“Make it fast. I need to reach the station by 11:00 PM”

“Be patient, Sir” replied the auto driver.

I reached the station at 10:55 PM, as usual was not surprised to see that the train was late.

The scene at Indian railway stations is always something beyond explanation, so many activities and people together, simply the permutation and combination of activities would account numerous stories however that day I was away from what I usually do “Watch people” as I didn’t had a proper reservation. Not to mention people flocked at the notice board reminding me of Cattle class of which I too was a part.

Finally the train arrived at 12:00 PM, just one hour late.

The chaos on the platform reminded as if this the last train to Mathura. People in hordes running around with their luggage, some of them simultaneously talking on cell phones while few waiting for the next train. For a second I thought how technology has made a difference in our life making it indispensable today, just a decade ago life was still the same without technology but still there weren’t any problems. Today even beggars can’t imagine their business without cell phones.

“S-6 is not here, look to the other side of the train” said one of co passenger.

 For few minutes I acted like a vagabond without any whereabouts as reservation was still not confirmed and I was desperately looking for TTE completely exhausted in a non-plus state. Suddenly my eyes struck at a person well dressed who looked quite calm contrary to the crowd.

“Sir, could you tell me where is TTE?”

 “Why? What happened? “He replied.

“Sir, my reservation is still not confirmed and I can’t even find the charts.”

“Son, charts are on the other side of the platform,” he replied.

“Waiting 156” wow that’s some news there is little change in the status it has moved 2 places in past 24 hours, I thought.

It gave me an inkling of imminent terrible time, and the way crowd was reacting I was sure that chances of getting reservation are quite slim.

So, I decided to take a place in general compartment, one of my first encounters for a long journey.

The coach in general compartment further exacerbated my pain when I saw it was stuffed with people. Though one would rarely find General Compartment empty these days, courtesy our burgeoning Indian population, today any number of trains would still be inadequate to our needs. I had to struggle initially to get to the door too, somehow managed to get inside after little scuffle, though was not surprised too see the toilet door which was blocked by a cycle not to mention the countless number’s of luggage near at the gate.

“Bhai sahib, please shift, I need to sit”, I said.

 “No place” person wearing a dhoti and off-white vest replied.

“Move I need to sit” I replied arrogantly.

 “There is no place” said one of them.

“What no place, people here are sleeping”

I got the place to sit, but had to share the seat of four with six people.

The scheduled departure was at 11:30 and it was 12.30 am by now, so I came out of the train to inquire ensuring that I already I have a place to sit, curiously asked one person at the gate, “Why train is getting late?”

The person seemed to be of middle aged replied enthusiastically “Its Indian Railways anything can happen, may be driver is feeling sleepy or he doesn’t feel like driving the train today,”

“Oh,” I replied nonchalantly. Sometimes people are always in mood to have fun, may be he was too stupid to answer this question. Still his reply made me smile; it’s nice to have such moments of humor in such torturing condition, may be I am acting like a cynic now.

Then I saw a TTE near the A.C coach, “Sir, do you have a place for Agra” and I showed him the ticket,

“This is WL for sleeper not for A.C, go and look in the sleeper coaches, there are three of them,” he replied.

His words were a little respite to me, and I went inside the sleeper coaches. The TTE there told me he had no vacancy and asked me to meet in Kanpur,

That was some pleasant news as Kanpur is just an hour and half journey.

So I was back in general coach, sharing the seats with five people.

Observing people is one of my favorite past time, at every place there is something different you would find, mostly amusing. So till Kanpur I decided to regale myself by just watching people.

The people in my coach were peculiar in their own kind, there was an old man with a small boy wearing black goggles, it seemed had undergone some kind of operation.

Not to mention an unrepentant soul Laxman Singh who was always smiling throughout the journey making you feel ridiculous. Moment you look at him he will smile as if wants to say something.

