Chain Culture!

It was in 2005 that I last travelled on Indian Railways. I have been reading both good and bad about the railways. Laloo and Mamta both had contributed for the state of affairs we are in today. It was the last day of January 2013, I got on to Garib Rath with Joe, my American friend, who was keen to travel by Indian Railways. Luckily the train for Jabalpur departed on time. Condition of the coaches was good. What impressed me was electrical power point for charging mobiles and laptops in every cabin. Good thought that dawned upon the bureaucrats.

Soon after Kalyan we found gang of unauthorized vendors moving through the coaches selling anything from tea, coffee, bottled water, vada pav, bhel puri, Nasik grapes to Chinese toys. Surprisingly the official vendors were conspicuously missing. In between someone from railway’s catering services would move around to book evening dinner and someone would supply bedrolls on payment for the night. Both the dinner and bedrolls were far below the acceptable standards. I asked Joe if he would like to taste Vada Pav. His refusal was understandable, the nice smell of freshly fried Vada and the fried green chillies was very tempting, but the unhygienic way it was served even made me shirk from the idea of having one. Tea from unauthorized venders was good, but too expensive. Joe made a quick calculation and commented that it’s more expensive than a bottle of beer in Maharashtra. In Goa, he said, one may have two bottles beer at lesser price than that of the tea. Hardly 50 ml of tea that was served at Rs.7/-. It works out to nearly Rs.140/- per liter. I had no answer for his observational silent question.

Chained tumbler in toilet

Joe wanted to freshen up and excused himself. The cleanliness in railway toilets, even other toilets in India is far below the acceptable levels for Westerners. We as Indians may crib and use it as we have no options. Very few individuals take any efforts to keep the toilets clean, we just don’t care. Anyway I was not expecting any comments to this regard from Joe, as he got used to such toilets while in India. Joe returned and had a big question mark on his face.  “Something wrong Joe”. I enquired? “Not really”, he said, “I was sure not to find tissues in the toilet, but I was just wondering why the tumbler over there is chained? Who the hell will take it away?” I had no answer, but it did trigger my thought process. Why are we like this?

We finished our dinner and decided to retire. As we were preparing our beds, Joe saw our fellow passenger putting a chain and a lock to his bag. Again there was a question from Joe, why is he securing the bag? May be the poor chap was worried that his bag should not be stolen in the night. I could understand this but could not explain to Joe. Thieves are everywhere in the world but the numbers and what they steal is different. I have seen bags being snatched at Hong Kong and Frankfurt airports. I have seen mugging in New York and Moscow. But tying a chain to travel bag is unique to our country. I was looking for a convincing answer to explain Indian psyche to Joe.

Chained garbage can

By 9.00 pm the train reached Bhusawal. Joe checked with me if it would ok for him to get out of the coach and stroll over the platform for a while. The train usually halts for fifteen minutes and I nodded my head in confirmation. Joe had a breath of fresh air and returned to the coach once again with a question mark. Now I was wondering, what is bothering Joe.  He did not test my patience. He narrated that he went to drop the gum wrapped in a piece of paper to the garbage can and he was surprised to see the chain and lock on the garbage can. The dust been, what the American call as garbage can, had a chain around it and that was locked to grill of a window. Joe asked, “Does someone steal garbage cans in India?” I had once again no answer but some pricking questions.

Chained sand and water buckets for fire fighting

Train reached Itarasi by 2.00 am. Joe gain got out of the coach. I was sure that Joe will have another question when he returns. There was a change of locomotive from electric to diesel. A loud different whistle vouched for this as the train rolled out. I went till the passage to ensure that Joe is back in the coach. “Any questions Joe?” I initiated this time. “Well, just want to know how often there is a fire at the railway stations in India?” Joe asked. “Hardly any, I don’t remember any incidence in the recent past”, I told Joe, “but what made you ask this question Joe”, I asked. “Well on the track (American word for platform) I saw buckets of water and sand neatly placed on a steel stand” Joe told, “but question remains why these should be chained and locked? How can one use these in case of emergency? One will have to look for the person who has the keys”. Once again, I was foxed and had no answer.

Chained chairs in first class waiting room

The train finally reached Jabalpur. We waited at the platform for a while for our friend who was to pick us up. He was delayed. I called him to check if he was around. He informed that he might take some time to reach station and we should wait for him in first class waiting room. We picked up our bags and proceeded towards the waiting room. I stepped in and immediately turned back. Joe wanted to know if anything is wrong. I said, “no, we will rather wait out and enjoy early morning fresh air (along with typical early morning foul smell)”. It would have been easy for me to explain Joe, genesis of foul smell, rather that answering his certain question, “why the chairs in the waiting room are chained and locked?”

Can someone tell me why do we need to lock everything, private and public property? Are we really thieves? We see this every day but what message it gives to the foreigners? THINK.......