Of crises

As far as uneasy feelings go, this is a new one for me. I first recognised it when I was sitting in a bus and I had nothing to do. Usually, I have a book for company but I forgot to carry one this time. My calm and peace were getting increasingly disturbed and after some time there was none. I needed to do something real bad. That something need not have been towards a productive pursuit, I might as well have browsed through the latest edition of Stardust magazine.

That's when I realised that I can't be content just sitting by myself. The full impact of this revelation about my persona took some time to adjust to. I wasn't always like this. There were many winter afternoons in Delhi, when I could just sit in the verandah doing nothing and be perfectly calm. That's what got me thinking, why is it so ? Maybe it's the education ? Maybe it's the media ? Perhaps it's the modern civilization ? perhaps it's the effect of my peer ? ..... and on and on, I kept thinking about all the possibilities, exercising my mind about why I can't sit quietly and think. Why is it so difficult to just wait ? .... and Hola, guess what, my destination arrived and I obliviously returned to my ways of doing stuff. It was only when I got some spare time again, and I started feeling uncomfortable again, that I got reminded of my thought exercise and decided to pen this blog.

Corrupt officials vs unscrupulous gentry

Seems like all my posts of late have been to do with blaming someone. Either the bureaucracy, the people, something or the other. So here's one more post on the same flavor.

It's very difficult to book a train ticket nowadays. Unless you know well in advance ( ~ 2months ) about your exact plans, don't expect to make a comfortable journey. Well, I suffered the same fate and did not get an AC ticket. I'm not trying to sound super borgeois here. Indian summers are really tough otherwise. But, I did get a reserved ticket and that was good fate enough. So, the train rattled on through the great Deccan plateau towards the port city of Chennai. I was getting cooked, as if on a slow spit, such is life. I was just about dozing off when I heard some commotion. There was an angry quarrel between some passengers and the railway ticket officials ( called TTs).

There were about four of these troublemakers versus three TTs dressed in their official garb. What followed was a tirade of abuses, shouting, shoving and finally the ringleader of the troublemakers threatened to pull the 'emergency stop chain'. Meanwhile a crowd of sorts (including me) had accumulated and were looking on intently at the proceedings, never passing a chance to have some free entertainment. Just as we thought there was going to be some real action, the argument ended and both parties proceeded to amicably utter platitudes about cooperation, compromise and the Indian favourite, 'Adjust'. I was pretty surprised at the turn of events. I didn't expected the TTs who are supposed to be the upholders of all that is true and fair in the world of trains to buckle down like that. After all, those four goons were illegal freeloaders who had gotten on the train without reservations.

Luckily, I was rescued from my growing perplexity by a co passenger. The deal was this. The TTs were corrupt and these four members of the public had no scruples. The TTs had apparently had taken bribes and these guys had gotten on without reservations. The lesson was that the guilty protecteth the guilty. that is another one of my negative stories blaming someone. and ya Jai Hind..!