Some time back in a journey to Munger, I was witness to an amusing spectacle. I was waiting at Kolkata station platform # 10 to catch an overnight train at 21.45 hours, which was delayed. There was this queue of passengers standing in platform # 11 for getting into the general compartment (unreserved), which in itself was something I had seen in a railway station for the first time. There is always a mad rush to get into this compartment and in my youth I have done this too.

Suddenly the queue broke and reformed at platform #11… The platform had changed for that train… Again the queue broke and went back to platform #10. This had happened two times and it was amazing to see people shift back and forth. The amusing part was the laughter in which the people kept moving and even though the queue was broken and forming, broken and forming, the people did not maneuver or move up in the queue to gain a better position…they all just laterally shifted…Kept their positions…

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