God save this country: Tejasvi Surya's wife recounts traumatic train journey

Renowned artist Sivasri Skandaprasad, who’s also the wife of BJP MP Tejasvi Surya, has recounted what she described as a “traumatic” train journey, alleging that a group of around 40 passengers caused major disturbance in her coach.

In a post on X, Sivasri said the group occupied a large portion of the 56-seater coach and conversed loudly throughout the journey without respecting the personal spaces of their fellow travellers.

“I had a traumatic train ride today. It is very sad to see how people do not respect public spaces enough,” she said, adding that people should not shout or talk loudly in public and should respect the personal space of others.

Sivasri said that, as an artist, she had “a 100 thoughts running” and thrived in silence. She acknowledged that an initial excitement of travelling in a large group was understandable, but questioned what happens when dozens of people continue talking loudly for hours.

Around 40 middle-aged adults were travelling in the coach and their conversations continued “non-stop” for five hours. The problem, she said, was that other passengers often felt they could not question such behaviour.

“Problem in India is nobody can question them,” she wrote, describing it as an “unsaid rule” that the other 16 passengers who were not part of the group should simply endure the noise.

Soon after, Sivasri approached the TTE and asked if she could move to another coach. The TTE tried to help but the train was full, leaving her with no option but to remain in the same coach in a different seat.

Later, a group of eight passengers began playing UNO, even as they were already talking and laughing continuously. She again approached the TTE and asked if anything could be done.

The TTE, Sivasri said, asked the group to stop playing and they immediately did so. However, the TTE returned a few minutes later and mockingly asked them, “Yaake sir galaatte maadtaideera (Why are you creating a nuisance)?”

She said the passengers laughed and responded, “Sir, neevu banni, adona (Sir, you also join, let’s play).”

Sivasri underscored that the incident was not really about the card game but about civic sense and how people behave in shared public spaces.

“So, the concern here is not about who won. Myself, along with them, as Indians, lost the civic sense game,” she wrote.

Sivasri questioned when people in the country would improve their public behaviour. She also alleged that the group later deliberately started playing Bollywood songs.

“When will we as a nation improve our public behaviour?” she asked, before concluding her post with, “God save this country.”

Sivasri Skandaprasad’s post has garnered 108.7K views on X. There has been no response from railway authorities to her experience so far. This article will be updated if and when there is a response.- Ends