It's the economy, stupid. Nothing to do with dope or a wrongly wired brain.

While travelling in trains week-after-week is boring, one also comes across so many varied people/incidents - some funny, some sad and some really a pain. The last category is when
you have a few cranky kids as co-passengers, coupled with parents who just let them loose without worrying about the inconvenience it causes others. I hate irresponsible parents and
just hope I am not termed one by others.

I am not sure how to categorise this incident that happened 2 weeks ago on a fine Saturday morning. I am on the train to Kerala when I am woken up by a commotion around 4AM.
It seems like 2 guys are having an argument. But why would you argue at 4AM and disturb
the rest of the passengers who are sleeping ?

I think it will die down, but the commotion persists. I can now see one of the parties in the argument - an average built man around in his late fourties. I tell him that he is disturbing others and should shut up. He comes near me and says something that I can't make much
sense of - something on the lines of the other party being at fault and stuff. Anyway, since
he doesn't seem to be making any sense, I decide it is futile to argue with him. He continues pacing up and down the compartment, talking gibberish.

And to my horror, he is cooly smoking inside the compartment. Much before the "No smoking
in public places" law came into effect on the 2nd of October 2008, smoking in trains was a punishable offence. And with atleast 3 railway cops patrolling every train, I am surprised how
he can smoke so freely. Maybe the cops stop their patrolling after midnight and doze off .

And it is then it dawns on me that there is no 2nd party to the argument. He is actually talking
to himself loudly. Some passengers snigger that he must be high on marijuana (rolled in the cigarette). Others suggest that he sounds mentally challenged.

Anyway, he continues his tirade at imagined enemies. Then he suddenly plays a movie song loudly on one of his cellphones (he had atleast 3 phones on him), which naturally makes his
co-passengers protest. Instead of switching off the phone, he just flings it down, breaking it. Reason he gave for that was that he does not know how to switch off the song.

Around 7AM, the train reaches Cochin station and the guy detrains there. It is only after he
is gone that someone notices that he left one of his cellphones in the train itself. A passenger
who boarded the train with him at Chennai wonders why he detrained atCochin when he had
a ticket till Chengannur (2 hours away) & which was where he said his final destination was.

Since he does not seem to be in a good state of mind, the co-passengers are worried about his family who might be awaiting him at Chengannur station. They look up the address book in
the phone and identify his home phone number and call up his folks to tell them about the
phone he left behind and also about our man detraining at Cochin itself.

It seems the guy already called them from Cochin and asked them to come to Cochin to pick
him up and already somebody was on his way to Cochin to get the guy. One of his sons agrees
to come to Chengannur station to collect the phone, which he does.

When I reach home, I am recounting this incident to my people. I am still not sure if it was
the marijuana playing tricks or whether there was something wrong with the guy. My wife
and parents debate as to what could be the reason for his abnormal behaviour. Ofcourse, a conclusion evades us. And that is when the following conversation happens, which was both hilarious and thought-provoking.

Wife : OK, what did his profession seem to be ?
Me : Don't know for sure, but he mentioned some army cantonment and stuff. So I guess he is in the Army.

Dad : I know for sure what his profession was.
Me : What is his profession ? And how did you deduce that from the little I told you ?

Dad : It is elementary. He must be a software professional who got laid off due to the current slowdown, resulting in the mental state he is in. :-)

While I don't know what to say, my wife and Mom burst into laughter.

I know that he was kidding, but for the past few weeks, the media has been reporting daily
about lay-offs here, slowdown there, organisations asking employees to take sabattical or
just plainly saying not to come to work etc. So maybe there is something in even what was
said in jest.