India cheap travel but big mistake

In India during the hippies in the 60s era the trains operated a class system, this could create problems for the backpacker who wanted to travel and meet people

It was possible to travel first class, second class, or third class, and the word on the (hippy) trail was, it was preferable to travel second class.

Vintage India train ticket

The trail was like that; backpackers would advise other backpackers about travel conditions along the trail - the best routes, the best cheap hotels, the best (and cheapest, naturally) modes of transportation, etc.
What made train travel in India interesting was, no-one mentioned traveling first class - it was assumed that no-one would want to travel first class. This was probably because it didn’t constitute ‘cheap travel.’
Perhaps surprisingly, cheap travel wasn’t just about money, it was also a code of behavior, a doctrine. Backpackers - especially hippy backpackers - didn’t travel first class. First class was for ‘them,’ ‘the others,’ as in the cult movie ‘The others.’
So I traveled second and third class but never first class. To do so would break the code of behaviour, offend the doctrine.
Sometimes, while waiting for a train, a train would go past and I would look at the people in the first class cars. They mostly seemed to be businessmen but there were also quite a few army officers, in uniform.
They looked pretty startled when they saw me, and I looked at them curiously. This was the Indian middle class, ruling class, officer class, whatever.
Naturally, we couldn’t socialise, there could be no meeting of two cultures, there could be no exchange of ideas. Naturally, I would never be aware of the attitude of the Indian middle class, ruling class, officer class, whatever, to the rest of the world.
This was entirely because they were traveling first class, and I was determined not to travel first class.