Everybody is a peeping tom.

Whenever I travel I always want to sit by the window. I have been doing it since I took admission in Allahabad University in year 1962. I will travel by bus from my home town to district to take train for Allahabad. Today also I am doing it. If courtesy computer I do not get window seat in train then I curse the technology. Throughout the travel I will look outside the window with temporary interruptions to show ticket to TTE or to eat breakfast or lunch or dinner or any other thing. When I was a child I used to do it with unusual interest. Now I do it but with disinterest and to avoid the verbal contact with fellow passenger.

I never knew that people sitting in the bus or train or car and looking out are called peeping toms. Sulochana’s blog suggested this. Going by her definition, everybody is a peeping tom.

I used to call a colleague of mine, the peeping tom. Today I find that I am also a peeping tom. This colleague of mine has a peculiar habit. He will go to other rooms in the office and peep inside from a small glass window. His preference were those rooms where both male and female officers were sitting. When anybody in the room will look towards the door he will run away. Over the period he was promoted to become number three in the organization but could not stop himself from peeping. Whenever he finds himself in the corridor he will start peeping.

Answers.com gives interesting definitions of peeping – 1) To peek furtively; steal a quick glance. 2) To peep through a small aperture or from behind something. 3) To appear as though emerging from a hiding place: the moon peeping through the clouds.

Do you see that looking out of the bus is not covered in these definitions. So is it peeping or not? But in any case, stealing a quick glance makes everybody a peeping tom.