"How can you be so irresponsible? This is blatant dereliction of your duty. You are here to serve us. You better do it properly!" Mahati heard an elderly lady shout at the newly joined, young travel ticket examiner (TTE) on the janshatabdi train, bound to New Delhi. Mahati put away her earphones which continued to play Channa Mereya, completely oblivious to what's happening around. Mahati quickly gobbled the Chole Kulcha she wished to enjoy slowly when she bought it at the Ambala Cantt. She wanted to help if there is any trouble. She inquired what the problem was, from her neighbour.
Her neighbour looked up from his jio-sim equipped smartphone, grinning. He was engrossed in watching the popular Hindi drama serial on Hotstar. Mahati understood that the guy knew what was happening around just as much as his smartphone does. She then realised that more than half of the coach were like her neighbour. So much to be a good samaritan! Just as Mahati rose to find out if everything was okay, an old man with thick beard and a blue turban which was tied down tightly to his chin with a cloth rope started to shout at the TTE as well. The old man is a daily traveler on the train and apparently, the previous day, the TTE failed to notice an unclaimed bag and that created a ruckus. Today as well, there seem to be few unclaimed bags. Mahati showed the TTE which all her bags were. The TTE struggled with the smartphone wielding youth who were uninterested in their own baggage and finally he shortlisted two bags to belong to none. He shouted for two coolies who came in like bomb detection squad. They all decide to not open the bags as opening unclaimed bags would be as foolish as trying to play a spinner with a cross bat. The bags are kept in a far corner. In Kurukshetra, the TTE relayed the information to the next, Karnal station and in Karnal, dropped the bags at the station master room.
The old man, the elderly lady and the other very responsible, respected people were satisfied. They stood the TTE on the spot and taught him the basics of his work. What wonderful teachings, wondered Mahati, just like Krishna to Arjun, at the very same Kurukshetra! After the TTE was allowed to go and perform his lesser important duty, other than listening to the elders, they all started to talk among themselves, quoting various incidents way back from the 80's. 'Do they even maintain newspaper clippings?' chuckled Mahati to herself. She then remembered her earphones. By now they were playing Kabira. As the train neared Panipat, two men, who looked like a tall and a short pahalwan entered the coach, looked on the racks and inquired the people around, in a rough language, where their bags were!
No one spoke. Mahati was listening to Ye tara wo tara, her neighbour was cursing the mother-in-law and the daughter-in-law at the same time, from the hindi serial. A scared passenger brought in the skinny TTE and ran away. The burly man looked into the face of the TTE and menacingly asked where his bag containing his certificates were. The TTE informed that two bags were dropped off at Karnal. The men did not find place for their baggage containing certificates in their coach. So they decided to keep them in this coach. The TTE tried to explain the previous days incident and looked at the old man with the turban for help. The old man looked straight ahead, tugging at the rope which secured his turban to his chin. The TTE turned to the elderly lady who first noticed the unclaimed bags. She simply said, "I do not know what you are talking about." Enraged, the TTE made a phone call to his superior and assured that the youth would receive their bags by courier and that they need to pay for it at the New Delhi station. He then turned to the public and hissed, "You want to know why the so called 'public servants' neglect their duty most often? I just realised that it might be because the public do not deserve servants!"
A week later, Mahati looked at a newspaper report about a blast near Kurukshetra in a New Delhi bound train. The bomb seemed to have been in an unclaimed bag and no one bothered to report it. The TTE was suspended. There was no longer a chin for the blue turban to be bound to.
Her neighbour looked up from his jio-sim equipped smartphone, grinning. He was engrossed in watching the popular Hindi drama serial on Hotstar. Mahati understood that the guy knew what was happening around just as much as his smartphone does. She then realised that more than half of the coach were like her neighbour. So much to be a good samaritan! Just as Mahati rose to find out if everything was okay, an old man with thick beard and a blue turban which was tied down tightly to his chin with a cloth rope started to shout at the TTE as well. The old man is a daily traveler on the train and apparently, the previous day, the TTE failed to notice an unclaimed bag and that created a ruckus. Today as well, there seem to be few unclaimed bags. Mahati showed the TTE which all her bags were. The TTE struggled with the smartphone wielding youth who were uninterested in their own baggage and finally he shortlisted two bags to belong to none. He shouted for two coolies who came in like bomb detection squad. They all decide to not open the bags as opening unclaimed bags would be as foolish as trying to play a spinner with a cross bat. The bags are kept in a far corner. In Kurukshetra, the TTE relayed the information to the next, Karnal station and in Karnal, dropped the bags at the station master room.
The old man, the elderly lady and the other very responsible, respected people were satisfied. They stood the TTE on the spot and taught him the basics of his work. What wonderful teachings, wondered Mahati, just like Krishna to Arjun, at the very same Kurukshetra! After the TTE was allowed to go and perform his lesser important duty, other than listening to the elders, they all started to talk among themselves, quoting various incidents way back from the 80's. 'Do they even maintain newspaper clippings?' chuckled Mahati to herself. She then remembered her earphones. By now they were playing Kabira. As the train neared Panipat, two men, who looked like a tall and a short pahalwan entered the coach, looked on the racks and inquired the people around, in a rough language, where their bags were!
No one spoke. Mahati was listening to Ye tara wo tara, her neighbour was cursing the mother-in-law and the daughter-in-law at the same time, from the hindi serial. A scared passenger brought in the skinny TTE and ran away. The burly man looked into the face of the TTE and menacingly asked where his bag containing his certificates were. The TTE informed that two bags were dropped off at Karnal. The men did not find place for their baggage containing certificates in their coach. So they decided to keep them in this coach. The TTE tried to explain the previous days incident and looked at the old man with the turban for help. The old man looked straight ahead, tugging at the rope which secured his turban to his chin. The TTE turned to the elderly lady who first noticed the unclaimed bags. She simply said, "I do not know what you are talking about." Enraged, the TTE made a phone call to his superior and assured that the youth would receive their bags by courier and that they need to pay for it at the New Delhi station. He then turned to the public and hissed, "You want to know why the so called 'public servants' neglect their duty most often? I just realised that it might be because the public do not deserve servants!"
A week later, Mahati looked at a newspaper report about a blast near Kurukshetra in a New Delhi bound train. The bomb seemed to have been in an unclaimed bag and no one bothered to report it. The TTE was suspended. There was no longer a chin for the blue turban to be bound to.
