|
I
did not intend to hurt him by breaking the walls
of illusions he had built around himself. So,
when my friend requested to come with me to
Bihar for vacation, I chose to ignore his plea.
But, he was adamant. I cautioned him, that the
enlightenment might develop him an inferiority
complex. That how ill-fated he was, not been
born in a state as great as mine. The poor guy
was willing to take a risk. He must have been
getting an 'F' in History. And so, we embarked
upon the journey to the land of Buddha and
Mahavir.
It was his first chance to see the outside
world. Our train crossed Andhra and reached
Orissa the next morning. A group of eunuchs was
kind enough to wake us by singing an eternal
song, a Govinda number-"Teri nanny mari to main
kya karoon..". They were so humble, so friendly.
But, some people don't like being called "Aye
Shahrukh", "Aye Salmaan" by these humble
friends. They prefer to save 10 Rs than a curse.
I asked one such person to explain. He said he
was keeping it for the next group, who will come
in uniform.
We reached Howrah and had to wait there for four
hours to catch the next train. The staff at the
second-class waiting hall looked surprised to
see our tickets. He examined them the way a
teller at a bank examines 500 Rs note. We
probably looked too rich to buy a second-class
ticket. We were asked some questions to verify
that we did not expect anything more than we
should, without paying for it. Inside the hall,
the atmosphere was homely. It looked like a 'baraat'
assembly. Some were seen carrying their luggage
to the queue outside the toilet. They talked
about a group, which does not like people who
are careless with their luggage. They teach
lesson to such people by taking their luggage
away. They must have been given a contract by
the police, who obviously had more important
things to look after.
One thing I admire most about us, is patience.
The train came late by 2 hours. As soon as the
train came, a queue was formed outside every
gate. The doors opened one by one. No one with
an ordinary level of patience, can even think of
entering the gate which was blocked by
passengers. We saw a railway staff pasting
numbers on the bogies. Few strong men and women
who had managed to permeate inside the wrong
compartment were informed of their mistake.
Where else can you find such a demonstration of
divine patience that we witnessed in that
squeezing deadlock? It took another 2 hours for
the train to start.
The sculptures of Khajuraho are no better than
the finest pieces of art drawn in the toilets of
our trains. They even have the names and
addresses of the persons they depict, in case
you want to carry your curiosity further. So
many promising talents, the could-be poets,
artists have been lost in lack of proper
attention. These toilets are witnesses to the
fact. Marks of protest were evident against the
irrelevance of a western toilet in an Indian
train. In Rome, do as Romans do. But, this is no
Rome. Do as we do.
We hate those who talk rules. After all, rules
are made for our convenience. And so, when
someone argued over a sixth passenger sitting on
a three-seater, he was told "Kanoon batiyaiyega?".
This must have opened his eyes as he did not
protest any more. The train stopped at a station
for 2 hours. One fellow passenger looked into
the time table, and informed that the train is
running late by 4 hours. So much fun and
excitement in coming up with such latest updates
that the news channels will envy of! We were
told that a minister saaheb is boarding the
train, and the supporters wanted to see him off
with all honour that he deserved. Isn't saaheb
getting late himself, did he complain to his
people? No, of course, people are more important
than their representatives.
Someone passed a judgment- "Bihar won't
improve!". He should see "Dil Chahta Hai", in
which Aamir Khan has rightly said, "It is
difficult to improve perfection". Anyway, this
irritated a gentleman who asked "So, didn't you
move out of state, what have you done for
Bihar?". To which he replied, "If I am bad, I
helped the state by leaving it, and if I am
good, then I must have left because I had to".
This did not convince the gentleman, who said,
"You are trying to evade the question, what have
you done for Bihar?". Enough was enough. He
fired it back, "What have YOU done for Bihar?".
We must put the question in right words. Had it
been asked as "What do you want the CM to do for
Bihar", the whole journey would have been short
for the reply.
