Pyaar hua takraar hua
It had to do with a sound track.
A Metro compartment virtually transformed into a karaoke lounge.
Blame it, or credit it, on a trio of geriatric gentry who decided to dish out their singing skills for fellow commuters.
The three spirited, silver-haired senior citizens took the Metro's Yellow Line commuters by surprise when they pulled out a karaoke mic, much in the manner of jugglers tossing tricks out of their hats.
The spiritedness of their amateur performance quite rivalled that of an 'Indian Idol' or 'India's Got Talent' audition.
Flowing forth from rather rusty, but gusto-loaded geriatric vocal cords was a classic Bollywood melody. High on nostalgia quotient, hot on cool quotient. 'Pyar hua ikrar hua' from Nargis-Raj Kapoor starrer 'Shree 420'.
The performance won not only accolades but also the hearts of high-on-stress humanity, huddled upon handlebars ferrying them to life in the fast lane.
It ushered a whiff of fresh air into the sweaty, stifling atmosphere of public transport riding a million crushed and rushed breaths.
The episode threw Twitterverse into a tizzy. For better and for verse.
It soon sparked a debate about public travel etiquette and observance of Metro rules.
Metro rules do not allow for playing of music publicly on board. Such acts can invite penalty.
The incident zooms the spotlight on related trends called 'headphone dodging' and 'bare beating'.
Here's a look at some tribes of headphone dodgers that you may have encountered on your Metro or Shatabdi trips.
Reel rousers
You'll recognise this tribe the moment you embark upon a Shatabdi or Metro ride.
Barely has the train chugged, or charged, out of station and you've settled into your seat, hoping to catch a few winks before the catering staff waddle up to thrust the meal tray under your nose in repose, your plans of a quick 'jhapki' are unceremoniously thwarted by disturbance dished out by another party.
Heck! Assaulting your senses, particularly your eardrums, are drumbeats or deafening sounds emanating from the phone of your fellow passenger.
Blame it on the Reel of a Diljit Dosanjh or Kapil Sharma show being played full blast by your neighbour. Minus headphones.
Out of the window goes your contemplated siesta. You've been roused by a Reel addict.
On a closer look, you may discern defining traits of this tribe.
Tweeple from this tribe possess a peculiar propensity of being blind to a piercing or pointed gaze of disapproval emanating from the eyebrows of fellow passengers. This tribe also subscribes to the philosophy that headphones are for ornamental purposes. To stay secretly tucked away, like the S 400 missiles. This tribe truly believes headphones are not meant to be deployed, save in a war-like situation with a travel neighbour.
Speaker syndrome
This tribe is another stumbling block in any plans for a peaceful journey.
The moment the train takes off, this tribe of Tweeple too take off. On an endless phone conversation to be conducted with their device speakers on.
This means that they pour their non-stop prattle into unwilling, neighbourly earlobes. Much like a loaded pressure cooker blowing off whistles one after the other.
The babble may be of varied kinds, depending on the gender. From domestic inanities about saas-bahu or bai intrigues to IPL predictions. From pontifications on the political climate to prophesies about Pakistani war machinations.
This blatant 'bare beating' leaves you in a catch-22 situation. Any discreet attempts to drive home delicacies of social etiquette into a fellow passenger may invite dirty looks or language, or may be further drowned in the bare beater's babble darting to decibels more deafening than before. Alternatively, you may choose to plug in your own headphones at full volume, only to realise it spells double trouble. The deafening sounds from your own phone assaulting your eardrums plus being beleaguered by the bare beater's bombasticism.
Multi-tasking mavericks
This is a tribe of headphone dodgers who multi-task between varied types of bare beating.
One minute they are playing out a video on YouTube minus headphones. The next moment they switch to loudly prattling on the phone in speaker mode. Then, they go back again to 'Reel' life. They bear an uncanny resemblance to a cricketer on the offensive, switching from batting to fielding.
All this while, the poor headphone lies limp and lamenting, awaiting the life for which it was born.
The curious case of not being able to make head(phone) or tale of it.
chetnakeer@yahoo.com
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