‘Some Dude Just Spat On My Arm,’ Claims UK Traveller As His ‘Awful Indian Train Experience’ Sparks Online Debate, WATCH

A viral video that is quite recent is a major cause of a discussion about the truths behind traveling in India. This debate was initiated by the UK traveler, “The Broke Backpacker,” who posted his “terrible” experience on the Indian train which was packed with passengers. The budget adventure traveler shared a sequence of uncomfortable and confusing interactions, the end of which was a situation where he said “some dude just spun on my arm”.

The video which has been viewed millions of times on various social media channels, shows raw and unfiltered images of the Indian subcontinent’s third-class train travel where hustle and bustle, and sometimes absence of personal space, is the order of the day.

While a significant number of users felt sorry for the traveler, others regarded the experience as an Indian railway life norm that was culturally accepted and pointed out the huge gap in travel expectations between the East and West. The traveler himself said that it was a memorable but difficult part of his trip, though chaos was always there.

Culture Shock and Personal Space

At the center of this viral train story is the intense culture shock that the British tourist went through. The difference in cultures regarding personal space is immediately visible in the video.

The tourist narrates the trip’s very tiring part: to be squeezed in a place that was normally for more than a hundred people, to be in constant contact with other people and the noise made by the entire compartment being super packed. 

It is the same for millions of people who travel to and from work daily in India, where taking the train is not only a means of transport but the whole society in a smaller version.

The well-known incident of being rotated maybe a misunderstanding of Hindi/local language or just a strange, accidental physical contact captures the loss of control and comfort that delicate international travelers have to deal with when they get out of AC or first-class compartments.

Viral Echoes and Travel Narratives

The impressive popularity of this video clearly indicates that the power of travel stories in going viral has a great influence on the global perception. The film became a topic for discussion: Is the tourist acting too dramatically or is his suffering a warning for the future visitors? Indian Railways, a huge and sometimes overworked network, transports more than 8 billion passengers every year so that such situation of overcrowding on many routes cannot be avoided.

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