The Namesake Post A # 4

Gogol is still attending Yale, and he meets a girl named Ruth. I am not discussing the differences in relationships, but rather the transportation differences between India (which would make what I just wrote above this seem irrelevant). Gogol meeting Ruth, and the transportation differences between India and Boston, however, have much to do with each other. You see, Gogol meets Ruth on a train in the New Haven Union Station. In New Haven, Connecticut, most people ride the train or drive a car to get around. I'm guessing that some people bike too, but not the majority of people. In India, most people get around by rickshaw, or S.U.V. A rickshaw is a small, open car that makes a lot of noise. Besides the size, probably the biggest difference between trains and rickshaws is that a rickshaw does not taxi more than one party at a time. If Gogol had been in India, he would probably not have met her, because of this. The way he met Ruth was by sitting next to her in the train, because it was the only open seat. Trains are much more close and intimate than a rickshaw, and I guess there is more of a possibility to meet a lover on a train than on a loud rickshaw.