A day's trip

                              This is a not exactly a travelogue but do have certain segments related to my travel to Bangalore recently. I am trying to record the events as such. Albeit initially I thought my friend who had travelled with me, the friend in whose room we did stay are the primary stakeholders, different perspectives conjure up while attempting to record it. Earnestly request you to go ahead but don’t evince any interest or disinterest just based on the events here as it also has bachelors’ angle of looking into the milieu.

                             My friend who was travelling with me henceforth called as “J” had informed me to carry a blanket owing to the weather during that night travel and generally in Bangalore. Even I myself had carried it as I do generally while travelling in trains; to get ‘excessively’ peaceful sleep obviously in the upper birth.

Here goes the train, running.

                           Though I don’t have the habit of waiting for the TTE to examine my ticket, then I waited for him since we were expected to pay the hiked differential price in railway passengers’ ticket tariff. Perhaps some section of general public would be aware of the recent increment and guess the ‘luxurious’ netizens at least are. I am not concerned about the economics and politics of raising the tariff at the end of financial year here. But I sincerely believe that the administrative ministry had taken a good deal of effort in publicizing the information and had even made arrangements to collect the additional differential tariff on the go with authenticated receipts for the same.

                       
                           Co-passengers in the cabin of our II sleeper coach had been waiting for the TTE and as he didn't turn out soon some of them had gone to sleep. A passenger who seemed to be above 60 years of age didn't sleep and he walked back to the cabin all of a sudden and attempted to wake up another passenger sleeping in the opposite side lower birth. The former said that this seat is been allocated to him and wanted the latter to evacuate. The angry second one asked me whether TTE had examined my ticket and got a negative reply from me and he walked towards the TTE along with the sexagenarian.

                     
                         While coming back the 'sleeping' person was more furious and in disdain questioned the other how dare would he wake him up? From them we came to know that the senior passenger had booked unreserved ticket (open ticket) and boarded the reserved coach as it happens usually.

During the last regime in Tamilnadu, a pool of ruling political party activists boarded the reserved coach and argued the TTE

“Sir, thalaivar have commanded us to come to the party’s ‘pothukulu’ meeting.

What would we do sir? We obeyed him.

You either give us some berth or at least allow us to sleep in the walking spaces in cabins.

I can assure you that my guys wouldn’t cause any problem for the co-passengers, sir.  

‘Annan’ guarantee sir.”

No word of opposition either from a ‘daredevil’ me or my co-passengers or even from the ‘authorized’ TTE.

I guess my fellow passengers are like me,

‘crowd’ PARTHA MATTUM KONJAM BAYAM

MATTRAPADI THILLU THURAI THAAN.

So unauthorized boarding of reserved coach is not something un-realistic or un-seen.

                       

                           The old man claimed to have thought that the sleeping passenger’s birth is not the one where he was sleeping and mistakenly requested him to go to his actual berth which is just opposite.
He averred that he thought the actual passenger of the birth where the 'sleeping' person was sleeping, had not travelled and it was free and got his open ticket converted to reserved through TTE in that birth.

                         

                         Then arouse the ‘sleeping’ passenger with full vigour towards us as “Sir,how dare this old man in open ticket wake me up when I am travelling in tatkal ticket paying extra fare?I am paying 75Rs extra for reserving my birth. How can a person with open ticket be allowed to board a reserved coach and disturb a reserved tatkal birth holder”

Some xxxxx………yyyyyy…….. kkkkkk……..

             

                         Irrespective of the legality associated with his claims, the manner in which the ‘sleeping’ passenger put forth it and the class behaviour which he tried to espouse then in superiority was something to be shunned off. Sometime earlier the same sleeping person advised my friend J not to charge his i-phone (My friend J with i-phone, a difficult clue indeed.) in the train socket as it allegedly draws power dynamically and possibly could damage the phone.

                             Nothing is offensive here even when he asked me to show my mobile and declared mine (a basic NOKIA model) can be charged as it doesn’t have much value. I broke in humour. Nevertheless I am neither impressed nor embarrassed as he is not the only person who attempts to judge people ostensibly based on their ostentatious materials of whatever nature. Material values; values of materials value; this has become a value and status.  

