Bengaluru: Carnatic singer Sivasri Skandaprasad Thursday turned the spotlight on “respecting every individual’s personal space in public places” by recounting a traumatic train ride where a group of fellow passengers engaged in high-decibel conversation for five hours, seemingly unmindful of the disturbance they were causing.“It is very sad to see how people do not respect public spaces enough,” wrote Sivasri, wife of Bangalore South MP Tejasvi Surya, on X. Referring to the group of 40 middle-aged adults who spoke loudly in the 56-seater coach, she stated: “As artists, we have 100 thoughts running. And we thrive in silence. Everyone can understand the initial excitement when travelling in a big group in a train. The problem in India is nobody can question them. It is an unsaid rule that the other 16 of us who are not part of the group should simply endure them.”Despite requesting the travelling ticket examiner’s assistance, Sivasri pointed out that no satisfactory response was provided: “I requested the TTE if I could get another seat in a different coach. He tried but since the train was full, I had to simply stay in the same coach but a different seat.” She added that a group of eight passengers engaged in loud chatter and non-stop giggling started playing UNO. After the TTE requested the group to stop, she said they immediately did so. However, she alleged that a couple of minutes later, the TTE came back to converse with the group.“(He) mockingly asked them: ‘Why are you creating nuisance?’ And they had a good laugh with him and said, ‘Sir you also join, let’s play.’ So the concern here is not about who won. Myself, along with them, as Indians, lost the civic sense game. When will we, as a nation, improve our public behaviour?” Sivasri asked.Replying to her post, several users found the incident relatable to them. “I do frequent train travel. Have endured other big families with kids creating a ruckus. On top of it, mindlessly dirtying the place with food items and plastic waste. We, as a nation, need urgent education right from kindergarten. Need stringent enforcement of law,” user @RaghavanRamji said.Another user @vrkiyyer commented: “In train journey especially, civil sense is so worse. Nothing else pukes me out other than a group of people in a public transport playing Antakshari. Needless to say it’s so sickening.”South Western Railway (SWR) is yet to formally inquire into the matter; officials did not comment till the time of publishing.
