Train
Travel - Sacrifice for the Nation, A False Pride and Sacrifice for a family!
Sacrifice for the Nation
In May 1893, while Gandhi was on his way to
Pretoria, a white man objected to Gandhi's presence in a first-class carriage,
and he was ordered to move to the van compartment at the end of the train.
Gandhi, who had a first-class ticket, refused, and was thrown off the train at
Pietermaritzburg. Shivering through the winter night in the waiting room of the
station, Gandhi made the momentous decision to stay on in South Africa and fight
the racial discrimination against Indians there. His sacrifice to the
protection of the people is the starting for the freedom of our Nation.
A False Pride
In the year 1988, if I remember the year correctly,
I had an experience of questioning by the TTR (Train Ticket Reviewer) of a
train bound to BINA from KOTA, where I boarded with a valid first-class train
ticket, during my official trip, when I was working with Richardson &
Cruddas (1972) Ltd. It was nearing midnight when the train touched the deserted
platform of Kota railway station. I was about to return back from Kota to Chennai
and the route suggested by my client that I need to travel from Kota to Bina to catch up Chennai bound
trains from Delhi.
Those days no reservations were made as the nature of work
is like that. I was little perturbed to find the first-class coach, as there is
no such one but found a couch with painted as I Class at one end and II Class
in the other end! So I jumped into the first-class entrance and found no one is
there and only a dim light was burning and I found a partition which separates
both the classes. With a little fear I took a corner seat and waiting for the
signal to depart. Suddenly a person with muffler clad around his neck and
covered head except the eyes and wearing TTR coat. Then I was a bit happy to
have a company.
The moment he
entered, he asked me in Hindi, who I am and why I bought a first-class ticket. I
understood his question and answered in English about my company and where from
I am coming and my destination. He then asked me, why I bought a first-class
ticket. I explained to him that it is the travel privilege given to officers by
the company. Then without any further talk, he closed the door and locked it
and asked me to shut all the windows fully. When I gently asked him, what is the
reason, he said the train from Kota to Bina passes through a desert track and
likelihood of dacoits stopping the train and loot the passengers belongings in
a short time and flee and so for the safety we need to be in a tightly closed
compartment. To my surprise, he went to sleep and told me to wake him on
reaching Kota station. He warned me again to be careful in not opening the
windows or doors for any reason!
I couldn’t sleep throughout the journey due to fear.
At last the train screeched the Bina Railway Station. But before I attempted to
wake the TTR, he woke up and said good bye to me with a caution again that in
future I shouldn’t venture to travel in first-class in that route!
It’s a one-time experience for me, in travelling in
a train with valid first-class ticket but not thrown out of the train! But I
am ashamed of my false pride to travel
in a first-class train compartment .The rest of the story may not be
relevant to this blog!
Sacrifice for a Family
Coming to the train travel of my dad, who, by virtue
of his work, always on the move for more than 30 years by train, since 1945, from
Madras to many cities and remote places, for servicing refrigeration equipment
supplied by his company, the same Richardson & Cruddas, where I joined in
1971. He was eligible to travel in II class in Train at that time. But he used
to travel in III class only and from the train fare amount difference he saved,
he used to buy dresses, shoes, play things, taking us to hotels and cheer up us
to forget his absence from us during his long trips. His sacrifice for our
family cannot be concluded with a single reference of this train episode. More
and more are there to share.
