The Jansewa Express: A Spectacle at any Station

This is from my trip to back home from the University for the summer break. And I was waiting there for my train- Shaan-E- Punjab. It was 20 minutes late. I have boarded train from Rajpura many times. And mostly it’s in the evening. I mostly get to see the Jansewa Express at that time. And when I hear it coming from the announcer, I find a place that is airy. I love travelling by rail. The travelling time is surely lesser, more comfortable than bus and cheaper, and at the same time entertaining seeing so many different people around. But this train: Jansewa Express is quite a spectacle to see.

The train travels from Amritsar to Saharsa through Saharanpur which also means that it does not pass through Delhi. The route ends in Uttar Pradesh. The story of the people is like going to a foreign country to earn. These people from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh come to Punjab for better jobs and they do work real hard. This is not enough to get them a reserved seat. They prefer to go on a normal ticket which is around 70% of the normal ticket and half of a sleeper berth. But what one wonders is how do they manage to travel so much on a single go without proper place to sleep? It is simply 'will'.

I get to see this train usually while waiting for my train. This time it was in morning. I would normally have left by that time if my train was not late. Apart from the train being so unhygienic, smelling of sweat and urinals, it is in the way people board that train that is serious and amusing at the same time. There are no reservation seats in this train. Everyone can sit in this train. There might not be any check in this train either and I doubt if they even clean it.

(not my click)

About the people boarding the train, they belong to poor class. The train is their lifeline and a cheap means to go home. There can’t be any means at this price and at the same speed. All the boogies are of the general type.  The train is almost always packed with people standing on one foot over each other. Adding to the misery, they are all sweating in 35 degrees temperature without proper clothes on. Most of them are just wearing vests most of the time. Now you can imagine how they manage to continue like that for a whole journey through the night. They have to sleep but I can’t imagine how!

And now is what I saw on the station- boarding of the train. The people are so crazy to get on it that they want to cling to it by any means. I am sure if ‘Fevicol’ was strong enough, they would have pasted themselves on it. They don’t mind hanging outside nor do they mind entering in the latrines through the toilet windows. They have just one aim- To get in at any cost.  Had the route not been electrified, they would surely have got on top of the train. So if people are all over the place, how do they ever manage to piss when there’s an urge. People are already in the toilets due to shortage of space. Maybe they do it in their presence. But then what about the women?

There’s only one way to know and I’d never like to know how they manage ‘everything’ because that means one has to travel in it and that surely is a bad option. Well, anyhow you can surely board that train from the same station at 10.50 am. and see the new kind of people and how they live in completely different circumstances.

Like a Program

public class LIFE()

{

 public static void main(String[] args)

  {

   new object(confusion)

...

...

Living each day is a routine. That routine has sub routines like a program or a code of java. Sometimes inbuilt functions would suffice to carry out the required tasks while at other times, you might need to build another user defined function of your own for a unique task that is limited to you. In a scenario, it is not mandatory that the logic upon which you’re building the program will work the way it should be. You might have problem in your algorithms or Functions. Various classes might not have been linked correctly. But there’s a certainty that gradually, you will make the code work error free in the way you want it to be. That is not so in life!

That is simply because we cannot be programmed for ever. We have our independent minds and they work on their own logics. Other people can only manipulate you which you can undo according to your wish. Dealing with other human-beings is one of the most unique and important part of our lives. I have felt bad at times from people whom I don’t even know so well. “Their school of thought differs from mine”, I thought. But human mind is not simple. It would take years to process the information of how mind interprets. We only have theories about our psyche. And those theories are pertaining to the action of psyche for usual things that someone has observed over the years. There’s no theory to know the exact result of how someone will respond in a unique situation. That’s the complexity of the human mind that I love. So now I have learnt to respect how others think. And understanding them, I have come to accept listening first and then sharing about my thoughts.

So I am trying to run a dynamic program here. After all, we are intelligent beings. So far it works well and is giving the desired results. More than any others, I have usually ended up making up syntax errors more than any other error. 

...

...

