As the 'Moon' sees it!

Yet another foregone incident with a common man. Yet another night in the average life of an Indian!

A Hyundai Getz was leaving the Aundh area of Pune. It was nearly 11 PM at night - on the 14th of May. Another hot summer day in Pune had passed by, the trees were tired of the heat and were intent on sleeping early. I was trying to help them at it. The roads were nearly empty, the wind all but dead.

The car zipped through the outer Baner Road and headed towards the University Circle. Inside it, three people were travelling. The occasion was to drop a lady at the railway station. The train was to arrive at 15 past midnite. At the station, the car was parked and the three walked in. Platform tickets were not purchased because of the long queue. It was announced that the train would arrive at Platform 5.

Indian railway stations, for those who havent felt and smelt it, are nothing but an absolute disgrace. On one hand, the Railways is earning profits in crores, on the other hand, it has no vision to spend on enriching the conditions in the trains and the stations. Pune was no ordinary station in India, btw! Its one of the second ring of cities and not some distant village in the middle of Timbuktoo!

The coach was supposed to be S6. The three protoganists duly reached the location where the bogie would end up aligning on the platform. Around 11:50 PM. The stench, the uncleaned platforms and the ever-adapting Indian crowd were all around the three.

Soon and surely, the train chugged into the station. The seat number was supposed to be 16. Umpteen train journeys have come and gone in their lives till then. They never had had too many issues to comfort themselves with, once a train arrived. It was the mere formality of getting in and arranging one's luggage. A due-diligence inspection of the namelist pasted on the bogie usually accompanied the final round of the "train onboarding formality". Happened here too, but with the name not seen at all, in the entire S6 namelist. Strange situation - Hmm?? - they thought!!!

Nevertheless, the three marched into the train. Suprisingly the seat 16, which is supposed to be "Side Upper" - complicated the matter. The normal side berths in Indian trains only had two tiers. One nearly aligned to the window and the other absolutely above it. As they say in german - Fall der Fenster and Uber der Fenster...! This one had drei tiers. The english translation would go with the number between 2 and 4.

Whats this new complication?! To add masala to the omelette being cooked, all the three tiers were occupied. "Which one is number 16?" - asked one man accompanying the lady. One can congratulate Luck for it - the person who occupied berth 16 - immediately got down and said it was not his berth. The lady jumped in and put her luggage in the mid tier berth. The person at the topmost berth was dreaming about something very important - and hence couldnt muster the distraction of opening his eyes! The one at the lowermost berth, awake, was probably getting worried if the next question would put him out of the berth he was occupying!

Not used to travels made in the middle of the night, with Me shining bright - especially with a lady in Modern India - the two men were worried, if she would be able to manage the probable situation - if the person whose name was posted in 16 on the namelist - did arrive?!!! Ofcourse one has the maturity to handle such situations, but was midnite in that dirty train; in the middle of nowhere - the opportunity to test one's skills?!

Dilemma ensued. To ensure that all was cross-verified, they tried to check the lists of S5 and S7. No luck. Seemed like the Railway employee who printed the namelists, didnt like any name we were looking for!?!! How could all this go wrong, in such quick minutes. A good point to note, Indian trains have a healthy habit of leaving the platforms - without any formal announcement or preword! Time was running short. Enter a man in his 30s and another one accompanying him, equally old! One of them, wearing a heavy rimmed glasses, came to seat 16. "Is this your seat?" was his question. A quick cross-check of both tickets by the lady and the spectacled man ensued. The lady asserted that it was her seat. The man and his companion duly left to check if their name was in the namelist.

One could see them duly studying the list for S6 from seat 10 to almost 20! With obvious confused looks, they walked back right in.

The Indian train was keeping up to its habits - only this time it was nearly punctual. Without any hint, it started leaving the station. The two men waved "bye" only with worries written between the frowns on their faces. Called the lady on phone and told her to manage any situation with the TTR to ensure that she had a place for herself. The lady sounded confident of handing the situation.

Pune saw an eventless morning the next day as I moved on and my counterpart took charge. The phone rang - on what actually happened the previous night, in the train. The lady explained that there was no TTR to discuss the situation with, suprising since, such situations are great opportunities for "minting" money from the average Indian passenger..! She added "The spectacled man was probably a very soft spoken man, with a village background." He pleaded to her - "Where will I go now?" - with a very distinct simpleness and resignation to fate. The lady got support from the men in berth 15 - as she was a lady! They convinced the villager to go and find a place somewhere else.

There was absolute fairness in what they had said.
Was there absolute fairness in what they had said?

Only almost. The lady had got the ticket for the train - S6, berth 16 but dated the 14th of May. It was expected to reach Pune station by 12:15 midnight time, which meant the travel date should be the 15th of May. Since she had got the ticket for the previous day's journey, her name was not listed in the namelist. The printer clerk at the Railways is correct and exonerated of any charges! The spectacled mild-mannered villager was the due occupant of berth 16 - for the journey on the 15th of May.

No TTR and no one else to clarify on this issue - the villager found a place to sleep on the compartment floor. He had duly paid for the fare of the journey, only to be left not availing it!

As the silent "Moon" watching all of this happen, I didnt know how to react! Was it the fault of the lady? Could she have accepted her fault to the villager - and ended up travelling in "no-man's berth" on that train? Was it safe for her in that crowded train, to take that risk? Could the villager have been more assertive in putting his case through? What would have ensued if he was a city bred dude? Who would have taken berth 16? What if there was a duty bound TTR - added to the mix?

- These questions will remain unanswered. For ever!

The irony of Indian life these days is such! Who comes first, takes it all. Whoever is duly supposed to - doesnt! Who needs to be present to monitor it, isnt!

In a Moon's life, this is not anything new. I see many such incidents from the distance. Sometimes I introspect - sometimes I ignore. Now that you have heard the complete story, hope I have you introspecting!!