At the opposite side there was a person who seemed a little decent because his only concern was to find himself a place enough to sit properly. Lastly I can never forget this couple with three small kids aging one, two and three years possibly.

In a train where every one had the same motive reach their destination, each of them with their own way of handling things, some like Laxman Singh enjoying their journey and others like me who could do nothing but complain like a petulant child, perhaps only thing I could do at that time.

The boy with old man couldn’t resist himself from leaning on his grandfather, the same was being passed on me.

 “Please, don’t lean, its vey hot,” I said

“Beta, I am not well and feeling cold.” he replied.

Feeling cold that too in summer season, you should stay home instead, I thought. Then old man took out a woolen shawl from his bag and rolled himself in it. Woolen shawl in hot, humid and stuffed general compartment of train which is still waiting for a green signal that too in the month of April.

 The kid’s name was Niraj who was dead asleep creating problem to the old man but then we are not nocturnal species and the time was meant for sleeping only.

 “Beta Niraj, just stretch your leg and put it on me”, needless to say I had to share a part of it.

Idea of watching people turned out to be terrible; I should have tried to look for some other place instead, I was sandwiched between the old man and the lady, old man’s shawl did the rest lying quietly on my lap.

One of the small Kids named Amaan in lady’s lap was constantly looking at me, as if harping on me “Wow enjoying the place”

I closed my eyes, suddenly my alter-ego inside me asked

“Whose face you saw in the morning,” He asked.

“I think VLSI design lecturer Sarpat” I said.

“Ha ha , the journey has just begin my friend, this is going to be a memorable journey,” again the voice came.

Sarpat sir was our VLSI teacher one of the mentors would never forget, not because of his inimitable teaching style but his attitude. His primitive notes which seem to be few decades old possibly he might have made them in his engineering days, now tormenting us with same old notes where technologies have progressed by leaps and bounds. He intimidated us with his non-stop sessions and irrelevant assignments,however the journey is still better than his sessions.

Finally the train started, a huge relief, but our dismay it stopped at the outer after few minutes. After an hour of grueling sessions with these people I decided to relinquish and asked the oldie

“Baba, please give me little space, I can’t even breathe” well, not because there was inadequate supply of oxygen but because bad breath of various people inside created an aura of anxiety.

Helplessly I looked at laxman Singh who was smoking a bidi smiled at me.

“So nice of you, you seem like enjoying the place” I murmured.

Again Laxman Singh smiled and threw puff of smoke towards me and said “it seems you are feeling sleepy”.

 “Yeah, cannot think of anything else” I replied.

 I overheard few people talking, they told that some mishap has taken place near Kanpur and a goods train has derailed. This time I looked at laxman Singh again and said “God help us”.

“Its fine, at least we have place to sit,” he replied.

He was right, first time his words seemed sense to me.

Just when things started settling old man got up and opened his bag took out a big sheet of plastic, after placing it on the floor he asked me to move my legs to the other side. Other side, there was no other side; I could barely manage place for my legs between two bags.

Then this old man softly asked “laxman, which station is this”

 “I don’t know, it’s very dark” he replied with the whiff of smile, I smiled back at him realizing that he is old man’s accomplice. For a moment it seemed all of them together have made a pledge to throw me out of the train.

The train there stood for almost two hours and then crawled for ten minutes.

 By this time, the lady sitting beside me could manage to find a place on the floor with her kids, her place was occupied by her so called brother.

 “Aapa, are you comfortable” he asked his sister.

 “No, I don’t know why Imaan is getting restless, see he can’t sleep” she replied.

 In the middle of their conversation I took a nap of few minutes then again realized that woman’s husband too was sharing the seat with us.

Again I looked at laxman Singh, this time he was little serious, I smirked and said “What happened.” 

“I don’t have any bidi’s left,” that was some pleasant news for me at least.

“Oh, so sad” I replied in a sympathetic tone.

Our train gave pass to many trains on the way, well, I could not decipher the reason, may be because I was traveling in it?

