A Fantasy called 'Lower Berth'

I don't know how many of us are able to observe or remember this but a 'Lower Berth' in any of the coaches of trains run by Indian Railways is a fantasy of every traveller. During my initial years of growing up, I used to idolise my Chachaji (who has been with Indian Railways ever since I can remember) not for his position, designation or profile but ONLY for the fact that he was working with Railways. I still have very fond memories of travelling with my mom & dad to Gwalior (my grand-parents' place) during summer vacations. I can remember how my Dad used to feel specially proud if we had 1 or 2 Lower Berths among our reserved berths. How all other Uncles & Aunties on facing berths used to envy us... and I remember how my Chachji used to say "I get only the lower berths reserved... if I don't get lower berths, I keep on preponing/ postponing the ticket till I get Lower berths"... and I used to feel like growing up immediately and joining Indian Railways... to get lower berths at will!!... I thought it was only our family who was so very fond of lower berths... but... as time passed by and I started booking railway tickets for myself or others, I realised that a Lower Berth commanded a lot of respect even among other (read almost all) travellers... I remember how the Booking Clerk at the Railway reservation window used to oblige... चलो एक लोअर बर्थ दे देता हूँ ... even Railways itself considers lower berth exclusive... the official railway-reservation website has options like "Book the ticket only if 1 or all the berths are lower berths"... the person who is not ticking this option some way carries a guilty feeling that he is going against the law of the nature???... travelling all these years, I find there is no decline in the affinity towards the lower berth... people will come up with all sorts of excuses to grab a lower berth... some of the interesting ones that I have come across are -I get down at every station or I like to have tea/ coffee at every station even during night... somebody said let me have the lower berth coz मेरा स्टेशन बहुत सुबह सुबह आएगा and when I reasoned that my station is same as yours... he justified ...कोई बात नहीं मैं आपको उठा दूँगा ???... another interesting excuse thrown in recently was - मुझे नीचे सोने दीजिये मेरी लम्बाई बहुत ज़्यादा है ... when I argued that length of both the berths is same whether its an upper berth or a lower berth (in II AC), I got a better 'shot' - "If I sleep on the upper berth, my hanging legs will hit everybody passing thru the gangway!"... I finally had to get convinced... another of strange excuses was from an old bureaucrat. The brevity of the reason left me speechless... बेटा मैं रिटायर्ड IAS हूँ... क्या मैं नीचे सो जाऊं .... (I am still figuring out the relation between the two!!)... a very common and interesting one is मुझे रात में बार-बार सु सु के लीये जाना पड़ता है... देख लो फिर आप को ही बार बार डिस्टर्ब होगा (अरे भैय्या ...पर आपकी सु सु से मुझे डिस्टर्ब क्यों??) ... these things yet again remind me how privileged my Chachaji was - how he used to 'donate' one of his lower berths to other 'under-privileged' travellers -by exchanging a lower berth reserved in the name of his 5-6 years old son with an upper berth of a 55-60 years old aunty - who in turn used to look at him blessingly ... the way beggars look at you, being obliged, on traffic signals in return for that 1 or 2 rupees coin... they some how control the rush of sentences like भगवान आपका भला करे ... आपके बाल बच्चे सलामत रहे etc... With a lower berth in your possession you feel and look exceptionally confident... remember ONLY a person having a lower berth can give a corner to sit to some short distance travellers who don't have a reservation... this genuinely feels like a king.. as if आप अपनी रियासत में से ज़मीन का एक छोटा सा टुकडा एक गरीब-मजलूम को बसने के लिये दे रहे हैं... I have always considered this as one of the supreme powers that one can have in this material world... sometimes I seriously fear that the world (of travellers) will finally get divided between the Haves and Have-nots i.e.; those who have a Lower Berth and those who don't have any ... I firmly believe that this 'Lower Berth' will continue to fascinate one and all as long as there are trains and people are travelling by them!