We were reaching Kiul. It is said that no train
reaches Patna, without careless passengers
losing their luggage in this route. Locking the
luggage is not enough. More discipline is
required. Do not sleep, do not eat anything
others offer you, do not take tea served by
local vendors. People are told time and again,
they read news, still they don't change. Police
in this section has been religiously working to
enforce this discipline.
Unfortunately, I had to leave all the fun of
this route. Rest of the journey was by bus. The
agent at the bus stand told us with proud, that
the current MLA was also a stand agent few years
back. By his revolutionary ways, he caught eye
of a prominent leader, who got him ticket in the
last election. Though I doubt if this guy could
make a successful leader like his ideal MLA, I
must appreciate the way in which he managed the
space inside and outside the bus. Optimum
utilisation, indeed. My friend watched in awe,
the adept drivers who drove overloaded trucks on
those roads, often three of the wheels on
ground, rest in air. The speed-breakers on the
way ensured that we stop to see all the villages
on way, to acknowledge their significance.
Gutkha-chewing passengers took care of safety to
others sitting behind them by continuously
spitting out of the window. How many times your
Mom asked you not to keep hands out of window?
Finally, we reached Sheikhpura. This place has
so many things to talk about, but one thing that
I must mention is that you can't find rickshaws
here. The tanga drivers union of Sheikhpura is a
great example to comrades all over the world.
They have never allowed anyone to drive a
rickshaw/tempo in the city.
"Hari anant, hari katha ananta"- There is no end
to the praise of Lord, and I add, of Bihar. But,
I must end it here, before readers go into a
state of euphoria. Forgive me for being modest!
|
Comments: |
Thank
you for a wonderful article! It is
high time that more articles such as
these start appearing in the PD
columns. These articles may be
experiences of the author's travel,
but they sketch a mental picture and
take the reader along on the
journey.
I have had up to my eyeballs with
copious flatulence of advice being
doled out to the Nitish Kumar, caste
turf wars, and unsolicited, half
baked, harebrained ideas to improve
Bihar packaged to read like a
research paper - with lots of
numbers stolen out from some
statistical report and thrown in for
good measure.
Thanks again for a great article
Kumud Jha. You have jumped over the
bar you set for yourself. -
Arecee - Jan. 9, 2006
Jhaji, I appreciate your article. If
you are the alert, sensitive types
and travel on Bhartiya rail like R.
K. Laxman's common man you are sure
to have great experiences. I had
shared some of my experiences on PD
in the article titled "Travel by
Train, Climb a Mountain - What's the
Difference?" dated October 24, 2004.
Guess we had our share of fun on
Bhartiya rail.
But jokes apart, if you travel
second class, you meet a vast cross
section of the Indian population and
if you socialize with them it is a
great learning experience. These
days I do not travel much and when I
do travel by train I do not go
second class. However, sitting in
the comfort of the air-conditioned
coach has a price. You are in the
midst of self conscious people with
rather inflated egos. They speak
little and are wrapped up in their
own thoughts. They seem to be keenly
aware of what the world is thinking
about them. You miss the carefree,
colorful garrulousness of the second
class crowd. Even as you sit in
great comfort you feel abandoned and
lonely. Perhaps that is another
price tag of the comfort.
In the second class compartment you
become family the moment you step
into the compartment. You enter into
great discussions, learn a lot and
share ground nuts with people around
you. There is that typical warmth
that only the R. K. Laxman's common
man can offer. You crack jokes and
laugh with great guffaws. Time goes
by fast as there is little monotony.
By the time you reach your
destination you know a lot about the
families, worries, anxieties,
experiences etc etc of your
neighbors.
I would like to share an incident.
In the good old days I boarded a
passenger train. When I approached a
window seat I found a gamcha lying
on it. I picked it up and put it on
the adjacent seat and sat down. Just
then a fellow came running and asked
"Kya sahab humara gamcha nahi dekhe?