}

}

}

I am late for posting the second part <-- I know this. My apologies to all my fans :p 


I must mention the people who wished me at a pretty unusual time. I was just done with my previous blog entry when Kevin calls (around 3.30) and wishes me B'day. I was so sleepy at that time. Then calls Himanshi. She is completely asleep just knowing that she has to wish me. So she wishes me and asks me if I got the treatment. So I narrate the story to her. And she asks me- " Niche so rha h kya.. thandd bht h, andar chale ja... " (Are you sleeping on the floor, its too cold outside so go to your room). This left me stunned! And then asks if I'm still outside. I was pretty sure she was missing half the things I was telling her. So I told her to sleep and that I'll meet her tomorrow. 


7.00 am
 So the birthday was not over yet. The morning came to knock at my door and I left my bed to answer it. I started my day with a morning walk. Its always refreshing especially in the University. I got up and took my camera. Today I didn't found any awesome shots but I was enjoying my walk. It was cool outside and I was walking slowly, breathing the air heavily expecting more of the freshness to settle inside. By the way, I was in a positive energy that day. I had decided to be excited all day about the things to come. After coming back from the walk, I had to call up my uncle(Fufarhji). I called up Virji to get uncle's number. He was still asleep. First he wished me and then gave me the number. I called him up right away. I was talking to him after quite a while. I wished him and then he wished me back. This is a day when we can say to each other -'same to you'. Then he told me something i'll always have in my mind. He told me- " Don't try to be a big man, try to be a good man." I suddenly felt so happy in a way I can't express. Soon the line cut. Then I got Masiji's call followed by Mom's. What a co incidence. Both sisters calling at the same time!


 9.45 am
I reach the college late. I had no lecture in the first slot that day so I was getting ready very slowly- had a nice bath, a full breakfast and then clothed up. I was being asked where I was all this time by my friends and especially idiot(niharika) and lays(himanshi). So the things to come first are wishes accompanied by -Birthday Bumps! No one likes them and nor do I. The amount of love and affection knitted in them is just unimaginable and so is the pain. So my first Birthday Bumps of the morning are given to me on the 5th floor. Am tossed up near to the ceiling and then hit with some heavy shoes on my bums as I come down. I wonder if they're called B'day Bumps or B'day Bums. The later is the result. So I met everyone there and all wished me a great day. I was special that day ;) Aman and Himanshi regretted that they had missed the B'day Bumps.




There were just two lectures to attend and then I was free. So sitting in the class, I realized that I'm going to be treated yet again. O ow!
I try to save myself but in vain. B'day Bumps again. And I have better B'day bums by now!
Soon the classes are done and I feel like partying so I ask my friends to plan for one. We were three people giving the party together. Nitika, whose party was pending and Niharka, whose B'day was the next day. In the meantime I am called up to 4th floor by HRA- Himanshi, Rishi and Aman.


And am in for a B'day surprise. I'm captured live on the camera from my entry in the room to reaching the gift- wow. It was meant to be dramatic. So in it I find - a packed and pinned 'laddo' box and a blue wrapped up gift. I had no clue what it contained and so I started opening it. It was taped well. A little more struggle and I see that it contains nothing else but 'laddos'. I have a weird expression while all others are observing me. "Don't you like laddos?", Himanshi asks.
"I do yaar". Thats all I say when they start putting those laddos in my mouth and I was supposed to gulp all of it in one go according to them. It didn't happened. Laddos were good though. Then came another gift which was... can't be elaborated more. Just when I was finished with my gifts, Himanshi told me to go to the last bench.
" wowww ". Glimpse of a CCD, and now Barista bag certainly made me very excited. And what was in it made me sooo happy. I got an Arabica coffee powder with an expresso maker. My life was done. Now I could go and stay alone with these two things until I needed more. hmmm..


Then comes the party time where I am made to do the pole dance again and two other dares for Nitika and Niharika to dance with someone. Not to be omitted that the boys were scared who danced with them. Lol. I was given the B'day Bumps again. I now had super B'day bums I guess.


