A Welcome Relief After 163 Years

There are far too many things we take for granted. One of them happens to be the ubiquitous trains that criss cross our country of continental dimensions. We all expect them to come on time and be stench free (nothing wrong in that) and while waiting at level crossings wonder why they take so much time to come. As it trundles past little do we wonder about the people who actually make it run and the challenges they face.

Among the 'running staff' it is the Train Ticket Examiner (TTE) who is the most familiar to us as we gingerly produce our tickets when he comes calling. Once he gives his satisfactory nod and returns the ticket and does some marking on his clipboard, we breathe easy. If the ticket is RAC or waiting list we are quite literally at his mercy and treat him like mai baap, and some are more than willing to play that role.

The next in line is the guard. A very shadowy figure confined to the rear end of the train, waving red and green flags. Very little is known about their other functions.

However the most elusive among the lot is the train driver, who nowadays has acquired a more gentrified nomenclature - locomotive pilot. We may catch a fleeting glimpse of them when the train arrives at the station or chugs past a level crossing. Since they are rarely seen, it is out of sight out of mind for most of us.

We happily retire on our allotted train berths during night after setting snooze alarm on our smartphones, with no thought of how the engine driver keeps awake till dawn, or how he manages to spot dimly lit signals during rains or foggy weather.

But what I read the other day came as a rude eye opener. These drivers cannot respond to nature's calls or have refreshments during their 12-hour shift! Just for a moment I thought of how I would cope with such a pre-condition for my eight-hour shift - both my bladder and tummy did not take it kindly! The railways have been operational in the country for 163 years and it is hard to believe that so far lakhs of engine drivers, spanning 3-4 generations, have worked all their lives under such conditions.

Only recently the Railways introduced its first locomotive fitted with a bio-toilet. The doors of the toilet would open only when the speed of the train reaches zero. The locomotive pilots won’t be able to answer nature’s call while the train is moving. And whenever the pilot would go inside the toilet, the brakes of the engine won’t be released by any system. Hope more and more such locomotives are put to use to make the drivers' lives easier.

I shudder to think how horrid their working conditions might have been while they were driving the now defunct coal fired steam engines.

Also Read: Bangalore Beat

Unreserved Chaos

The other day I had to rough it out in the ‘cattle class’ (general compartment) of a superfast train for a three-and-half-hour long journey, for want of an alternative. As it was around 6.30 pm and the train was nearly criss-crossing the country from Ernakulam to Delhi, I did not even take a chance to try my luck in a sleeper class compartment.

Earlier while buying the ticket at Koyilandi (a mofussil station near Kozhikode) for Mangalore I had enquired if it was any way possible to upgrade it. The woman at the ticket counter replied in the negative and warned that as it was already dusk I might risk getting fined if I travelled sleeper class with an ordinary ticket!

Having travelled many times in the reserved sleeper class for long trips (lasting 2-3 days) I was all too familiar with the inconvenience caused by those without reservation. Hence I decided not to be a cause of their misery and braced myself for the din, bustle and stench of the general compartment.

They are generally the first or last compartment of the rake and are the most unkempt ones. The train arrived about 20 minutes late and I made a dash to the last compartment, which looked already full with little foot space left. 

I did make it to the passage of the train and moved further into the aisles aiming to get a seat. A couple of years of commuting 'sardine class' in Mumbai’s suburban trains have taught me that getting into the aisle was the best way to ease suffocation, prevent achy shoulders and even get a seat in the bargain. 

About two stations later lady luck smiled, though the seat I got was hardly comfortable. Nearly six passengers were squeezed into a row seat, which was actually meant for 3-4 people.

The passengers were a mix of locals who were going on short haul journeys lasting a couple of hours and the migrant workers, who were in for a long haul to their home towns in the country’s cow belt. This under-class also happens to be the mainstay in general compartments of almost all the trains that chug along the Indian Railway’s expansive network. 

As for Kerala these migrant labourers provide the much-needed brawn to its acute shortage of manual labour, thanks to the upward mobility of its natives, who prefer white collar jobs or migrate to Gulf countries. After months of back breaking work at construction sites and other places that require hard labour, they were on their way to meet their near and dear ones. 

From the snatches of conversations I overheard I could gather that some were going to attend marriages, some to fix the roof or flooring of their houses and some even to reclaim their dues from recalcitrant and shifty borrowers.

In Loop With Wireless World

Though the way they live or travel may not have changed from their predecessors (could see the same old padlocked antique looking trunk boxes and cloth bags stocked under the seats), there was one tangible difference.

The new generation migrant workers have definitely got a toe hold into the wireless digital world, all thanks to low call rates and the entry of cheap mobile phones in the market. The presence of large number of smartphones (mostly of the Chinese and Indian make) in the compartment came as quite a revelation to me.

These labourers may be light years away from following the Mahesh Murthy-Mark Zukerberg free basics vs net neutrality debate and the ad blitzkrieg by Facebook, but they appeared quite savvy and nimble fingered while handling the devices they had in hand. Almost everybody was busy playing games, listening to music and watching downloaded movies to sustain them for the long journey. Some were even WhatsApping.

A couple of them were on the lookout for sockets to plug in their phone chargers. I am sure some of those ancient trunk boxes may even have power banks stocked in them!

A couple of years ago there was a news item stating that India has more mobile phones than toilets, a finding that was not so flattering and pointed to the skewed priorities of our countrymen. Now the day is not far when we may hear that the country has more smartphones than toilets!!

Also Read: Bangalore Beat

IRCTC: We don't need no reservation ...

I vaguely remember a Reader's Digest joke in pre-IRCTC days, which was as follows: A foreigner goes to a railway reservation counter in India and said, "Excuse me if it is possible" ... Before he could finish the sentence the clerk interrupted, "In this world everything is possible". But when the foreigner asked for a ticket for a particular destination and date he said, "Oh on that date it is not possible."

A good number of train travellers may now be shunning the queues before railway booking counters, but their interface with IRCTC site no way makes their lives easier. The moment we log on to www.irctc.co.in the only icon that gets going is that of buffering with a message 'Connecting...'. During peak hours, especially when the Tatkal guys are hogging the bandwidth, it acts like the cyber world equivalent of Chinese torture.

The speed with which the IRCTC site loads makes me wonder whether the data packets are being transferred using Railway Parcel Service! Getting the 'plan my travel' page to load is not for the faint hearted. You should count yourself lucky if you attain your Abracadabra or khul-ja-sim-sim moment at 16th or 17th attempt.

But then it is not even half the battle. You need a nimble set of fingers to type in the station codes and passenger names. If the number of vacant seats is above hundred you stand some chance, otherwise its as likely as India winning world cup football.

After making the bookings the path through payment gateway to your bank account or credit card authentication is fraught with all kinds of dangers and you have to wait with baited breath and a prayer on your lips. Minefields such as 'service unavailable' and 'you have timed out' lie in wait to strike at the most unsuspecting and crucial moments.

Once you clear the payment getaway, take a hard look at the booked berths, whether they match with the preferences you had mentioned while booking. IRCTC often reserves its most lethal googlies at this step. If you have booked a berth for a senior citizen with lower berth as preference, chances are that he or she may get top or side upper berth! Or if you have booked for 4-5 persons, chances are that a couple of them may end in a different compartment.

Also Read: Bangalore Beat