Heidelberg Asian Studies Publishing

The Ladies Special, a local train exclusively for women, arrives at the station. Kirti, Priscilla, Chandra and Nazeema rush into the compartment and grab some of the coveted seats. The women belong to the Indian middle class, are commuters and meet their train friends daily in the Ladies Special. They spend the one-and-a-half hour trip telling stories, singing, doing handicrafts, preparing food and shopping. The ethnographic work shows the context in which train friendships develop and what significance this form of friendship has for the women in the Ladies Special. It describes the activities and topics of conversation of the "train friends", examines the basic values of this relationship and discusses them against the background of the current state of research in the field of "friendship" in ethnology and neighbouring disciplines.