Did I do a Rang de Basanti at 19??
I must have been around 19 then, doing 1st year BE from an Engg. College in Bangalore. It was the semester break and was about time that all the North Indians left for home. Like everyone else in my batch even I was packed with loads of anxiety or rather excitement to visit my hometown. But unlike others my journey back home used to be a pretty tiring one, taking some precious 66 hrs our out of my life, considering the fact that I had to travel non stop. Hence this time I decided to do a break journey, wherein I would take a rest for one day in Jamshedpur and head forwards. This incident that I would be narrating from here on happened in the journey from Jamshedpur to Renukoot ( my hometown where I was headed : a small Induatrial town in the southern part of Uttar Pradesh ).
During this journey to Renukoot I had one companion with me in the face of my Uncle. He planned to accompany me to Renukoot from Jamshedpur since he hadn’t paid a visit to my Mom and Dad for a long time. So there we started our journey to Renukoot. Before I proceed further I guess it would be wise to briefly describe my uncle here. To be true he is a person who is really unaware of the real world outside the place he had ever belonged to. So in real terms I was the guardian, as I had to guide him during the entire journey. He always looked pretty much gullible in the world outside his domain.
Anyways let me get on with what exactly had happened. The train had left Jsr at 2.00 p.m. It was around 5.00p.m when the train reached Moori Station ( A pretty big town in Jharkhand). The train had some 30min halt there, waiting for another train from Ranchi, after which they became a single train and proceeded to Amritsar. I thought that it would be wise if I got something to eat for both of us since after Moori there wouldn’t be many major halts. So I got down of the train and went to a nearby pantry area on the platform itself. When I came back to my coupe I was taken aback with what I saw. Two policemen goading my uncle to pay a fine of Rs500/- odd. On enquiring I found out that they were collecting fines from everyone whom they found smoking inside the coach. But to my best of knowledge there wasn’t a single law in the jurisdiction, at that time, wherein you could be fined for such a behaviour. However, on telling this to those two guys they said that such a law had been recently introduced and that my uncle had to pay the fine. But on our insistence they agreed upon Rs100/-( of course they wouldn’t give any receipt for that). My uncle on the other hand was still not ready for that sum, hence I took out a Rs100/- note from my pocket and handed it on to them. These guys then moved on from there to the next coach. I don’t really know what struck me after that but I really felt guilty of such an act and I though of taking the two cops to task my own way. I immediately got down of the train again and headed towards the police control room in the station. Midway however I spotted the guard of the train. Just to ensure that I had enough time before the train left I asked him about the departure schedule of the train. As luck would have it I had only about a couple of min or so. Hence I thought that it would be wise if I narrated the story to him only and took his help instead of going to the police as that would have meant a mere wastage of time. On listening to my story he said that even he could handle the situation if I were able to bring those two cops into his notice ( and yes in that last 1 min left as otherwise the train shall leave). I now ran in search of the two cops only to find them in the 2nd bogy from ours. I called one of them and asked him to come with me. They could easily sense that something was wrong. They kept on pestering me to tell them the real issue while I kept on telling them to just accompany me. Then I took them to the guard. The guard then in front of around 20-25 people gave a proper screwing to these fellows. Having already received public ignominy they took me to a corner and asked me what I needed. I was by this time so thrilled with the set of events, that I could boldly ask them to pay back my Rs 100/-. To my surprise they even did so and were pretty much eager for the train to leave.I came back to the bogy felling as happy as I had ever felt before.I was relieved to have this gut feeling that I did make a difference however small it may have been.
Now, a few days after I have watched Aamir’s Rang De Basanti I felt even I should express this incident that had happened much before the movie was released because now I feel that even I had done a real life Rang De Basanti. Isnt It ???
I must have been around 19 then, doing 1st year BE from an Engg. College in Bangalore. It was the semester break and was about time that all the North Indians left for home. Like everyone else in my batch even I was packed with loads of anxiety or rather excitement to visit my hometown. But unlike others my journey back home used to be a pretty tiring one, taking some precious 66 hrs our out of my life, considering the fact that I had to travel non stop. Hence this time I decided to do a break journey, wherein I would take a rest for one day in Jamshedpur and head forwards. This incident that I would be narrating from here on happened in the journey from Jamshedpur to Renukoot ( my hometown where I was headed : a small Induatrial town in the southern part of Uttar Pradesh ).
During this journey to Renukoot I had one companion with me in the face of my Uncle. He planned to accompany me to Renukoot from Jamshedpur since he hadn’t paid a visit to my Mom and Dad for a long time. So there we started our journey to Renukoot. Before I proceed further I guess it would be wise to briefly describe my uncle here. To be true he is a person who is really unaware of the real world outside the place he had ever belonged to. So in real terms I was the guardian, as I had to guide him during the entire journey. He always looked pretty much gullible in the world outside his domain.
Anyways let me get on with what exactly had happened. The train had left Jsr at 2.00 p.m. It was around 5.00p.m when the train reached Moori Station ( A pretty big town in Jharkhand). The train had some 30min halt there, waiting for another train from Ranchi, after which they became a single train and proceeded to Amritsar. I thought that it would be wise if I got something to eat for both of us since after Moori there wouldn’t be many major halts. So I got down of the train and went to a nearby pantry area on the platform itself. When I came back to my coupe I was taken aback with what I saw. Two policemen goading my uncle to pay a fine of Rs500/- odd. On enquiring I found out that they were collecting fines from everyone whom they found smoking inside the coach. But to my best of knowledge there wasn’t a single law in the jurisdiction, at that time, wherein you could be fined for such a behaviour. However, on telling this to those two guys they said that such a law had been recently introduced and that my uncle had to pay the fine. But on our insistence they agreed upon Rs100/-( of course they wouldn’t give any receipt for that). My uncle on the other hand was still not ready for that sum, hence I took out a Rs100/- note from my pocket and handed it on to them. These guys then moved on from there to the next coach. I don’t really know what struck me after that but I really felt guilty of such an act and I though of taking the two cops to task my own way. I immediately got down of the train again and headed towards the police control room in the station. Midway however I spotted the guard of the train. Just to ensure that I had enough time before the train left I asked him about the departure schedule of the train. As luck would have it I had only about a couple of min or so. Hence I thought that it would be wise if I narrated the story to him only and took his help instead of going to the police as that would have meant a mere wastage of time. On listening to my story he said that even he could handle the situation if I were able to bring those two cops into his notice ( and yes in that last 1 min left as otherwise the train shall leave). I now ran in search of the two cops only to find them in the 2nd bogy from ours. I called one of them and asked him to come with me. They could easily sense that something was wrong. They kept on pestering me to tell them the real issue while I kept on telling them to just accompany me. Then I took them to the guard. The guard then in front of around 20-25 people gave a proper screwing to these fellows. Having already received public ignominy they took me to a corner and asked me what I needed. I was by this time so thrilled with the set of events, that I could boldly ask them to pay back my Rs 100/-. To my surprise they even did so and were pretty much eager for the train to leave.I came back to the bogy felling as happy as I had ever felt before.I was relieved to have this gut feeling that I did make a difference however small it may have been.
Now, a few days after I have watched Aamir’s Rang De Basanti I felt even I should express this incident that had happened much before the movie was released because now I feel that even I had done a real life Rang De Basanti. Isnt It ???
2 comments:
Hey! That was a good job man. If I am not wrong, smoking is allowed in long distance trains provided no one objects to it. Once again, kudos to you buddy!
Act of Bravery!!
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