Anecdotes from Train Journies: Please adjust

One has to adjust in life. And if one lives in a country like mine, one has to adjust a lot.
I got to know about the date of joining for my internship about a month before the date. That was too late for me to get any ticket in the General Quota. The only feasible option for me then was to book a ticket in the Tatkal Quota. I had to adjust.
Now, for the unawares, booking under Tatkal Quota begins five days before the date of journey at 8 am. The two ways to book a train ticket are through the internet or at the ticket counter at railways stations. The unavailability of internet connection during morning in our college ruled out the former and the ongoing end semester exams ruled out the latter. So, I had to ask one of my cousins to book a ticket for me through the internet. But, the site would develop problems immediately after 8 am and show some arbitrary errors. By the time it worked, all the tickets under the quota were over. I realised that there is a nexus between people at Railways and the agents who get tickets for you by charging some extra amount. The next day I had to get a ticket through a friend who knew someone at the Railways. I had to adjust.
I got a ticket in the Sleeper Class for the twenty-six hour long journey and that too during summers. But, that was better than nothing. I had to somehow reach there. I had to adjust.
Now, Sleeper coaches don't have a mobile charger point at the compartment. Some coaches do have one in each coach near the door. Mine had, but it did not work. My mobile was almost out of battery and I needed to charge it. So, I had to go and see if the charging point in the other coach worked, I went from S10 to S9 only to find that the condition here was even worse. There, someone had removed the whole socket and there were just three wires dangling out of a whole in the wall. I kept traveling from coach to coach and finally found a charging point that worked in S3.But somebody was charging his phone over there and there were two others in the queue. He told me that the charging point in S1 also works and I could go there. When I reached S1, there was just one person charging his phone. Thankfully, there was no queue. He told me that he would need just fifteen minutes more. After coming so far, I obviously did not mind waiting. But soon, the train came to a halt at a small station. He said he would be back in five minutes and if I could watch over his phone till then. I agreed. But, five minutes are never five minutes. In no time, the small area between the two doors and the toilets was packed by around ten-twelve men and women, mostly villagers. They sat down all around me on the floor and created the most densely populated area possible by humans. For the next fifteen minutes which seemed like an eternity, I was just standing at the door in the heat waiting for him to return. I had to adjust.
The train budged and he came, unplugged his phone, thanked me and went. Now, standing in what seemed like a pool of people I was only hoping to get out of that place as soon as possible. The sights, the smells and the sounds were very discomforting. If that wasn't enough, soon, a quarrel broke out between a woman sitting on the first side berth of the compartment and a ticketless traveler trying to occupy the small vacant space on her berth. Another person said something and the woman started shouting. A lot more people joined in and profanities were exchanged. For me, the quarrel had crossed the line of entertainment and entered into a domain of fright. Despite wanting to get out of that mess, I could not. I had to adjust.
Now, on the way back from Pune, I had fortunately managed to get a ticket in 3AC. We were a couple of hours away from Chennai. Mine was the side upper seat, which I had got by exchanging my original seat with a family who had asked me if I could adjust. As soon as the person who was occupying the seat below mine got down, I came down from the upper seat to sit by the window. I was reading a magazine when someone came and asked, "Can I sit here aaa?". My legs were folded and therefore half of the seat was still empty. I half mumbled something like, "But that would make me uncomfortable". But, he couldn't hear it. He repeated, "Should I come aaa?". I wanted to tell him that because of ticketless travellers like them, we have to pay more, but I nodded. I had to adjust.
Then, he called his wife and their small kid from somewhere and made them sit there. The kid was so cute that all my anger melted away. He kept playing with my bag for the next hour or so.