A Train Travel

Kripya Dhyan de Amritsar se chalkar, Itarsi Nagpur ke raaste Bilaspur Ko Jane waali, ek aath do teen aath, Amritsar Bilaspur Chhattisgarh Express, Apne nirdhharit samay se ek ghanta pachaas minute deri se chal rahi hai, aapko Hui asuwidha ke liye humein khed hai

I just love this person's voice, it isn't a bot surely, the old Railway Announcement system at Bhopal Junction (West Central Railway) was the voice of a lady which used to give me goosebumps when I was a child, specially the 'arriving soon' announcement of the train. ( Yeah train aane waali hai)

"Kripya Dhyan de Amritsar se chalkar, Itarsi Nagpur ke raaste Bilaspur Ko jaane wali, ek aath do teen aath, Amritsar Bilaspur Chhattisgarh Express, kuch hi samay mein platform no. 1 par AA Rahi hai ! "

(She used to announce in such a thrilling voice, wow)

The notification sound before and after the announcement were actually 'tada' and 'chimes' which were found in a sound scheme in the Windows® Notifications of the WindowsXP® operating system. (You can check internet for these notification sounds)

This announcement system was used in the times of 98s and so on.

(Recently Bhopal Junction has changed its announcement system a bit which means the older one is now a memory forever, which will be cherished by me surely forever, hereby I moan and observe a silence of 1 minute!)

Those times all mail/express trains had the legendary 'Red Colured' ICF Rakes (thanks to that Red Oxide paint used by the Indian Railways)

Only two premium trains were there in the country viz.

'Rajdhani Express' (All originating from Delhi, long distance premium train, consisting all three tiers of AC service, colour scheme was Red and Yellow, with a generator van at both the ends)

and the second one 'Shatabdi Express' ( A short distance premium train with only AC chair cars, colour scheme was blue and yellow, with generator vans)

Train journeys are always fascinating, adventurous. Traveling in Indian Railways is nostalgia.

Trains have a vibe, and you start to feel it when you are standing at the platform and you peep out of the platform to see your train's locomotive front to confirm yourself that yes the train is arriving finally. (AA Rahi hai, AA Rahi hai)

The train slowly crawls to the track of the platform, you hear the honking of the locomotive, (terrifying, loud yet thrilling horn)  you can feel the feeble yet thrilling vibrations of the giant arriving vehicle via the platform ground, as the train moves closer the vibrations' frequency manifolds, the vibrations thrill and excite you right from your feet to your chest, you can feel them,you can see the sexy pantograph on the locomotive's top sucking in power, the loco body leaves it's energetic impression on you (I am the loco and boss of this train!) the loco bypasses you, leaving you with a short impulsive gust of a wind, (that sudden pressure difference blows a short time wind, you feel it if you are not too far away from the train) immediately followed by the rakes where that 'luggage' coach reads the 'title board' of the train you are about to board, few people start running here and there to be with their allotted coaches, as if it is their life partner(in earlier times, there was no coach position display system available). 'Indian Railway Wheeler Trolly Vendors' start shouting to sell their goods, the train is just about to stop and stops with a what I call an etchy sound? ( That chiiieeee awaaz), it stops with a jerk, thus playing with inertia and displacing the seated passengers a bit, and spills water from the bottle of a passenger who misses the aim of his mouth due to the jerk. (A passenger has to strongly manage and adjust if he/she is inside the latrine just at the time train stops, hopefully one is not in the Indian style lolz).

Some people don't understand and try to rush inside the coach too quickly and thus are vehemently opposed by the passengers who have to exit the train ( ae bhai pehle nikalne to de, Abhi bohot der rukegi).

As you enter your coach, you can hear that constant 'gghharrrr' sound of that low rpm motor of the grill framed thus secured fans of the coach, few passengers start quarrelling for the berths. The new passengers start to kick and shift their luggage like a ragdoll to their respective berths, further they shew away any passengers if they occupy their berth (Abey hathja bhai 'ye meri berth hai'). Now they place their luggages (arey ye ataichi neeche ghusa, bag bhi rakhde and so on).

Today there is one more thing to own in the train which was not present in earlier times, this thing is 'Mobile Charging Point'.

Owning and seeing your mobile being charged from this socket is a winning experience. There are some people today who live a terrific enjoyment in not removing their phones from the socket and offer it to the needed, I guess they own some privileges or what? ( '95% charged' their battery indicator shows, yet they come out like a shit from anus - "Abhi charge Ni hua" , and in their bag they carry a fully charged power bank!, which will come out when they loose the charging point to someone!) Whatever, please offer charging point to the needed ones first.

