The last day of my 3day holiday break to my native happened to be a Sunday, I was in a hurry to get back to Cochin. On the way to the railway station,my mind was loaded with visuals, The Monsoon still shy to appear, A/c in the car seems to be so ineffective to the outside temperature.
As always my favorite topic used to be nature. The railway platform looks so dirty as few renovations was going on. Looks like since the Britishers left, this is the first time such things happening to this side of the platform. I am much familiar about this station. So many memories passes through my mind. From my childhood to the present day i have lot of them.
There were days my grandfather used to be there at the station to receive us for the summer vacation, which was grand beginning of the fun and enjoyment. It was an awesome moment to see the smile and happiness in those face when they see their grand children. The return journey after the holidays almost ended up in tears. This time the train carries a rude face… taking back to those schooling days to come.. the days of home work and studies going to take the front seat.
Still I remember the star faced trained called ” Jayanthi Janatha Express” which used to be the fastest on the route going all the way to Delhi. It was my favorite comparing all other steam engine trains in those days. It has a silver star fixed on it’s face comparing a blue big dot of all other steams and it looked more aero dynamic than the other flat faced blue dotted train engines. The whole body was painted in the terra cotta mud color.The massive pushing of their arms and the decompressing of steam, all made me so curious to observe to the core. I feel that is why I still remember their details. It was hot and humid with dust and black flying all over. If you are in the first few compartments make sure you wipe your eyes often.
The economic success of Indian Railways is exploring more and more opportunities to tap. According to the recent survey IRCTC became the leading e commerce site. The innovation with sensible approach has made the railways to become a great success. Wish this same politician had such vision for his great state. It is a debatable topic. From the common man’s perspective is this just a magic vision of railway minister or is it the skill sets of those bureaucrats.
All of a sudden the recorded voice started telling the train is nearing the station. My eyes were looking for those outdated less aerodynamically shaped boxed engine. Usually the dust and oil use to have an outer coat. Is it the Indian way? We never like to maintain.. we never like to keep it clean. The heavy diesel engine started appearing on the extreme north end of the station. As usual, nothing against my surprise the faded orange colored engine started to slow down. Next suspense tome was about the compartment the C1 or C2.
To my nightmare the C2 is a good old compartment with broken tables and broken seat levers. No one including me has raised any questions to the authorities why this train is like that? I have seen many well known politicians and personalities commute the same train. Still the train looks like a junk which still carries the Tamilnadu tourism posters. The roof near the A/c duct is full of greasy hand marks and fungus, it has been painted many years ago. I wont be able to finish this if I continue describing more and more about the train. Some times I feel the most educated and intellectual people in India don’t know how to react to such common issues, which includes me as well!!
Lucky this time I was in C1 and it is a better compartment but to my shock the table in front of me can”t be unfolded, it is tied up with a plastic rope. It seems this boggy also started to worn out. Once I got settled down the next step was to look out for some familiar faces. My better half was scanning as usual through some magazines. I guess this is the only place where people are compelled to read. But the latest experiments for DTH transmission on rail in association with DISH TV might reduce the reading habits. We might again get hooked to TV on trains.
The train was more spacious and looking much fresh. Every one looks hurrying up for getting back to work. There were few familiar friends on the train which often used to meet while traveling. Seems these days they are all vanished or I doubt they might have migrated to some other city. . Once the train reached Calicut there was a heavy flow of passengers. There were different faces and different types of people, few were panically searching for seats and some arguments about their seats and seat snumbers. The person sitting on the seat try to convince him about the seat that it belonged to him. Later the fact came in the he was suppose to be in C2 instead of C1. After few minutes everyone started to settle down.But this time there was familiar face a lawyer based in Kochi. As usual had some formal interactions and introductions about my life partner as well.
To my surprise there were some famous personalities were there as well. The famous Bengali writer Mahasweta Devi, she was on crusade against the oppression surrounded by few well known malayali intellectuals. I could see the excitement of the subordinates, the inspiration they are getting from her was amazing. They were all in great mood, they all were non stop. There were hardcore discussions about globalisation to the price of petroleum products to chevron…. it goes on and on!! for the common man with less digestive mind set could have made him feel like killing to listen to such conversations.
There were some open hearted talks and casual tit for tats… some times I thought they are thorough with their master plans for promoting their creative freedom for the right cause. There were some who talked from the bottom of his heart. He sounded like a rebel who spoke with out any cover. He cirticized what ever he felt wrong. He suggested how to beat the globalisation. The simple formula from him was not to participate in the market which reminded me of the old methods of freedom struggle. He says just to boycott the products. Sounded little funny but the it was the fact.
It was some thing interesting to see things in a different perspective than a normal middle class consumer mindset. The driving force of business which caters to their requirments as well as make them consume the unwanted above their purchasing power. The smart man won’t spent unwantedly and wise man carried less credit cards!!!
Seems the train was passing through the Cochin Airport and could see the tower lights glowing in golden colored sodium vapors. Time to put things back to your bags and the intellectuals seems to be planning about their next day of action. Mahasweta Devi was curious about Cochin. she was asking is it a sea side city? As Bengali’s favorite dish being fish the fellow creative thinkers telling her about the variety of fishes available in Cochin.
They are all heading for an agitation, where the people are affected by the development programs of the state. Some times it is confusing to see the difference between the socialists and capitalists of the present world!!
It was a good experience in the list of my train journey.!
