“Yaay! I managed to get a window seat.”
It was hot. Very hot. Thankfully the train started moving.
I spent some time listening to the familiar sound of the iron wheels on the tracks and let the feeling of travel settle in me.
Gazing out from the window, past the trees running away from me, I saw kids playing cricket. In India, cricket is the national sport. The enthusiasm of cricket fanatics makes one think that a large chunk of the profits from the game is distributed to them. I felt happy seeing the innocent version of the game that had lately become more business than sports.
The train came to a halt. No. Not in a station. I don’t know exactly where. It seems like it is in the middle of nowhere. A moving train in summer is tolerable. An idle train in summer is an experience that nobody is eager to have. I wonder whether Dr. Sheldon Cooper would finally stop loving trains if he were asked to travel in a second class sleeper coach of the Indian Railway on a hot summers day. Maybe, I should suggest the producers to shoot an episode in India mainly featuring Dr. Cooper and trains. Ah! Relief! As the train started moving again I started dozing off.
I don’t know how long I slept, but I woke up to a strained song and a harmonium accompaniment. This is a class of people whom you will undoubtedly see in trains – beggars. Most people give them one or two rupees so that they will go away without lingering around for long. It is said that these beggars are also an organized group with people in the top level of the hierarchy deciding the place to go begging and later snatching away the ‘hard-earned’ money from the people at the lower levels.
My train of thoughts was broken when the trained pulled up at a small station and a group of transgenders came inside the coach. They are another class of beggars created by the Indian government. In India, transgenders neither have a ration card (well, some state governments have taken a positive step) nor voter ID. Even if they somehow manage to get education, they are denied jobs almost everywhere. Only a handful of these people manage to get jobs and lead an almost normal life. The vast majority of them are practically not given any choice other than begging. They generally target males and most people give them money before they ask for it. Well, giving some money and getting rid of them is much better than hearing the abusive language they generally use and no one wants to have private parts flashed at ones face.
As the train started again, I shifted my attention again to the trees hurriedly going backwards. But somehow, I could not get grim associations of beggars and transgenders out of my mind. But soon, I forgot all about them and started enjoying the beauty of the rocky hilly area that I could see from my window. Well, I guess that’s how human mind works. We tend to push uncomfortable things to a deep corner of our mind and try hard to forget it and convince ourselves that this world is fair and beautiful. I wish the world were really fair and beautiful.
sanscera 