I arrived at the railway station long before the departure of my train. My train was scheduled for 2 am but I reached the station at 11 pm by the last bus available. Hiring a cab late after midnight to the station was a luxury for a middle class person like me and we always try to remain on the safe side. We always reach the station well in advance because we just cannot afford to miss a train. Though we have enough of reasons, we have to check the platform, check the chart prepared but the real fact is the money that we don’t want to lose.
I scanned the station thoroughly and
noticed that though it was so late, it was crowded. I tried to find a seat to
allow my butt some well-deserved rest. Moreover the sharp edge of the bottom of
my bag hanging from my arm has been irritating it continuously from a long time.
At last I found a place to sit.
To my extreme right I saw the A/C
waiting room sparsely filled up.People were resting comfortably in the chill
atmosphere provided by the A/C. It seemed as if they were completely ignorant
to the hot humid climate outside. The high temperature and sweaty summer nights
had no effect on them. They were the people to whom summer is just a season in
the books and sun is yet another shinning object glowing in the sky. I saw a
man dressed up in a suit and boot as if he was going to attain a high profile
board meeting in the next few minutes completely engrossed in his laptop. He
was scratching his head every other minute and was sipping coffee from the cup
placed right next to him. Few other people next to him were trying to sleep on
the chair though it was little uncomfortable for them, turning from one side to
other every moment and adjusting the blanket accordingly. Isn't it funny to see
people in suits and blanket in the summer season. Oh sorry! They were in an air
conditioned room.
Suddenly my eyes fell on two kids. They were
busy playing some game on their mobile phones wearing abnormally large
headphones covering a quarter of their face. Few minutes later I saw a kid jumping
from his seat with both his hands lifted up in the air. He must have won the
game. May be exhausted after gaming or because of continuous request from their
nagging mothers, both of them opened their bags and took out something to eat.
Yes, a bottle of juice and few packs of chips and cookies. I didn't want my mouth
to water seeing them eating. So I chose to change my sight. Then I saw a young
girl sitting in the corner of the hall with a small bag on her lap and a mobile
phone sticking to her ears. She was completely engrossed in the conversation
that she was carrying out with someone. For her except the phone and the person
on the other side the world didn't exist. Exactly to her extreme right, on the
other corner I saw two young boys busy looking at all the girls sitting inside
the hall. One of the two was dressed up in a blue colored lower and a
sleeveless t-shirt, showing off his newly developed steroid injected muscles
while the other one had stretched up his legs to the chair in front of him showing
up his special edition Nike shoes that he must have purchased recently. People
were going out and coming in every other minute. But the grandeur was same. The
lavishness was common in all of them. Richness and sophistication was all that
was clearly reflected from everything they were doing to everything they were
having, say it an expensive mobile phone with a bitten-apple on the back, or
the exclusive footwear they wore or the posh handbags they carried, everything
was classy that made them look aristocrat.
Then I looked around me. Suddenly I saw
a swarm of people. The decibel of noise increased all of a sudden, the mercury
in the thermometer suddenly soared. Here and there, people were scattered everywhere.
There was no place to even keep your foot on the ground. Towels, card boards, cloth rags formed their
bedding with either their bags or their arms as pillows. Practically all the people
in the waiting hall were in a deep slumber. You could jump over them, step over
them or bring in a brass band but they wouldn't wake up. Stray dogs roam by
their side, sleep with them, but they have no problem. Under the chair, over
the luggage, beside the lavatory, on the cement benches, on the large postal
trolleys, on piles of newspaper, under the closed shutter of shops, people were
spread all over. They were having their good night. The clamor of the crowd,
the roaring noise of train engine, neither the mosquito bites had anyeffect on
their sound sleep. When they have learnt to live with the crunching noise of
their hungry bellies, what other noise can irritate them more.
Suddenly I saw a woman running,with a
small baby in her hand wrapped in her shabby tattered sari, towards a train
that had arrived recently. She waited outside a bogie. Her baby was crying
incessantly. Meanwhile few more men and women arrived there. As soon as the
train got empty, they rushed into it. I was eagerly waiting to see them come
out. Few minutes later they came out one after the other. I was in tears the
moment I saw them. They came out with left over foods. The next moment, I saw
her settling down beside the train and eating while feeding the same to her
baby.
I couldn't watch that anymore. I tried
to change my sight but all I could see was the sunken bellies covered by the thin,
shabby, frayed clothes of threadbare material, skinny figures, bony cheeks,
sweaty faces in the masses; in deep sleep waiting for the next morning to start
their hunt for filling their empty stomach.
P.S
I don’t have any problem with the
aristocratic life of the people in the A/C waiting room. They must have earned
it and I am really happy to see people enjoying their lavish lifestyle. What
really worried me was the huge difference in the people inside and outside it,
difference both in number and the life that both of them lead. When the A/c
waiting room was sparsely filled up, there were numerous hungry bellies
scattered outside.
Why the people are less in A/C
compartment but scores of them strolling outside?
Why still millions don’t have a proper
place to stay, enough food to eat and clothes to cover themselves?
Why there is still such a big gap even
after 68 years of independence?
Are we completely independent yet?
This Independence day, Mother India
still longed for these answers but she did not get her reply yet, and she may
have to wait a little more.
