Of discounts, railway-cum- labour pass by Puneet Rajhans

Of discounts, railway-cum- labour pass

As the train pulled inside the platform, the train staff wasn't willing to open the doors for a long time. They argued that the moment the doors would open the first thing the excessive load of passengers would do is to charge their cells and laptops with the plea that they never got a chance to charge it in the past few days. Not limited to that they would use the charging point for radio, electric shaver and any electric kettle they brought with them to boil the water and take the bath in the adjacent bathrooms. It is precisely for these range of activities the railways put a caution notice in every coach and yet they are fiddled with on every possible occasion. So to tame them the doors are opened to the passengers a few minutes before its departure - and doors remain open for the entire journey for the keeness of the staff to see passengers deboard even before the designated station comes. This leads to a whole tribe remaining stranded and strangulation marks that become visible following the fights and arguments that break out.

Things were no different this time as well in the junction in the vicinity of Tirunelveli. Men, women and babies were stranded on platform 1 on account of inordinate delay in the arrival of train.

The stranded nature of folks in station could be traced to non availability of seats. Imprints of strandedness was visible on platform 1, 2 and 3 as the platform 4 was under reconstruction. Reconstruction for the very reason that it could not withstand the heavy pressure of human explosion who used to frequent it. In fact a large host of train drivers had expressed their willingness to park trains on platform 4, resulting in the huge rush. The huge rush led to its huge decimation. To save the onslaugth and the tragedy that visited Platform 4, the platforms 1,2 and 3 witness a large stranded population - all passengers and co-passengers - as all the chairs that were meant to seat them have been uprooted. Further the places of chairs have been taken by dustbins and signboards that clearly convey other places in the town where a better crowd could be expected. So the pressure not big enough has been equally split among the three visible and standing platforms.

With no visitors accompanying the departure and arrival lots, the surging crowd has stopped and these platforms have become an oasis of peace and tranquility. Where porters won't be able to charge according to his preference and the passenger won't thrust on him a load he can barely manage himself. But that load is proportionate to his agenda of shuttling between cities and towns as peace is yet to return from the place s/he departed.

As i took my seat in the coach with the same state of preparedness that the crowd would follow soon and there would be a mayhem all around, the sense that i was getting was with no immediate neighbour in the immediate vicinity i faced no immediate threat. The immediate threats were from the co-passengers who occupied the seats of their choice and put queries to you. The queries were of this nature: "Are there any papers, documents and jewellery in your luggage that could be pledged to the bank as the co-passenger is in dire need of loan. Or who all touts you were in touch with to get the train tickets.
I tell them point blank that i don't have meddlesome nature and so no need for me to get in touch with middlemen of all shapes sizes and colour. Given the experience i had when i secured a ticket from this tribe and the company i had in the train and the food i had to share i have shut my doors on them even though these middlemen may be hailing from middlesex with middle bent of mind. "Let my countrymen know that howsoever alarming the serpentine queue may look; how taxing it may be to face the heat and humid, i would be part of the queue and secure the ticket from the counter of the reservation centre at the actual fare with no discounts whatsoever.

The discounts as the Government Order states comes for those having clocked close to 4000kms in indian railways in a month would get 40 per cent discount for the next travel; for those having clocked between 4000 and 10,000 would get 75 per cent. As for those having clocked anything over 2 lakh kms over a period of two to three years they would be recurrent guests of Indian Railways where they would be provided railway-cum-labour pass. For the first six months they would be be given free lodging, meals and travelling by railways. For the next six months they would be asked to do a job quite laborious in nature in order to keep their feet to the ground. As for the labour pains their better half ; the live-ins; the ones who should have better got into live-in mode lest made to live out for long; and those torn between live-ins and live outs (the court has yet to step in these cases and give its ruling) would be taken care of in all railway hospitals across the country. To put an end to these series of threats from co-passengers I assert that these discounts don't suit a sizeable segment of the travelling population and they skip it for others to try.

As for air travel the threats that i face relate to queries from co-passengers like at what proportion of height you begin to throw fits and weight and is your air travel proportionate to revealed sources of income and teaching? Since most have abandoned the J Class given the disapportionate assets to proportionate income case brings them close to the authorities looking into them, they mingle with the economy class passengers who are never economical with truth. Probably the seats next to me go unoccupied and unnoticed for the entire journey given the fear the co-traveller faces from the likes of us by our audacity to put such queries to them.