Yo mera seat hai." Looking at his
angry face and diminutive
personality I was amused. I told the
fella "Why do you not go to New
Delhi with your gamcha and drop it
on the chair the moment the
President gets up?" The fellow
looked as if he had swallowed a
bumble bee. A loud guffaw came from
the people sitting around. He was
kind enough to find another seat for
himself and his gamcha. Within half
an hour inside the compartment he
was very friendly towards me - all
malice forgotten. No bruised ego or
score to settle. That is the wonder
of being the contended, happy,
garrulous 'second class' common man
of India. - Rajesh Chaubey - Jan.
10, 2006
Dear Kumud and Rajesh, very good and
entertaining article. I started
feeling nostalgic. I have always
traveled in second class train from
Mumbai to Bihar. This gives me a
very broad view and also we realize
how vast, diverge and beautiful our
country is. Also, I enjoy every
local food item everywhere Pav Bada
in Kasara, Chhole Bhature in
Igatpuri, Amrud in Allahabad,
different type of chai everywhere
and litti in Lakhisarai/Kiul.
Really, man if just economy changes,
I will be damned eating these stupid
burgers.
But Aracee, I have hard time
understanding your anger with people
sharing their views and suggestions
to Nitish Kumar. Also
caste/religious war is also not such
a bad idea if it is done
by writing using pen (keyboard).
Biharis are emotional and everyone
in Bihar is dying to do something,
something in their powers. Granted
most of us are not TATAs or BIRLAs
or Nobel laureates. I can see
nothing but goodwill and desire to
do something behind these. After
such a long time at least now we are
seeing light at the end of the
tunnel. Euphoria is normal. And yes
Nitish or Sushil may not have enough
time but there are lots of other
politicians/bureaucrats who can go
through these and definitely get
something. People who are writing
longs mails are not just some bunch
of lazy and unemployed youths
looking for fun; most of them are
busy professionals who are finding
time to write these in a hope that
their suggestion/initiative will
bring some change. - Kaushal Das
- Jan. 10, 2006
Jhajee and other readers are
absolutely right in presenting the
worst travel experience.
Fortunately, I don't travel by train
when I come to India for my holidays
due to time constraint. But I had
one memorable experience in the '90s
when I was coming to Patna from New
Delhi after attending a family visit
and one Muslim family joined me in
the sleeper class compartment from
Aligarh. They were coming to attend
a marriage ceremony of one of their
close relatives in Patna. After
brief introduction, we had talks on
several topics and their family were
asking plenty of enthusiastic
questions about Patna .They were
bubbling with life and talking
freely to know every details of
Patna but were also worried in their
heart as they had heard law and
order situation in Patna. I
explained to them very briefly as I
didn't want to scare them. As soon
as train entered the Bihar
territory, two musclemen with
"lathi" in their hands and "muretha"
on their heads, boarded the train
and started shouting in regional and
rustic manner and compelled the
Muslim family to unfold the middle
berth so thye could sit down for the
rest of their journey. And in that
attempt they forcefully pushed those
family members towards the window
side of the seats. When those local
guys got down on next station to get
some fresh air and "chai", the head
of Muslim family asked me in
apprehension, "Bhaiyajee, Bihar aa
gaya kya?". I nodded in affirmative
and they kept quite for rest of
their journey.
Hope that will never happen again
and hopefully safe journey will also
be one of the areas of the former
railway minister and now CM Nitish
Kumar's priority list and when I
come next time, I would like to
travel again by train that runs on
time and have safety environment for
all the passengers! - Dr. K.
Kanhaiya, U.K. - Jan. 11, 2006
I am laughing, reading you guys’
comments. Wait! I am not laughing to
make a joke of you, but I am
reminded of the old days, when I was
in Bihar and had to travel for one
or another purpose. I remember many
times traveling to Patna on the
local trains, and have both very
wonderful and sad memories. In the
Patna-Gaya sector, especially, you
have to wait many hours due to
vacuum breaks by locals to stop the
trains.
