The middle Seat

Travelling by the Double Decker from Chennai to Bangalore has always been a bad experience.  If you get  sandwiched between two other passengers in a middle seat, it can be miserable. And if those two happen to be two fat fellows then the journey can be hell.

I think the Double Decker train is a  badly designed train. In trying to accommodate more people, the passenger comfort has been completely ignored. The seats are narrow, there is hardly any leg space in front and the upper level seats are a challenge to senior citizens and disabled. The narrow steps make it difficult to climb with baggage in hand.  If you get seats in the centre of the coach where passengers  are facing each other then there is no space to  stretch your legs  without kicking the passengers in the opposite seats. If you are lucky to get the aisle seats, you may be able to stretch one leg outside- but there is the danger of the vendors and other unwary passengers  passing by tripping on your stretched  leg .

Once I was trapped in the single seat adjacent to exit doors with two seats on the opposite side occupied by two ladies.  I could not stretch my legs in the front and so  I was sitting with my back to the window stretching my legs outside. I ended up the journey with a strained back.

Getting a middle birth in a sleeper coach- whether it is  A/C coach or otherwise can be equally challenging. Especially for senior citizens and people who are overweight. While travelling  in a train sitting in the  middle berth during day  is not that bad, it can become a problem when it is time to sleep. The middle berth passengers have  to wait till the  upper berth passengers decide to occupy their  berths. Once they move up  you have to pull down the berth, place  the bedspreads in position and face the most challenging part of the journey- getting into the middle berth. Since there is hardly any head space, you either crawl into your berth from the passage side or hop on to the seat with your head down and slowly maneuver yourself into a sleeping position. Getting down from a middle berth in a sleeper coach is equally challenging. And for those with a weak bladder it can be a nightmare in the nights.

Travelling by Air, sandwiched between passengers can also be quite cumbersome. Once I was traveling from Dubai to Chennai by an Emirates flight. I had the misfortune of having a middle seat, sandwiched between two fat ladies whose body parts were overflowing onto my seat. They both also dominated the hand rests, so much so that I could not move either way without brushing them. On top of it one of them was letting out obnoxious gas quietly. I felt totally suffocated. It was one of the worst journeys of my life.

Fortunately, these days if you plan your travel in advance and are booking your seats online you can choose your seats. Unfortunately this facility is still not available on the Railways.

Though the Railways promise that senior citizens will automatically get  lower berths in the main part of the bay,  it usually does not happen. Very often they land up with side upper berths. It is cruel to expect old and infirm people to climb on to this berth without any proper ladder to climb. In my long life I have fallen down, trying to get onto the side upper berth many times; luckily without any collateral damages to my body!