‘Happens only in India’: Railway passenger turns upper berth into makeshift laundry rack, internet reacts
Shared on Reddit’s r/IndianCivicFails community, the picture shows garments neatly hung on the utility rack attached to the berth. The caption read: “Only in Indian Railways.”
Train journeys in India often come with their share of surprises, from scenic landscapes outside the window to unexpected sights inside the coach. One such moment has now gone viral after a photo showed an upper berth being used not for passengers or luggage, but as a makeshift clothes-drying rack.
Shared on Reddit’s r/IndianCivicFails community, the picture shows garments neatly hung on the utility rack attached to the berth. The caption read: “Only in Indian Railways.” The user, who was travelling on the Bangalore-Jaipur Superfast Express, joked that while they couldn’t manage to book an AC seat, they were treated to a “free laundry service.”
The photo sparked plenty of reactions online. Some social media users joked that the upper berth in trains is used for “everything except sitting or sleeping,” while others criticised the lack of basic civic sense displayed by the passenger.
A user wrote, “It happens only in India.”
“A lot of people even in Abroad have civic sense issues but this is something which only happens in India,” another user wrote.
“Tell him that you don’t want to see his underwear on your side,” the third user wrote.
Earlier, a LinkedIn post went viral for all the right reasons, reminding Indians that change, especially when it comes to women’s safety, may be happening more quietly and steadily than we think.
In her post, Jain, who was travelling alone on a late-night train from Mumbai to Surat, shared a small but powerful experience that left her feeling deeply reassured about the direction India is moving in.
Around 11 pm, two women police officers entered her compartment, looked around, and asked, “Seat 38 – Purvi?”
Momentarily confused, Jain confirmed her identity. What followed was unexpected.
“They stopped, checked whether I was comfortable, and asked if I needed any help. Then they gave me a helpline number to call if I ever feel unsafe,” she wrote in her post, which has now clocked thousands of likes and shares across platforms.
The officers, she later learned, were checking in on her because she was a solo female traveller — a small but significant safety initiative by Indian Railways and RPF (Railway Protection Force) to ensure women feel protected, especially on overnight trains.