Niharika had most of the cake on her face while I had lesser than her. It happens every year. And she complains about it each time. I get my gifts when we were about to leave. I get a diary and a Tie. Loved it. I was expecting a tie already.


Then we are back to the University soon. Then the day was over for most. It had been good. I had lived it up. And I now had the responsibility of being a good man as I turn 21.


Thanks to all my friends. Love you all.

Feb 6teen

I'm out of the new hostel and been walking for the last 10 minutes. The first hours of my day, i wanted to spend with myself. I knew my friends are not going to let me do that so I had to escape for a while. I just wanted to relax, have a small journey of thoughts about what I have lived so far.
So I walked on till i reached the University playground. There was no one there at that time. The place was almost dark since there were no lights inside the ground. There was enough light to know what was under my feet. I kept my bag near the basketball court and began walking from one spot to another in the ground just talking with myself, looking at the shinning moon that i thought might help my friends in finding me as well and the few stars that i could see in the cloudy weather.
It was still 5 minutes to go. I saw their bikes going in the direction of my hostel. I knew they won't be able to spot me here. But I wanted them to wait for some more time. My first call came. Its Idiot (Niharika:best friend). I knew she'll call early. Then i could hear her planning to wish me together (whispering in excitement). She didn't like it that i had heard but I was not the one to be blamed. Then I got plenty of wishes in one go. Veronica had to woken up as far as I can guess. she must be sound asleep. Nitika, Shruti, Saloni, Shuchi, Navneet, Mehak.. all wish me. I can see other people calling me. Its all traffic time for a while. In meantime, my friends who are sitting in my room by now and bothering my room mate are getting impatient. Believe me, that would be the last thing I'd have wanted to do-annoy them. But I was enjoying it [am so wicked ;) ].
In between I am also getting messages wishing me a great day ahead. I really hope so. I'm now getting calls from them who are literally cursing me now. They wanted to know where am I? I finally told them where I was. They came, had a look around, and went back. They looked in the wrong directions. Their fault!
So I had to call them again in 5 minutes to tell them exactly where I was. And then they got hold of me. I had to run a few meters so that their grudge of keeping them to wait would lessen. Gaurav and Sachin were the ones who ran as if they're running a race. I haven't seen them run faster than that ever before. And with their relatively huge size, I wouldn't take chance with that kind of a momentum to knock me over so I had to run.
"The more you make us run, the harder you gonna get beaten up", Gaurav shouts at me.
"Stop!", adds Sachin. There were some sweet words that I'm missing here. They were too sweet ;)
I had flowers in my hands from idiot and sachin by now and two people holding me from my neck.


Soon after, I gave up. Phone calls were done. I had got 40 minutes for myself. That was enough.
The others also arrived by now. I could see their silhouettes from where I was standing and couldn't tell who all were there until all of them one by one greeted me with some sweet words (again) to make them run for me. Ankur, Nitin R, Varun, Soni, Mayank were there to give me The B'day treatment.
First thing I got was pastries on my face. They said the pastries were two days old from their hostel. YUKS!
I was all covered with it and some part of my jacket too. I was clicked enthusiastically in that beautiful cream. I didn't tasted it- was not meant to be. I tried my best that it shouldn't get into my mouth, nose or eyes. Then I was taken to my room directly and I saw the collage that had been made for me. It was from all of my friends. Even my school friend's wishes were written in it. Love you all for it ! :D
I went to wash my face. Later I got calls from Ishan and Adi who were taken care of by the others with more of sweet words. We prepared to go for 'paronthas' so we left on bikes. Had some interesting discussions there :p.


So far, it has been great. And am looking forward to the sunrise and the rest of the day.


By the way it's my birthday, if you still didn't get it!


I share it with my Fufarhji (my uncle)
and its my Tayaji n Tayiji (uncle n aunt) anniversary 25th this time.
and also my chacha n chachi 's anniversary.


