It was a Friday night and I was at the railway station to go back home for the weekend. The train was at 10 minutes past midnight (12:10 AM Saturday).

The train came and most of the people in there were asleep. I quietly tried to find way to my seat which doubles as a bed that I can sleep on. However there were a group of young guys getting in to the same compartment who didn’t wanted to be quiet. From their loud conversation I understood that all of them were newly employed in some IT company. They came in, switched on the lights, started singing/talking/yelling annoying everyone else.

In India, like many other countries we have traveling ticket examiners (TTEs) in the train. They are responsible for checking the passenger tickets, issuing fines etc. However in India they sometimes assume the role of law enforcement . Nobody in a sane state of mind would want to mess with a TTE on a train.

So a TTE walked in to our compartment hearing the noise. He was an elderly gentleman but was visibly angry by the chaos that these assholes were creating. He told them to be quiet and show him their tickets. They all had tickets booked online as three or four different groups. I don’t know whether these guys were intoxicated or not but while handing over the tickets they made some nasty comments at the TTE regarding his age, looks etc. The TTE sure heard them but he continued checking their tickets without answering them and that is when karma struck.

These smart asses had booked tickets for the Friday train!!. That has gone early in the morning on Friday. For traveling in this train they should have booked ticket for Saturday. Remember the train is at 10 past midnight. TTE announced that their tickets were invalid and explained why. It took them some time to understand but once it was made clear, those howling wolves turned into sheep in a second. In normal cases TTEs would collect a fine and try to accommodate such passengers in vacant seats. But in this case, he told them to get down at the next station and figure out other ways to get home. The thought of being in an unknown place in the middle of the night horrified them and they all started apologizing. “Old man” turned “Sir” , “you are not police” turned “ only you can help us”.

But the TTE didn’t change his decision and they were off boarded at the next station. Rest of us slept very well for the remaining part of the journey.