I left for Coimbatore last night(Feb 21st) on the Cheran Express. I have travelled many a time on said train and my comfort level is quite high.

Yesterday, my sense of security was shattered by the extorting eunuchs(or hijras) in the train.
While I have encountered them often(and paid them each time) when travelling to Bangalore,Goa,Pune, I have never seen them on a Chennai-Coimbatore train.

It is the worst thing for something bad to happen at the last place you would think it could happen. Its not that being forced to pay them money is something new. Its just that whenever I had to pay them, I used to think(and take comfort in that) these things never happened inside Tamil Nadu.

And this time, when I gave them 10 rupees, they said that there are 10 of them and forced me to give 10 more. I suppose I should be grateful that they did not demand 100 rupees or more (what a stupid world).

I cant believe that this kind of extortion has become commonplace. And I think its definitely weird that whenever they come, you cant find a security guard closeby.

Something has got to be done about this.