It took me a day to pen it down and took me 12 months to Microsoft
it down on MS word and one more month to internet it down…
The steady one in me took over the lazy one and finally turtle won
the race and I got this opportunity to thanks you for reading my first blog. I
am no ace in scripting my expressions so if you find anything absurd in my
English, that’s not my fault; you can blame my childhood English teachers for
that.
So lets begin our….Encounter
with Salim Pehku!
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Train no 12791 Secunderabad-Patna exp, 16 Oct 2012, It was a
DhammachakKra parivartan divas, people travelling towards/from Nagpur knows it
better. It clearly indicates, be ready to face huge rush in the trains. I was
acutely ready for any kind of situation provided train was in time. I was going
to Wardha from where I had to board my next train for Pune. Current train 12791
was ½ hr late, that wasn’t a problem, more than 1 hr definitely was.
Train arrived at Balharshah station Platform number 4. I saw crowd
of passengers but not to the extent I expected. There were discreet crowd
inside SL class bogie, more concentrated near doors and less in core side. I
went on searching for less crowded coach towards rear side of train. I boarded train, neglecting other people near
door I moved inside.
I went forward in search of vacant space sufficient enough to reside
in my luggage. Train was appearing pack but some trained eyes can see the
places hiding in itself the enormous potential for grabbing something. I would
say, I have had sufficient training on it. My eyes got stuck to the
place where one person was knowingly or unknowingly exposing some space of his
lower birth. I immediately identified the opportunity that lay before me. I
said “Bhaiya thodi der ke liye baithu
?” and got seated. You don’t ask such questions; you just say it while
operating on your words.
This was the time when a guy 25-30 years of age with a blue T-Shirt
seated on the same seat inquired “Bhaiya
Kidhar Jare?” . “Sevagram” I said “Dedh ghanta” I provided additional
information. I said “Dedh ghanta” in a manner that 1.30 hrs appear 1.30 minutes
to make sure he should not raise any concern of me sitting in his seat. He was
seated second from window. I was fourth. 4 person sitting on the lower birth accommodation
of 3 people is a clear indication that one guy is without reservation
(waitlisted is another option). This time I was the culprit with general coach
ticket travelling in SL class. I was just trying to look confident than
actually I was.
I began some conversation with the Blue T-Shirt guy who had recently asked me where I was going. “Tum kidhar Jaa rahe ho?” I asked casually , “Ilhabad” he answered and we began to share our past and present. He was some guy working with Airtel, not on the engineering or high profile job but some office work. He was a graduate in something which I was less interested since his Hyderabadi style had excited me to just listen than understand. I was enjoying rhythm without lyrics. I was like listening to any good songs instrumental version.
After some time I realized, wait, this person is Salim, Salim Pheku!
He started delivering light once and began to share one of his incident
happened to him last time in train journey. “Ek bar kya hua, mai jaa raa tha,
aur kya ki, aur ek aadmi aaya, cigarette bechne, mai bola kitna, to bola 55,
mai tabbich nikala aur le bola. Fir gaya mai bathroom (People generally say
bathroom to latrine for it to appear decent while saying it in crowd) waha
jaise hi pack khola to kya dekha!! “kya dekha?” I inquired eagerly. “packet me
cigarette nai ”. “Cigarette nahi !” I surprised. “Cigarette thi yaro filter
nahi tha, aur kya hai ki, mai bina filter pita nahi, bole toh kya kia malum ” “kya
kia?” I got puzzled. “Bahar ek Buddha baitha tha, bidi pi raha tha, usko diya ,
bola lo chicha (chacha) piyo ”. I replied “oh……”
He
later started conversation without topics. I said to myself, this is impossible
for me. One thing I am practicing and wish could do that to some extent one day.
I realized the opportunity and started my practice right there. I started
describing my native place Chandrapur with more facts and figures and tried
avoiding hyperbole. But some numbers about this place Chandrapur appears
exaggeration to normal beings. For example In some case study by NASA (National
Aeronautics and Space Administration) USA, discovered avalanche of clouds over
central part of our country. These weren’t normal clouds but appeared harmful.
These turned out be located exactly over Chandrapur. Many industries and power
plant and coal mines makes this place in one of the most post polluted cities
“in India”. Well, I exaggerated to “in the world”, while saying all these
stuffs in train.
Now again Salim started his second one. “Cold drink kabhi nahi peena
malum. Usme Nasha hota, kya rehta malum. Nicotine ! Nicotine bole toh sabse
sasta nasha, Cigarette me rehta.” I was listening with my full concentration. I
saw others getting hypnotizing by salims words. Their expression were telling
me this truth.
Now we switched to next more social topic at the very moment I saw
the train changing the track too. “India ka population kitna malum”. “ Kitna” I
enquired. “105 crore” he replied. “ har ek
second me ek baccha, 60 second me 60 bachhe”. At this time person sitting next
to me got surprised and started looking
others eyes for the confirmation of statistics given by Salim. I raised the
concern “ shayad 60 se kam hai”, now that person instead of getting convinced
got more puzzled. Salim replied instantly “ ek mota moti hisab” (he meant a
rough estimation, Bengali people more often use this pharse “mota-moti”). Salim
continued, “ 60 me 60, har ek second me ek. Abhi hum baat kar rain na, ek
baccha paida ho gaya hoga”. The opposite person smiled and blushed as if he had
the baby at that instant.
Salim was now feeling
suffocation may be because of excessive talk. He asked the person sitting near
window to remove his Bag which he has kept in front of window. The boy replied
that the luggage cannot be kept below the seat. “ kaiku re, kya hai isme” asked
Salim unhappily. Boy said “ Tabla”. Salim got happy and replied instantly “
Arey ! Nikal na fir ! Bajana ! yar tu table lekar baitha hai aur abhi bol ra re
tu, arey Nikal re, tu baja aur mai gaata”. I got excited with Salims request,
but excitement vaporized when he (table
boy) refused with a polite and uncomfortable smile.
By this time I stopped counting how many punches are being delivered
by Salim. There were many such happening incidents and conversations going on.
But I surely remember the deadly and final one by Salim. “ Tumko Malum hum thak
kyu jaate train me”. I asked why. He replied “ Earthing! Earthing nai milta
apne body ko. Upar se current aata , usko milta par apne ko nahi. Apni body ko
earthing hona to nahi thakte. Hum abhi
beech me hai, hawa me”. All people surrounding were also appreciating Salims
database of vast knowledge. I said to
myself in amazement, what would happen if I have such a confidence in my words
like Salims.
Final note:
I really feel glad being an Indian Railway passenger that allows
mingling of varieties of culture and for me a wonderful meet with Salim. I
really liked that person. Despite of all his words and over talking, he had a voice
of a honest person. He never hesitated when I was sitting in his seat, he
appreciated and welcomed all types of conversation. We discussed about Indian
talent going to US , something about UNO and Chinese economy. Surprisingly he
never touched the most discussed topics in India that is “politics and corruption”.
I came to know that his thoughts were crystal clear when he said “ Hamare baal
Zad Jayenge par yeh topic kabhi katam nahi hoge” (our hairs will fall off but
these topics wont). Finally my station was near “Chalo mera toh station aa
gaya, Thanks for the seat. ” I said to Salim by putting my sandals. He was
pleased by the words and replied with his last words to me “Thanks nai bolna,
Nice company bolna, Nice company”…. And I leaved the train…. Bye Bye Salim I
said to myself and began to start my next journey….
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P.S.
India birth rate is approx 29 per
minute,
