When The Guy In Next Compartment Pulled The Chain...

When The Guy In Next Compartment Pulled The Chain.

thinking of chain pulling

hello friends.

It was scorching hot and the blinders were leaking stingy sunlight. The train was moving towards Bhopal from Nagpur, and my destination was Delhi. The train was not going further from Bhopal and I had an urgent work that couldn’t have been missed, so I was practically and mentally ready to do anything that it took to reach Delhi.

When you are traveling without a ticket in Indian Railways, you are driven by a force that takes you over and instills in you a determination that even you never thought of possessing.

 I learnt this during the summer of 2019.

I deboarded the train with two heavy bags and a rucksack. None of my bags had wheels and I reached the ticket counter panting. I was to buy myself a general boggy window ticket from Bhopal to Delhi, but unfortunately, it was closed due to lunchtime. Why can’t they shuffle their timings in such a way that there’s someone at the counter at all the times, I cranked.

I sat down finding a cool spot and revised my mental plan, while I waited for the counters to open. I planned to buy general ticket and ask the TTE to set me up in any seat, as simple as that! The situation was urgent but not urgent enough to make me travel in general boggy. I made a few calls while I was waiting. My phone’s battery was draining but I didn’t have the will or energy to drag all my bags in search of a charging point.

I went back to the counter and joined the queue again; some people never left the counter they just sat on their spots. I should have done the same, I thought. I put on my headphones and stood in the queue which never seemed to be moving.

I heard strange shouting; when I removed my headphones, I heard people shouting at the official inside the counter. What I figured out from the shouting was that the woman behind the counter was talking and giggling on her phone which was holding the lines. 

I was not even surprised. I won’t deny that it slightly hurt my ego – having stood with all the people dripping with sweat while she sat in the air-conditioned cabin and decided the fate of our journey. There were few farts and kids who cried their lungs out, and still, that woman was the most hated person in the room.

I got my ticket and rushed to the platform to catch a train that was supposed to be not-very-crowded. But it turned out to be just the opposite. 

I desperately started searching for the TTE and when I finally found him, he crudely turned down my offer.

I was tired and infuriated.

 I had no right to be infuriated though, what I asking was illegal and he didn’t want to be bribed. Bribing the TTE has been so normalized that when

 I encountered a non-bribable and law-abiding officer, I blamed him for not helping me, a poor-soul-who-was-in-need-of-help! I watched the train leave for my destination helplessly.

Disappointed, I bought a chilled can of Coke and sat below a huge fan. 

I tried to enjoy my drink and as soon as it was finished, it hit me – if the train which was supposed to be comparatively emptier was so full, the condition of other trains would be worse. I needed to act up! I went to the platform on which the train was expected to arrive.

Next to me, sat a huge man in a khaki shirt. The force I mentioned, took over me again and made me ask the guy whether he or any of his connections could get me a spot in any train going towards Bhopal. I am a stutterer so was that guy. We puffed out more air than words. It was one of the most uncomfortable talks I have ever been a part of, but fruitful nonetheless.

He asked me to watch over his bookstall and he left all of the books and magazines trusting a guy who he had met 10 minutes back. Not because I do not have a look of a stealer, but because he didn’t know that I had shop-lifted a jar of Nutella once, I thought.

The train in which he said he could set me up made its way to the platform. 

I was becoming increasingly panicky. Soon, he came back with a sturdy, short, grey-haired man in red coolie-shirt. Contrary to me and the book-stall-guy – he spoke really fast. So fast that I had to guess what he must have said based on some keywords that I managed to hear.

I don’t know exactly what he said, but I heard – “husdhsd barasau rupaye abhi do, husdhsudh scixnc Ghosh sahib,” and he introduced me to a TTE.

 I suspiciously gave him 1200 rupees, because I had no choice. Meanwhile, I grew very anxious thinking that he wouldn’t come back with my ticket, I talked to Ghosh sahab, he asked me to and sit in coach S5. 

The sturdy man came back with a ticket, I thanked him and boarded the train which was already blowing horns.

I sat in my side-lower seat which faced the setting sun, it was only afternoon and the heat was crucifying but I was too relaxed and happy to be bothered by it. 

Soon, my relaxedness and happiness faded away but the heat remained. I took out my laptop, put on headphones, plugged the charger into the fluctuating charging point and started re-watching F.R.I.E.N.D.S.

2 hours went by gulping down gallons of water, perspiring, cribbing about the heat, peeing, and the occasionally staring out of the window.

The train stopped at some station and a group of four friends boarded the compartment next to me. I am never amused to travel in company of loud and talkative young men. They were the age where men refuse to give a damn about anything! So, when an elderly couple objected to something, they were hurt and started shouting.

I was sitting at a nice angle and was keenly watching the drama the angry young men had created. Things got too heated, both the parties started abusing the each other and one from the group of friends threw a half empty (or half filled, you decide) water bottle at the elderly man.

Things escalated quickly after that even the spectators joined the drama. That guy was taken away, and a random guy exchanged his seat with him to resolve the matter.

The buzz settled and everyone got back to their business – getting bored or talking about politics. The drama woke up the man sleeping on the berth right over my head. 

Unfortunately, he came down, sat next to me and started talking. Just the usual stuff – “Why is your hair so long? “Don’t your parents scold you?” “Do you study?” “Which field?” 

When I told him that I was a journalism student, he expected me to know every big name in the industry personally and asked whether or not I knew the salary of Sudhir Chowdhary, I nodded no with a flat smile. 

Then he asked me the salary of Punya Prasoon Bajpayee and I said “1 lakhs a month” just to shut him up.

The conversation took an expected turn when it moved towards politics, I was least interested in augmenting so I agreed with everything he said, continued to stare out of the window and threw in a periodic ‘haan’ and ‘bilkul’. 

Then he said something which made me attentive, it was not particularly interesting but it worth my attention to say the least.

He said – “Kaafi garmi hai na! AC me sahi rehta hai, par pata hai main AC jan-bujh kar nahi jata hoon kyunki usme logo se bat nahi hoti. Apne se nahi hota chup-chap rehna, apne ko chahiye log…” “Sleeper me apne jaise log jate hai, acha lagta hai.”

It was like saying – “I don’t like air-conditioned, cleaner, quieter, and more civilized carts, but I love smelly, damp, over-crowded carts more.”

I got tired of the conversation and used my laptop and headphones to get out of it. The train halted at some station and I got down to get a chilled coke and a packet of chips.

 I came back up and just when it started moving and picked up a little speed, one of the angry-young-men pulled the chain and it stopped. It seemed one of them couldn’t manage to board the train back. He came in laughing with a handful of biscuits and bananas. Unlikely to happen, the train pulling awakened the sleeping Railway official, and they started inquiring about who had pulled the chain.

The guys became fearful, as they looked almost sure that the family they had a tussle with, would call out their name. But I was almost sure that they were not going to do it. The reason for thinking like that, more than anything, was my gut feeling which told me that the anger we have against the system is far greater than the anger we have for some other person could ever be.

The family didn’t say anything and the train moved towards my destination again.