The dim lights of the overnight train flickered as it rattled along the tracks, somewhere between Mumbai and Delhi. The journey was supposed to be straightforward—a 20-hour ride—but a signal failure had stranded them in the middle of nowhere for hours. The air was thick with frustration, the compartment stuffy and humid despite the late-night chill outside. In the second-class sleeper coach, a motley group of passengers had been thrown together: two sharp-suited businessmen returning from a conference, three rowdy college students on a budget trip, and a couple of burly laborers heading back to their villages after weeks of city work.