India, March 31 -- Sir,

This is with reference to Dr. R. Balasubramaniam's article "The Democracy of the Indian Railways" in SOM dated Mar. 11.

The article aptly highlights an unmistakable facet of India - that of the norm of 'adjusting' a.k.a 'swalpa adjust maadi' in our sometimes endearing and often difficult-to-refuse vernacular request. The writer rightly states, 'we share a country the way we share those compartments.'

In a large and diverse country like India, we knew we could not, and we cannot, always find ourselves conveniently placed in our own mental and physical 'First class, AC or General' compartments. We knew the value of accepting one another.

Despite our disparate lives with deep social divides and different cultures,...