cells died a painful death that night.
Never had an overnight train journey.
PS: I liked the first comment on this post… the mention of ‘cool rats’.
The worst experience I had was once when i was travelling tu bac Trivandrum from Mumbai…the lady next to me had packed some chappatis and beef for dinner from mumbai….and believe it or not, she ate the SAME thing next morn, next day fr lunch (it’d started smelling a bit by then!) and for dinner (by then, we all decided that the Outloo smelt better!!)…she didnt give a damn!
Ewwww…i’ll never forget tht! Reserved/ticket’ful’ travellers have their woe stories too!
Nice post. Though with ‘Plan’ as a middle name, I have never had the (dubious) joy of experiencing unreserved travel…
@Prats
Thanks dude! Can completely relate
@naren
Thanks for visiting
He he
@Sreejith Kumar
Thanks for visiting.
U shud do an overnight journey in unreserved.
@scorpia
Thanks for visiting.
Eeeks….
@Rohini
Thanks.
I do not recommend general travel for you.
The last I traveled in a train was 8 years ago..Sigh. So i guess you can fully understand why i am not making THAT trip!
Cheers
preeti
Ps,
Thanks for dropping by.
Okay okay, agreed.
-Nikhil
he he used to do this while doing project – Thrissur – trivandrum overnight journey. But that used to be in ladies compartment.
Also once had to travel in general compartment to b’lore when my waiting list ticket didn’t get confirmed. But luckily I had a seat n didn’t have to look for outloo
Little late to read the posts as BSNL is not so helpful past few days
Wow.. very well written..reminds of my diploma / engg / mba days when taking general compartment is a regular option..thanks to my paltry pocket money
@Dhanya
Outloo is not recommended at all, you didnot miss much.
@Chandoo
Thanks dude!
well, i has been a long time since i went unreserved, but i do train every vacation…what a joy it is to observe the mass of humanity that quietly fits themselves into every bit of available and not available space! the pic shows a relaxed unreserved compartment…wow! is it so good these days?
I have also travelled a lot in the unreserved compartment. But one of the worst trips was from Shimoga to Bangalore. Imagine 28 people in a single compartment and likewise all compartments. Donno how I managed
. Finally got a seat to sit on the top rack among 6 people already present there.
Well I think you know all the tricks in the trade. Very nicely written, makes it interesting to read. We also have travelled from Jammu to Mumbai unreserved once and let me tell it was quiet an experience.
aaaaah all those harrowing (now sweet) memories of my Mangalore->
aaaaah all those harrowing (now sweet) memories of my Mangalore–Trivandrum journies aborad Malabar and Trichur–Trivandrum sufferings on Amrita/ Guruvayoor…
Train journey remains my most favourite means of travel…correction: Indian train journey
LOL!! very well researched write!!having been there myself..:-D
I still remember the general compt trip from goa till trivandrum, the experience really shattered my idea of such a ride..
@maddy
he he, no no. Its one of the picas I managed to get
@Vikas SN
That must have been an experice. Thanks for dropping by.
@manthaklars
Thanks for the comment.
Let me know if you write on that journey
@sco
he he, thanks for the comment!
I wish trains were a bit faster
@mathew
There is no joy after a couple of hours.
that brought back a lot of memories…esp the college days were commute was in the GCs…
By the way, hope you are keeping the quiz flag flying
-
A competitor who u pushed to 4th place in Tata Crucible 2007
Ha..ha..ha. I did this once from Kochi to Pune. Three days sat in the ‘thrishangu’ means on the upper birth.
@Harish
Thanks for visiting. Not much of quizzing dude! Which region were you representing?
@Santosh
Can imagine
rofl..
reminded me of what tony had written in rail-woes… sounds like fun (and no i m not advertising the meanderthal man 
) 
@Srav
Product/Brand placement happening here eh?
lol… lovely read! refreshin…!
Man , that was good info , the next time i go to udupi from mumbai , general it’s gonna be fer me ..it’s 16 hours , let’s see what i encounter …
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