Once, I was coming back from
Bhubaneshwar, Orissa, after seeing
my cousins and while traveling in
the sleeper class, we all became
good friends. One person was
carrying dhab (coconuts) to his
home, and he ended up, instead,
giving all his dhab to all of us. I
asked him, “What are you going to
bring home?” His answer truly amazed
me. He said, “It is better to share
with my brothers and sisters than to
bring them home.”
In another instance, I was traveling
to Shimla, just to go and see. I was
very hopeful that I might be able to
see snow, but I think it was May
when I went. [When I reached there,
I saw no snow. Although it came
years later, in the US where I live
now, I have to see snow 5 out of 12
months.] Now, I will get back to my
story of my trip to Shimla, after a
small diversion. I traveled first
from Bihar to Delhi. From Delhi, I
took the Kalka mail train. In Kalka,
the train changes to a meter gauge
to continue to Shimla. I boarded
that train, and after a little
while, a few more people also
boarded for Shimla. In a short time,
we started talking. You know, the
usual who am I, where I am traveling
to, where I have been, and where I
come from. Let me tell you, I never
hesitate to tell anyone that I
belong to Bihar. I proudly declare,
“Yes, I am Bihari!” I do not care
what kind of impression or
connotation the word Bihar has
outside of our state. As a Bihari, I
know the hearts of my countrymen,
and the honorable manner in which we
conduct ourselves. When my turn
came, I told them I am from Bihar
and visiting Shimla for couple of
days. One person shouted happily,
“Hey! See! I got my brother!
Finally, I have someone from my
native place.” He and his wife were
very happy. We met again in Shimla,
at Ridge, the famous park for
visitors.
Thanks for reading my comments. I am
sorry I didn't post any comments for
a couple of weeks, but I was very
busy with my work and I apologize
for this. You guys all deserve some
comments. I also appreciate all of
you who write articles or comment,
or who reads them - no matter! At
least, they are Bihari. - S. M.
Khurshid Anwar New York, USA - Jan.
11, 2006
It is really nice to read the
article and comments on that. Same
as Mr. Kaushal Das, I started
feeling nostalgic. An innocent smile
came on my face (Which is very rare
for me these days) – Thanks a lot to
Kumud & Rajesh jee.
It took me into past when I used to
travel on 2nd class – Mainly my
first year in college, when I used
to travel back home (Patna) on every
week end to from Dhanbad. A lot of
memories of those days – I can only
say that even it is very exhausting
to travel in 2nd class (General
Bogie), but it is definite that you
will come to know many people, their
thoughts….
I have lot of experience of the
great Indian Railway, in which I
could make same friends, got into
heated discussion on politics, had
fights for the seat, lost my luggage
etc etc.. And now when I travel in
AC (Whenever I go to India), I miss
my old days of 2nd class journey of
India railway. Even here also I
travel on NJ Transit – Lekin Woh
Baat Kahan? - Nawin Kumar – NJ,
USA - Jan. 11, 2006
I remember once traveling from
Calcutta, er Kolkata, to Patna
several years ago. Though I don't
remember the details because it
happened at least 15 years ago, what
I clearly recall is a crowd that got
on the train somewhere in Kiul or
Mokama. Most men were carrying
briefcases and they forced us to
move over and make room for them in
the reserved 3-tier compartment.
Unwillingly, and not to start a 'panga',
we made rooms for them and before
the train could even leave the
station, one of them pulled out a
pack of cards the look of which was
telling it had seen better days.
Then with full dexterity, he put his
briefcase on his lap and started to
deal cards. Three more men, without
saying a single word, joined the
game and picked up their respective
cards. '16', says the man next to
the card dealer after carefully
examining his cards. "17" goes the
man next to him. "Pass", says the
third passenger, and so on.
They had just started a game of 29
without asking anyone if they were
even interested in playing the game
of cards!
As I watched them dealing out cards
one hand after another thinking
these are, in all likelihood, daily
commuters and know each other for
some time, soon I was surprised to
find out that none of those
passengers knew the identity of the
others until just a few minutes ago.