I guess this government thing can put up a rule here or whatever, it will be good.

All settle, the train starts crawling again, with that legendary jerk again…..

It crosses the platform in agression and at a good acceleration as if it is humiliating such a big station, station board reads place name with height above sea level mentioned passes by, platform ends, number of tracks change,

(and I love this sound whenever the train changes tracks, listen to this sound wow goosebumps, if the train is at a good speed.)

Now the train is on the main line and is at its peak speed,

the bogies now follow what I should say an unjustified, mysterious, unpredictable set of shaky movements, sometimes this movement becomes so harmonic that it can be compared

with the 'Palakee' of a child, (Oh sleep you little idiot, I made a swing movement for you) the train even sings 'tatak tatak' for you, with the added flavour of the loco honking.

This shaky movement is used by many film makers to show a moving train scene, where the character follow this mysterious and unpredictable set of movements (hilte rhenge wo log).

It's time for the in-train vendors to rule,

"Chain, Tala, Paper-Soap"

"Chaaaieeyee", "Coffee" , "Time pass Popcorn, Haan Boliye? Popcorn",

(You can see these vendors more in sleeper class, still some of them visit the ac coaches.)

If these vendors arrive in the ac coaches they will adjust their loud voice to a polite voice as they are the classified gentlemen on board.

Their voice  changes from an old fashioned, unserviced, silencer-less sound of a bike engine to a "Do me a favour? kind of voice on a date, like they are not selling their stuff, but are asking for favour lolz.

Chhhaaaaiiiiyeeeee Chaaaieeyyeeee! Garam Chaaieyeee! ( Sleeper Class Style)

chaiye? (Inside AC bogies)

It's the polite, silent and sleepy environment of AC bogies which forces these vendors to change their voice pattern.

Well, some of the passengers make new friends on the train, this is good I mean a good time killing thing if you have those social skills and such stuff to talk to a stranger, who knows maybe is more interested in talking to you than you.

Hell, who cares I can kill time effectively by making some observations and jokes in my mind ( by the way I don't know which option is better, but the second one is better for me.)

Well, currently the 'chaiwala' has arrived and I want some sips…

A School Boy/Girl Again

Two Partitions one for textbooks, one for notebooks, with the rolling sound of pencils in a geometry box, all inside a school bag, hung upon daring shoulders, they rock to school!

I guess, today if you reflect on your school days (like those 8th 9th 10th standard days) you will find that you were a firm and strong believer of yourselves back then. I am not saying that today you don't trust yourself, but surely the enthusiasm, passion, desires, power of dreams etc. for any profession, thing, the person you wanna be etc. has faded from your earlier self.to you as today..?!

Maybe it is the 'expectations from you'  by your family, responsible for it?

Maybe it is the fresh beginning of a new crush of yours, where that introductory attraction has quite suitably forced you to lose yourself a bit..?! at the expense of his/her??

hehe..Well come-on be honest !

May be, like, slowly you are able to visualise a 'fading in' reality from a dense misty fog, where your dreams, start to 'fade out'.?!

It is common sense, that it is a dawn of so called 'grown up' power of reason of yours where you start laughing on yourselves, "Such a stupid kid I was?"

We claim it today as an adult, that it is the 'wisdom' which is sinking in your mind as you slowly grow in your life, where you start to think and reason and filter-out that I/you were being childish.

I think sometimes growing up is not good for your success and dreams. (may be it is, I don't know).

As you grow, you are affected by judgements of other people in your surroundings be it your family, friends, partner anyone.

You are even 'affected' by that grown up 'clever mind' of yours who will cross question your self belief and dreams by examining and comparing everything between your present state and your dreams…?!

(Certain severe living conditions such as extreme poverty etc can be accepted)

but for most of the times we have to say that this so called grown up reasoning power of yours which we call wisdom isn't your enemy..?!

Doesn't it force you to procastinate? Your 'clever mind' will try to distract you from your 'real goals'.?!

As 'wisdom' sinks in, so is the fear. Isn't it interesting?

" A wise man once said…..

Why?? why a "wise" man said???because he lost his dare, to let others lose too??"

Observe situations in your life that when you are told to be "wise"?

To save you from a dangerous situation?

(it is claimed to be common sense in such cases, otherwise you will be termed as a fool, Oh lord see me! I just now have a fear of judgement from people to be called myself a 'fool' lolz !!....

well I am not talking about that Aag mei hath daaloge to jalega waala common sense...it is obvious..)

At times, there is a very thin line between 'common sense' and 'being wise' .

