Saturday, September 15, 2012

Revenge of Middle Berth

In Indian trains, Lower Berth is king of time and space. Lording over window & leg room and deciding bedtime. Middle Berth is minion at the mercy of Lower Berth's whim. Middle Berth's back is stiff, boredom is there & Lower Berth is burping continuously. Middle Berth chants,"When will dinner come?" Dinner is game-changer.

"Thambi, my time will come - just you wait-aa."
Morning comes and Lower Berth has woken up all fresh & gone to Indian-style loo. Now fully ready for tea & veg cutlet. But Middle Berth is fast asleep. Actually Middle Berth is awake but not moving. Slyly watching Lower Berth trying to adjust head & neck like so and like so, spilling hot water on crotch, cursing in regional language. Middle Berth is also wanting to go to toilet but this is more fun. Lower Berth is looking up every two minutes, giving pitiful looks and massaging the aching back but no response is there.

Now Middle Berth is king.

http://ephemeralwhims.blogspot.in/2011/05/surviving-india-vol-1.html
 

5 comments:

  1. i disagree! upper birth is king.
    go up and sleep and sleep and sleep till glory come.
    keep chappals on the fan.
    when not sleeping, lie like a king and watch the minions and their show below.
    hot? who said hot? oh, this is 3rd ac.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. true. the upper berth is the seat of the buddha.

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    2. that awkward feeling when...
      you've misspelt berth as birth

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    3. (or that deliberate moment orchestrated by your subconscious, when you misspelt berth as birth to...yeknow...make a point.)
      :D

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    4. As Sigmund Freud once rightly noted, "Typos are the manifestations of an insidious subconscious"
      :D

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