There's a peculiar thing that happens in overnight train journeys. The first few hours are spent stuffing yourself with food, coffee, playing stupid games, etc. And the remaining time is spent in the Herculean effort of avoiding the train toilet. Indian Railways seem to have overlooked the fact that WATER is an essential component of the excretory business. And the constant shaking of the train doesn't help matters much either. All of these things (and more) were experienced by us, the I.T. students from SPIT on the ITSA I.V. 2012.

We assembled and Bandra Terminus on 4th January, jackets, pullovers, shawls in tow for the long, cold night ahead. Cameras were compared, night plans discussed, things forgotten at home lamented over and promptly forgotten. And as any sane, well-mannered bunch of students are expected to do, we said hello to our teachers accompanying us and rushed to seat ourselves in the compartment farthest from them. We shoved over bags under the berths, probably killing a rat or two in the process, and then sat down, about 23 people in the space meant for 6. And as soon as the train crossed Mumbai's borders, about half a dozen people instantly developed colds, sore throats and upset stomachs. Crocins were distributed like free food.

By evening, after endless hours of ragging the couples, the sick people, people wrapped in a laundry basket worth of blankets and shawls etc, we began the ordeal of trying to put off using the toilet, while stuffing ourselves with the homemade food quite a lot of people had brought with them. The tea and coffee vendors on the train had to elbow and push through our compartment every time they crossed it. They probably spat in our coffees soon after.

Charades is an eternal favourite at the I.V. Adding to that, a bunch of unsupervised young brats and you got yourself a party. Charades is to talkative