 The whole night in that general coach was further tormented when train stood at the outer of Kanpur central for almost an hour.

 Thankfully it reached Kanpur at 8:30 am. I didn’t knew how to react?, journey of 1 hour was covered in almost 8 hours and first time I had spent the whole night in a General compartment.

 I changed the compartment and went into S-1 which was almost empty. Most of the passengers didn’t have the patience even to travel in sleeper coach. The sleeper coach was heaven for me after the whole night of gruesome tolerance. After having two pouches of flavored milk and a packet of biscuit I was back in S-1.

The gentry in that coach were decent, however still the hangover of the gruesome last night was kind of haunting me.

I looked in the mirror “Oh, what a terrible time it was? Hope it is over now?”

God knows, came the reply from inside. Suddenly my eyes struck at the lines written on my T-shirt.

 “GOOD LUCK” hey what does this mean, probably this was not clear to the people in that general coach.

After some soul searching I said “How foolish I was? Blaming things on me” 

I finished my work at Agra and was back to the station the next day.

After taking ticket of Toofan express and I started roaming on the platform of Idgaah. Idgaah is one of the famous stations in Agra.

It was hot and humid but its effect was alleviated when I saw a young girl in black jeans and white t-shirt.   It seemed she was waiting for somebody with seven bags, that too large ones.

Anyways I went straight to her and said “Excuse me ma’am, do you have any idea about trains going to Lucknow.”

She looked at me and then avoided, may be my idea to start a conversation on this note was not welcome.

 “Hey ma’am, I am talking to you”

This time she blurted “can’t you find anyone else in this station, go to the enquiry” she replied arrogantly.

 “I am sorry there is nobody at the enquiry” I replied.

“Do I look like a railway timetable to you, sorry of disappoint you, I don’t have any idea” she said with a sarcastic smile.

“Actually I couldn’t find anyone else in this small station to whom I could talk to? That’s why I came to you, may be my idea of approaching you was not right, don’t mind” I said.

“Oh, it’s alright, I am waiting for my friends” and then she started looking at the other side of the platform.

There were two things I could make out from this conversation firstly never try to experiment something you are not sure of and secondly the platform of Idgaah is certainly not the right place for such things.

 It was already 12:45 PM so was back to the platform; I took a nap on one of the benches.

 Somebody woke me up and said “Is this your bag?”

“Yes” I replied “any problem” I replied in an unpleasant manner with an intention to vent my frustration as just few minutes ago I had a wholesome conversation with a girl, it was wholesome because it made me feel that sometime you have to be prudent and act maturely rather than going with just a gut feeling.  

” I just wanted to sit beside you” the person said.

“You are welcome,” I replied in an irritating tone

“This is your water bottle” he asked again.

” Kyon bhaiya, any problem” I replied.

“No, no not at all”

After few moments he again blurted “Have you taken the tickets, its still available “

Now this time I felt like pouncing on him.

Suddenly eyes fixated on the same girl again, she was not alone now but had company of many girls. She whispered something to them and they all looked at me, pretending that they were looking at some other place. I smiled and all my anger vanished the way they reacted.

The train arrived around 1:25 pm, this time with a hope to find a berth I rushed towards it. The general compartment was almost the same and reminded me of that journey again, so I went towards sleeper coach.

“Have a nice journey” .came a voice, I looked and was surprised to find my only acquaintance at station again.

“Oh” I replied “Thanks and same to you”

Running towards the compartment I could only make out that her friends were simpering and she was smiling, and I waved to her and she responded.I was extremely overjoyed to see his gesture, just half an hour ago she was so unpleasant and sarcastic to me and now she is acting just opposite.

“Who is she, why she did she wish me luck?” Such questions started hovering in my mind.

May be out of humility and compassion, either she knew my state or I was dreaming” to seek answers of this question again I looked outside the train and found she was there.

 “May be god has sent her to wish me” I chuckled.

