Tips on Life in General (Class): Living below your means

India basically has five classes for trains: A1, A2, A3, Sleeper and General. Only occasionally have I used General class. And one of those times was two days ago.

My friend and I being General.

Years ago, most of my train trips were in Sleeper class; no air conditioning (AC), but at least you can lay down, most of the time. More recently, I have been using A3 (3-tier AC) class; comforts of AC and laying down... in a narrow space.

General class is like the train rides on the movie "Gandhi." You get a ticket but there are no reserved seats, so you may not get a chance even to sit--let alone lay--down. One time in General, I sat in the luggage rack, about the size of an airplane's overhead bin. I was so tired, and it was the only place to recline.

This time I was with some friends, experts on General class. Here's what I learned:

1. If you are at least two people, have one go on the usually long ticket line, while the other checks the train to see how crowded it is. If there are seats, then call on mobiles to give the go ahead for tickets.
2. Generally, General class train cars are on either end of the train. So if one is full, the other may not be.
3. In General class bench seats take 4 people, but you can easily fit five; six if you look mean enough.
4. For a safer, more comfortable ride, don't take General. Buy a different class ticket way, way in advance.

General class is not for the faint of heart, so why do I take it? In fact, why do I many times end up taking the route that is difficult and way below my means?

I was asking myself this while scrunched in General class, and then hours later at midnight, meandering around Allahabad, looking for a place to eat, finding a hole in the wall restaurant--more like a hole, within a hole, within--yet another--hole.

Other than the questionable food and water, the thing that struck me were the workers at the restaurant. One in particular washed dishes under the steps in a space so cramped that he crouched to a squat. He wasn't exactly a dwarf, just a very small man, so he fit into the spot easily--out of the way and out of sight, mostly. But I noticed him.

A man.

And the thought that came to mind was, "I don't think anyone should work that way... ever." I know it's a job, a source of income, but it is not a way to live.

I think that's why for so long I've tried to live life in General class as much as I could handle. I want to see and experience what is going on there, among the majority; the "general." Life under the stairs.

But why would I feel compelled to experience such a thing?

Is it out of guilt? Out of some masochistic pleasure from the pain? Out of a thirst for adventure, something new, something "other"?

I think if I'm honest with myself, what I find in the place that attracts me most are people--untitled and unpretentious. Sure some are rude and even conniving. I've met many like that. But life in General means that many artificial barriers are missing, you rub shoulders, and everyone is in the raw.

Maybe it was a sense of guilt or adventure that drew me there, but now I have friends there who don't hesitate to get me a General class ticket and who will eat with me in the hole in a hole in a hole.

That's the thing. I've been around the world, and people always ask me which place is the best. I realize now that it's not so much about "where" but "who." Because the best place for me is where there are friends.

And for me, that's how life is... in General.