"Kya naam batlaya? Haan to Jha ji,
Patna mein kahan kaam kartey hain
aap?", "Rai ji, tab to shaam wali
gaadi mein jagah bahut mushkil se
milti hogi?..." and other talks on
similar lines.
Meanwhile, another new passenger who
was carrying that day's Hindi
newspaper happily shared other pages
with his fellow commuters and soon a
lively, enjoyable discussion over
current politics or sports ensued.
I was stunned by the sheer
camaraderie among these commuters.
Few minutes ago, they didn't know
each other. Now they were expressing
joint concerns over one's daughter's
marriage as if the girl was their
own daughter!!!
As the train pulled up at Barh (or
somewhere in that region, I don't
recall the exact station), they
called a young chai-walla and one
person paid for 7 or 8 cups of tea
for his fellow passengers. I was one
of them. "Arrey pijiye bhai sahab,
sab log pee rahey hain to aap kaise
akele nahin pijiyega...," he tells
me.
Oh, what the heck, I said to myself.
I joined them in the tea session
and, needless to say, till we
reached Patna, it was nothing but
pure love for the fellow human
beings and light entertainment for
the entire compartment. - Aninda
Bose - Jan. 11, 2006
I posted one comment already for
this article . However I could not
resist writing another one. And this
one is not of train but of bus.
I was traveling from Jamshedpur to
Darbhanga in a bus. Beside me was a
religious type elderly looking
pundit ji. In whole journey he kept
telling me why he does not prefer to
eat outside as they don't maintain
hygiene ,cleanliness, they cook
everything in same pot etc etc.
Naturally I assumed Pundit ji will
be having problem as he will be
vegetarian and probably will not be
eating onion and garlic also.
When the bus stopped in Barauni or
Zero mile area, I offered Pundit ji
to come with me and see if he can
eat anything. He told "bawua je
shuddha khassi ke mans heta takhane
khebo" meaning he can eat only if it
is pure goat meat. I could not stop
laughing or forget that till today.
I have told this to so many persons
till today. - Kaushal Das
- Jan. 11, 2006
Many pseudo intellectuals say that
we Biharis are illiterates; we can
be made to believe anything and
everything. There are many ways we
can prove the mental bankruptcy of
such hypocrites but here is one
example.
In rest of India, Railway’s public
information system will announce, “
So and so train is running late by
two hours or so and so train has
been cancelled”.
What is the guarantee that this two
hours delay will not become four
hours delay? At least in India this
happens most of the time.
As a result in our Bihar and this
happens only in our Bihar, Railways
have to announce information in more
detail, say I am waiting for
Pataliputra Express in Mokama to go
to Patna, then I will hear
announcement like, “Patliputra
Express ke Jamui aane ki soochna hai”
after sometime it will be,
“Pataliputra Express Kiul se nikal
chuki hai”, after sometime it will
be, “Pataliputra Express Barahiya aa
rahi hai”.
Aware people in Bihar don’t believe
in silly information like, their
train is running two hours late,
they want exact position of train on
map and calculate the delay
themselves taking various parameters
into account. Now this is what I
call realistic information. -
Vipin Singh
- Jan. 11, 2006
Oh my God!! I am out of Patna for 28
years now but these stories are
making me so homesick. I love my
hometown Patna and I also miss those
memorable Rail-Yatras . I have yet
to taste anything better than those
Puri-Aloos and Chai-garams of our
small stations like Bihashareef,
Barh and nice friendly faces of our
Bihari people! Nobody can make
Chicken curry rice like Bakhtiyarpur/Biharshareef
Railway canteens.
I live in USA now, go to Patna at
least once in two years but do not
dare to take the Train to anywhere
and my dream is to take one solid
good train ride from Patna to
Kolkata when situation in Bihar
improves under this new government!!
Long live Patna and Indian Railways!
- Neena Gangulee - Jan. 12, 2006 |
|
Discussion on this topic is now
closed. |
Return to previous Page |