                          

                         The socially divisive stratifications that are prevalent over 2 millenniums when compounded with economic disabilities created by post-1991 opportunities are already accentuating the stratifications further. When the government is worried about soaring fiscal deficit due to subsidy for subsistence items, not equal concern is apparent when it forgoes billions of money as corporate and luxurious material subsidies. It is high time the government rises to address this inequality with much more seriousness and everyone have a role to play here. I certainly have one.

Back to the wagon.

                        A sense of commotion prevailed as both of the passengers were counter arguing and another passenger from upper birth entered the scene unveiling his blanket and rebuked them for disturbing the co-passengers. So we have one more additional stakeholder in this sequence of events. My co-passengers have become prominent so far though I didn't believe them to be a stakeholder of my journey at the earliest.

Incident:2

                 Finally the TTE arrived and started collecting extra fare from every one. He construed the collection task as an over burden which was evident from his behaviour and hence relinquished his duty to verify the ID cards of each passenger. When someone displayed his photo ID card to him, “I don’t have time to see your beautiful picture, sir” was his riposte. When the person under blanket in upper birth was asked about the additional fare he follows,

“Why should I pay extra 27Rs?”

TTE:  Sir, the railway board had ordered us to collect the extra fare.

“I am not informed. How did they raise the price of a commodity after it is brought? I don’t have the money sir?”

TTE: Let me call the RPF and they would take you out of train for not paying the additional fare.

RPF personnel have arrived and they asked the ‘blanket’ passenger to pay the fare else get deported and reported to the nearby railway station.

                        When the ‘blanket’ passenger addressed the RPF Lady personnel as “Hello”, she got anxious how he could call her as “hello”. Now that the administrative issue had evolved as a gender issue and we ‘trouble-shooters’ made our presence felt.

                        When we addressed her as “madam”, she would have thought that “PASANGA,MARIYAATHA THERINCHA PASANGA ” and was saying that if any passenger fails to pay the extra fare they would handover him to the nearby railway station.When the same was reflected by another RPF personnel the ‘blanket’ person was ferocious and exuded confidence that he knows IG of 

Police who is his family friend and tried to flaunt his bureaucratic sway.

                       From the senior IPS Officer’s perspective he would end up to be utilized by his kith and kin for petty matters and when he refuses to get into a controversy the ‘society’ would say

“SUTHA WASTE…KAA PAISA PROYAJANAM ILLA.”

  

                       Amidst all this, the ‘blanket’ person admitted to pay the extra fare and asked the TTE to at-least respond what would they do if any passenger did not pay the extra fare? We also seconded the person in this query and TTE snapped “deportation from train”. However after a while when my friend and I asked the TTE what is the actual government direction for non-payers he declared “Leave them. Collect from those who pay.”

                      But it took a great deal of flattering efforts to boost up his image and pray his efforts of maintaining the account along with the receipt for each passenger in addition to examining the tickets. Ego satisfaction is the key.But fortunate enough,the government is aware of the practicalities of collecting the fare in running wagon within this short notice ensuing in sympathy for those who did not carry the extra fare.

                   We went to sleep then expecting Kamarajapuram to be reached by 3.30 AM. Neither the i-phone’s alarms nor the Nokia’s were loud enough to wake up us at the right time. I really wonder why even fall of a pin would disturb me while watching an English movie with headphones but not even a silencer-less, kerosene mixed motor vehicles while asleep. Two stations were already crossed before we could wake up and we took an auto to reach my friend’s room.

INCIDENT:3

The singular incident that encouraged me to record this travel is the stint in my friend HP’s room. The term room itself is a bachelor’s representation of a house with bachelors. So beware of bachelors’ euphemism and double entendres if any going further. Don't ask me if there is none either.

His room is in Narayanapura.The sub-urban seems to be covering itself with a dust blanket and heard from HP that there is no ground water even after deep boring.

From the words of my friend

“LIGHTA VAAYA POLANTHUTTU VANTHA KALAILA TIFFENA MUDICHADALAM”.

To be continued…………….