thoreau

This morning's commute was like every other. We all piled on at Palo Alto - got to our seats and about 50% of the riders - go to sleep - or at least lean back and close their eyes. Its often very quiet and monastic on the train on the morning commute. So when a young man suddenly unmuted the Indian Pop Music he was listening to - from zero to several Dbs above the pain level in one jump? It was humorous to watch the entire train react to it like an alarm clock. Several people let out audible reactions - others nearly jumping out of their seat. the poor guy was then frantically trying to shut it down - and the way silence layered back in after he powered down his laptop was amazing. The grumbling gave way to people curling back up into their seats and closing their eyes. He's now listening on his earphones - the cheery drum beat of Indian pop driving whatever work he's got going on his laptop on the way north. Those of us who are awake are eyeing him carefully - to make sure he doesn't blast us with another shockwave of Indian Pop. I find Indian pop music actually pretty entertaining - but in small conservatively volume controlled doses. See