British Travel Vlogger Shares Disturbing Train Experience in India
A popular United Kingdom-based travel content creator known as Backpacker Ben has recently shared what he described as an awful experience during his journey on Indian Railways. The vlogger took to Instagram to document a series of uncomfortable incidents that occurred during his train travel, sparking widespread discussion among social media users.
The Uncomfortable Encounter with Fellow Passengers
In his viral Instagram video, Ben detailed how a male passenger seated in front of him repeatedly placed his feet on Ben's seat despite multiple polite requests to stop this behavior. This guy next to me keeps putting his foot on my chair, Ben explained in the video. I have asked him a couple of times politely, Please don't do that, and he smiles, and two minutes later he puts his foot back on my chair.
The situation took a more disturbing turn when another passenger allegedly spat on Ben's arm while passing by his seat. The vlogger described the incident with visible distress: Some person spat on my arm when he went past. He was chewing his cucumber thing, and he looked at me and said something. It went all on my arm, a big gob of it.
Social Media Reactions and Divided Opinions
Ben's post titled Awful train experience in India quickly garnered significant attention on social media platforms, with reactions sharply divided among Instagram users. Several commenters accused the British vlogger of deliberately portraying India in negative light and suggested he should have chosen higher-class accommodations.
One user commented: Bro if you upgrade to 2nd or 1st class that will cost you like 5$ more, while another added: Why not just spend like $5-10 and you can have your own nice space Haha just decided to go the cheap option for content so u could complain.
However, other social media users came to Ben's defense, criticizing those who blamed the victim rather than addressing the core issues of passenger behavior. A third user responded: Its funny that people blame the creator instead fixing the problem, its not about cheap or expensive. Cheapest train in Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Japan isnt like this. Its lowkey they normalize this behaviour and consider it as part of culture i guess.
The incident has sparked broader conversations about passenger etiquette and hygiene standards on Indian trains, with many acknowledging the need for improvement while others defended the country's railway system as generally safe and comfortable for both domestic and international travelers.
