Saturday, May 05, 2007

Fight on a train

Last Wednesday i caught a train home from uni. As always i pick up carriage with less people which might be giving you peaceful moment for your trip. When i sat down for about five minutes. I heard noises at the back. It was from a couple who were arguing over something.

Normally i don't give a damn about this thing. But this fight was full on. It was a lot of shouting, yelling and crying as well. It got pretty annoying when abusive languages were frequently used and i knew that i was not watching Snatch. I was not sure what to do except waiting if things got worse. I looked around to observe what others people reaction to this. Most of them threw their eyes on them but quickly looked away once they looked them back. I supposed people were waiting if the fight started to get violent but thankfully it did not go further than argument.

It was quite awkward situation for me, and presumably for other passengers as well. I didn't want to invade their life by observing the fight. But i could not pretend as if nothing happened, could i? Maybe it was safe to let them fight in order to respect their privacy. Where is the privacy if they are talking very loud? People around them might not know the context but soon would probably learn what they were arguing. I just don't understand why a couple don't feel embarrassed to have a fight in public. Why don't they use mobile phone? Some phone carriers offer free text message to the same carrier. Use this services, won't you?

Anyway I was wondering what should people do if thing's like this happens. Should people come up to them and ask them to sort their problem out without causing disturbance to other people? Surely, that will make things even worse. "Back off mate, it is not your business" is perhaps the likely response that you will get. It could be worse than that. Is it better just wait until the fight finish? What happens if he hits her and one guy jumps in but get beaten up as well? Will some people help this poor lad out? If i jumped in, will others follow me? On what basis did i jump in if there was no physical violence? Or maybe it is better to stay away from the trouble and pretending that nothing happens.

It was pretty lucky that the train got packed gradually as it picked up more people in several stations. The tension remained but no more abusive languages.

Speaking about train, i found this sign in Melbourne Central train station is very interesting. It actually signifies the spot where you can hear information about the train. But my understanding is that the sign tells you the spot where you can find the latest news about Cricket as it has an ear and a cricket bat.


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