The compartment of S-6 in Toofan was again flooded with people. Somehow I managed find a place and thought I would get my ticket upgraded to A C and started waiting for Ticket inspector.

 Now I knew lady luck is really checking my endurance level. The train started and within 5 minute came Agra fort station. The view from Agra fort station was splendid, for moments I forgot everything trying to see the Taj Mahal, but the realization was over moment the train crossed the bridge reminding me of the mess I am into.

A vendor sitting beside me told me that he had never seen such crowd, again the scene was like the previous one the only difference was that it was a reserved compartment. After been through a period of agony and suffering these moments seemed similar to me. These moments were relived when few people started playing cards, though initially it was difficult to cope, however as the time passed one of the uncle became my friend and I started helping him.

 The game reminded me of late night activities at my hostel where these days one would often find people playing cards.

In Etawa, horde of people again rushed towards our coach and few MST people made us to share the seat again with five people. These unrelenting moments didn’t seem to ebb and they further worsened when I realized that there were more than 200 people in my coach, with 27 in my compartment. I hadn’t witnessed such a scene in my life till now, there were six people sharing the lower births, three on the upper berth, and there were few sitting on their suitcases. Every body in the coach seemed to be a tormentor to me, but apart from that there was nothing to eat, at railway stations there was a fear that seat will be occupied. Somehow I managed to get some biscuits and warm water.

Now the discussions started related to politics, economics, social issues and above all the new generations adopting western values.

 In between they would look at me reminding that I belong to that same clique. Then there were some unsolicited advices, not to mention they all were hinted at me.

I was just listening to them trying not to be a part of such futile conversation. These people were also destined to Kanpur so they would be with me for another few hours. The train would stop at every station innuending the irony, the train’s name was Toofan and it was toddling like a baby.

However, there were moments of solace, one of them, I met a proud parent of twins barely 3 months old, they seemed so innocent and their smiling face gave me a reason to cheer, there were other times when I would dig into excerpts of magazines with me, the women issue of India today was worth reading. There were other rib tickling moments when I met Mr Tondon, he was really a jolly person and entertained us through his anecdotes, satires on government pulling every vice and folly in the system.

Finally train reached Kanpur at19:45, I was hungry and tense because I wanted to leave Kanpur, then I took a ticket of LC and started looking for a place to satiate the ravenous stomach.

Trauma, often whets my appetite,

I knew that all troubles are over still I could not overcome the pains of the journey. After having my dinner at a restaurant at platform no 1 I started waiting for my train again, the intensity of my hunger could be gauged by the fact that I finished my dinner in just 7 minutes straight, forgetting all philosophies that we needed to chew our food properly because stomach has no teeth.

I reached Lucknow in an hour, but troubles were still not over, it started raining moment I came out of the station and I couldn’t find any conveyance for almost 10 minutes, those few minutes seemed unebbing when heavy winds created a swirl of dust making it almost impossible to see anything. However, I got a tempo and reached my room at 11: 00 pm.

For few minutes I became conscious and started retrospecting how terrible the things actually were?

Was I cynical in the whole journey? Why series of unfortunate things happened in tandem with me, or may be general crowd faces these things daily, well this is not for me decide, still I feel this journey is worth telling if not remembering.

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written by umbrella, January 23, 2010

my my..wt an entertaining read! Anger, irritation, frustration..all those 'positive' emotions depicted in ur particular brand of writing style made it very realistic and an enjoyable read. More technology and growing GDP is for middle class and rich and it never reach those poor ppl it seems! Imagine these ppl enduring all these troubles in their everyday life without a murmur!

Kno wt..of all the incidents u narrated here, my fav is the snub u got from that jean clad gal at Idgahh...lol. God..did i enjoy reading it...

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written by Domarp, January 23, 2010

@Umbrella : Thanks for appreciating...you won't believe I actually under went this whole journey....the whole narration is quite close to what I faced....

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