My Final Tryst With Side Lower

My tryst with the side lower seat of the sleeper bogie of Indian Railways ended very abruptly this winter. When I was young, under the erstwhile quota system of Indian Railways, Tumsar Road, our nearest station had only two seats the side seats of 71 and 72 in 8001 Mumbai-Howrah Mail. As kids, I and my brother could travel easily in those two seats. But as we grew older, the need for more seats arose and we switched to 8033 Ahmedabad-Howrah Express which had a quota of 4 seats. And the relationship with the side seats ended.
The relationship was renewed in 2004 when I got the first chance to travel alone. This time I travelled in 2129 Pune-Howrah Azad Hind Express from Gondia to Howrah. I had the side upper 32. In 2007, I had to give entrances for my MSc and was to travel to Pune and Hyderabad. This time I travelled in a side lower each time from Nagpur to Pune, Pune to Hyderabad and Hyderabad to Nagpur (though I had an upper seat I exchanged it for a side lower). The first two seats were coincidentally S1-23 which later became a seat I always got whenever I travelled from Nagpur to Pune (Only once I got S1-15). And henceforth Side lower became my favourite seat and is the one I always give as my preference during reservation. The seat had the biggest benefit that both the passengers get equal share of the window and the sharing was with only one and not a host of passengers.
But the tragedy is that I never got the chance to sleep in my cherished seat before this winter. I had mostly elderly people, young mothers, aunties, passengers with a waiting list friend in tow who were always unable to sleep on the side upper and I had to exchange. The only time I ever got a chance was last winter while travelling from Pune to Nagpur but it was ruined by a snoring competition going around near my seat and I had to travel the whole night sleepless. Another time I was happy to find a young man as my co-passenger. He also informed me that he was going to see his infant girl. But this so much healthy looking man had arthritis and I had to sleep again upstairs!!!
But with the introduction of the new 81 seats bogie with side middles the side lower has lost its charm. I slept in both the side middle and the new contracted side lower and have finally decided to do away with the seat and go for the regular lower. Let’s hope Lalu doesn’t do anything funny again and I can enjoy my journeys in the trains.
Bye bye!!! Side Lower !!!