Family Day Today :D


part 1 over ---x--x---

Expectations

As of now, am in college. Being in a University, I get to meet a lot of people. Networking is something that exists here. And thats very obvious that one can have multiple groups that one works with, stays with and many more. You have those friends that are close to you with whom you share almost everything about your life and there are people with whom you are colleagues in a club or community. At every level, there's a different level of personal attention and differences in motives of being in that group.

You spend with your friends to take all your negativity out. They can say whatever they want. Its doesn't pinch you. While with the others, there's a limitation. They would stay out of your personal circle and even you'll try that they do. Too many people in the personal circle are not okay with any person.

But with all the people around you, you are bound with expectations. Living a free life is difficult here. Even though we are a free democratic country, people are bound. In our first stage of development that is school, we are bound by our parent's and teacher's expectations. Then as we move on onto our path, more of the people are added in the 'expectees' list of our life's people directory. As we move on to University/College, we begin to see that an entire nation expects from us. Most of us fail to cater to that extent, but still wherever we work, we get to know some more people who really expect from you and they'll pay you for fulfilling those expectations. Some pay for work and give bonus for fulfilling those expectations, some just get a certificate of Appreciation, and the rest a 'good work' compliment. Well, these are small magnitude emotions.

The most difficult ones are the personal ones. Because unfulfilled expectations in personal relations leads to some difficult complexities. One is unable to overcome such complexities because these keep budging your mind and don't let you come out of it. The result is never directly associated to expectations. So its hard to do the reverse algorithm for most people to know that this was the cause. We've seen increasing number of divorces, nucleated families, more liberal teens, change of friend's group to mention the few.

If you can overcome your expectations, see the other person as an individual and respect their individuality, there never would have been a requirement to get parted from loved ones and you can enjoy every moment with them all your life. Expectation is the sole reason that could throw them out of your life. Having expectations is natural, but when you love someone, you accept them. And when acceptance is there, there is no place for expectations. 

Morning Walk

I could finally get up and move out of the bed. I had sacrificed late night 'paronthas' so that i could wake up early. Anyway, i woke up by 7- not really early. But the sun had not come up. That meant I could still have some nice shots-yes I got up for photography. 
Last night it was raining so the weather would be really awesome in the morning, i had thought last night. But by the morning, the clouds had cleared away to give way for clear sky with which came fog. All my mindset had to change at the moment i saw fog. That was actually the first thing I noticed after waking up, walking barefoot out of the door. 


I thought it will be fun to have some winter shots. But even the fog was thinning now. So I hurried. Grabbed the camera and walked out. The University in the morning is one of the most beautiful of the places I have yet seen. In the day time, its ruined by heavy number of vehicles. So I could now stop anywhere in the road and click anything with no 'he's crazy' or 'what is so exclusive' that he's clicking looks. They can't see what I can and thats what amazes them in photographs clicked by others. So I was free!


But in the end I found my shots. Birds, dogs, frozen ice on flowers, dew drops shinning on benches and spider webs as the sun comes out. Everything was so refreshing that it still has a clear picture in my mind.


Now I must go get ready for college.

Publish Post

Cheers to life !

Beginning my b.l.o.g.

Tired of hearing blogging. What made it worse was that I was not yet doing it and I don't know how to make it look great. So I thought putting my first post would be the best thing I would do since the last three months I activated this blog. The main reason was that I was not satisfied with the Design and I still need to work on it. So a makeover in future will always be on the cards!


Now that I am hooked to the new trend, I feel like I'm doing something cool. It is not so cool, I know!
Bill Gates is cool. The person whose idea am using is cool. I couldn't find his name. Please do tell me if you know!


So here we are in a world full of softwares that help automate machines everywhere. They'll keep inventing until we reach the point where coffee will be made in a blink of an eye. (I like coffee so..)  But i must admit, I won't like to skip the pre beating of coffee in warm water with sugar or trying to get a nice filtered one with coffee powder.


So, I do have started off with my blog, but I've told myself not to get addicted.
I'm very notorious when it comes to me telling myself to behave!


So keep looking for more from me. 


Cheers to life !