Vidur being Vidur in a train full of people

I had planned a fun long weekend at Bangalore. There were two reasons why i opted for Shathabdi Express:

1. My cousin advised me that chair car travel may be better than a sleeper berth. She advised this because she had traveled with me last time in the night train. She had witnessed Vidur howl his heart away.
2. I was really not sure which to opt for. Also, I was eager to start my holiday faster by reaching there the same day.
   

I boarded Shathabi at 5:00 pm. As I settled into my seat, I scanned around. There were two old men seated at the window and middle seat. The old man in the middle was reading a very serious looking book on religion and God. He did not look up till Vidur kicked him in his excitement. The old man looked very seriously at his thigh, repositioned himself (probably in the hope of increasing the distance between my son and himself), and got back to his book. This was when I realized that this journey was not going to be a pleasant one. I gave Vidur some milk. I could imagine the old man seated next to me look at me through the corner of his eye. He must have wondered how I was going to mix the milk with a hyper child on my lap. However, I managed to do this task efficiently (I was praying through out!). I enjoyed the few minutes of not having to control Vidur as he was busy slurping. As soon as the milk was over, Vidur decided he must be let down. I managed to keep him on my lap till the train started. Once off my lap, Vidur scanned the environment. He was happy to see that there were so many people.

He ran up to a big, bearded man with a skull cap. He was fascinated by his beard and he reached out to give it a tug. Luckily, the man moved away anticipating Vidur's intention. Vidur decided to walk all the way down the aisle. On the way, he stopped to talk to people, tap them on their arms to draw their attention. There were two people seated along the aisle, working on their laptops. One of them was very sweet to Vidur and he encouraged him to bang on his laptop. The other was not sure how to get Vidur to stop doing what he was doing. He was probably thinking to himself, 'Where's the mother? Shouldn't she be teaching her son some manners?' Vidur continued walking up and down, enjoying himself thoroughly.

I boarded the train looking like an optimistic mother with an angel for a child. Thirty minutes later, I was looking hassled with a naughty little prankster for a child. Most people responded beautifully to Vidur. But, I couldn't allow him to trouble people over and over again. People had other things to do like eat and sleep in peace. The final straw was when the server serving hot tea and coffee said 'Please take your child out of the way. Coffee is hot.' What he said made sense, but what was I supposed to do? Vidur refused to sit in one place. He had gotten the taste of freedom and was not about to let go so easily.

To top it all, Vidur was very sleepy. I had hoped he would sleep once the train started. But, Vidur had other plans. Sleepy Vidur was not able to walk straight and was swaying dangerously on his feet. I did not have much of a choice. I spent most of the journey from here standing outside the AC compartment near the toilet (I would have used the term restroom, but that really does not qualify for our trains). Vidur was very upset. I had taken his freedom away and separated him from all those people! He tried to get down. When this didn't work, he tried howling his protest. I desperately tried to make him sleep. Several really nice people stopped to talk to me about the kid and what I do. All I kept thinking is, 'I am trying to make him sleep. Can't you see?' But I am really grateful, else my journey would have been absolutely boring. I also got advised that should try the night train next time. I should let Vidur tire himself out during the day so that he sleeps peacefully in the train.

Finally, 90 minutes before the end of the journey, Vidur gave in. I could finally go sit in my seat. I was so exhausted that I fell asleep too. By this time the other children in the train were up and were playing. Their noise and the general excitement of people when a train is approaches its destination woke Vidur up half an hour before the actual arrival. The children were happy to see Vidur was up. Vidur was desperately trying to rub sleep off his eyes. He gave up and closed his eyes again. A kid right then screamed hello into his ear. Startled Vidur was finally up and I was so bugged with that kid. Vidur decided that it was time t get off the train now. He insisted that I stand and lept pointing toward the door. The train finally stopped and Harish (my cousin) and Deepa (my sister) finally relieved me of Vidur and my luggage.

I am not going to travel anywhere for some time. I need time to recharge my batteries...