Maybe the problem is that the grown-up minds of we human beings often misjudge between the two. It is really hard for all of us to judge between the two, thus our 'grown up clever minds' avoid such a situation altogether, in fear  to be judged as a fool, and we end up being average.

(e.g. bhai yehi kr leta/leti hu, life hai mazaak Ni hai, kaun chance le??? see??? , actually we don't have a fear of what will happen to our lives, in reality we are not afraid for the consequences of our decisions

but carefully observe that our 'clever mind'  is 'wise' and it doesn't want to take any chances, doesn't want to be called itself a fool in front of those other 'clever minds' lolz...in reality we don't have a fear, but this 'grown-up clever mind' has.

'No adult has a powerful mind like a child', but it is the dare of the mind of a child who can take you to your dreams.)

Being a child is difficult in the world which actually lives to its dream, people just grow-up to be 'wise' enough which numbs them to action and make them prone to fears.

Risk and its consequences are worth it.

(however, as usual this will again sound foolish because we grown-up adults are reading and writing  na! lolz R.I.P. child mind and its dreams)

Ultimately it doesn't allow you to take risks, now you know that your daring, kiddish, heart has been assasinated by this so called grown-up mind of yours.

The mind of your younger self was a  firm believer, pure, stubborn, it wasn't accepting a defeat, it believed firmly "I wanna be a NASA astronaut, so I will be."

"I wanna be Miss universe, so I will be."

"I wanna be the next Barack Obama, so I will be."

"I am gonna create a new generation of processors, so I will be."

till your grown-up mind literally poops out of nowhere!

"Rules are meant to be broken."

Rules are always made by the grown-up adult ones, ever any child made a rule?? So, they are the ones who will break it for the better good.

Adult must follow rules, a pattern, because they are 'wise' , they have a resistance to risk.

Maybe the mind of a child is the heart of a warrior which makes a difference in reaching your true dreams. It is unbiased, it is not contaminated with negativity and such thoughts, it is experimental in nature as it is not 'wise'.

We have the power to reason as an adult, but risk taking and trying things is life but 'wise minds' might not show flexibility here.

It would be better if we still have that 'School Boy/Girl' left alive in ourselves.

The Seeds Of "The Conflict"

For a population of "massive billions", a piece of fictional work is definitely not going to create any kind of "social conflict" amongst the different communities and any kind of "emotional conflict" within oneself. So fiction is not a problem here.
  Now, what we mean by history?
  History is "a record of" and is declared as fact after doing various studies. An artist will have to have some boundaries in his/her work, he can't change the proven facts.
     But there are few cases where the history is not complete in itself. There is conflict between the historians who define the events differently with their perception and reasons. If an artist is interested in such topics then what should be the "proper method" to depict this type of history, this is the question whose answers we seek, when such a case arises.
If we see closely, the previous statement is actually incorrect because there is never a "proper method" for an artist to depict his/her work. In such kind of controversial histories, a real work of an artist comes into picture. It is in these type of cases where an artist's talent and capabilities can be seen.
It is just like completing a jigsaw puzzle in which some pieces are missing and you have to first make those pieces and then fit them perfectly so that a meaningful and acceptable kind of picture can be made. If an artist does that, then it is a work of art, not work of fiction or work of history. It is art in its raw form.
 The conflict arises when we are possessive of something, i.e. "we own it" kind of feeling. Okay, it is fine that you are very much connected to your historical characters, you kind of worship them but you can't force an artist to be adhered to your thoughts, because first of all there is conflict among the historians related to it and secondly that artist is providing you a new view of which the historians might never have thought of. Instead such artwork must be accepted more rather than criticising it negatively.
   Everything is good until the artist is not offending anyone personally.
The thing is that, people become possessive and instead of seeing it as an historical event they attach themselves to those historical characters and let their "emotional reason" to allow and see the event themselves in their brains and become so attached that they worship them and declare possession of these characters within their brains. Well good! this is also art, but then you have to respect the other artist as well. The artist might have also gone through the same thing and then he/she is just depicting it the way they see it or sense it.
 These conflicts can be avoided if we have an unbiased, unpolitical view of understanding art. A community, religion or region cannot and should not be so possessive of their history that they become inflexible to accept any kind of art work related to it specially when this history is in debate among historians itself. So this is a field of art and artist must be the only player here. If anyone feels offended in such cases then, he/she needs to see that, what they thought might have been the course of things is just not matching with that in which the particular artist sees. So, if it doesn't matches then it doesn't mean that your perception is right and that artist's is wrong just because you are related to the region of this historical event. You can't become possessive here.
     It is art and should be accepted as just an artwork. People must be mature enough to accept the art.
-Chirag Maheshwari