Handbook to a seat anywhere

The first time I get into a local train at CST in Bombay (back then) I just look around at the fierce competition that takes place for a few seconds before all the seats are taken. The first time I walk into a Metro train at Tollygunge Metro station in Calcutta (back then), the same thing occurs. The sounds too nearly are the same. Or call it yells and thuds. Then, one day, at Howrah station before catching a local train to Andul, a small town in the Kharagpur line, I received a seat management lesson from a stalwart who was accompanying me that day. First is, the vision. You have to be crystal clear in your mind that you can achieve a seat. Then you have to see yourself at that particular seat in your mind. No other. That particular. It could be the left side first coupe middle seat to the right of the window. Or the window seat to the left of the window. Picture it. Clearly. Vividly. Accordingly place yourself on the platform for the shortest run to that seat. Don't imagine yourself pushing or pulling. No talking. Arguing or yelling. Cold focus on the seat. Loosen your muscles to make yourself as lean as possible. You have to move swiftly. Then train arrives. Empty. As it's the first station. Everyone waits for the doors to open or the doors to be there in front when the train stops. Stand your ground. Don't be pushed back by thronging crowds. Moral and mental strength should transfer to physical strength. Then, you get the opportunity. The doors open or the train door stops in front of you. Jump in. Run or walk with long strides. Don't look at people. Look at the seat with single minded devotion. That seat is yours. Don't vacillate between seats at the last second. You are not a millionaire. You don't have the luxury to plump for many seats. Just one. Only the one that you have already sat in, in your mind, back at the platform. Boom, it's your seat. Don't shift. Don't look around. It's your seat. Sit with your bag in hand first. Allow the whole compartment to calm down before you put your luggage in the overhead rack. Be safe and then do whatever else that you wish to do. You can smile and even do a thumbs up signal to your accomplice after the success. I took in the stalwart's words that day and never looked back in life. For it was not just about the train. And of course, the same rules apply to football and life too. It applies to even a holy dip in the Kumbh Mela. And to a burning pyre at the banks of Ganges in Varanasi.