Dear diary,
A lot has happened over the last 10 days that it has become a bit difficult for my mind to delve deep into my memory to retrieve my tour memories. What with one big event- I'd say a catastrophe- following another with very little time gap, it became incomprehensible for the mind to digest the first one and accept the next. Giving you the entire details our eventful and not so joyous yet memorable tour would need reams or paper, so I'd tell you about the incidents the memories of which the Trical'14 batch would cherish in the years to come.
16th december 2012 THE TRAIN HIJACK
The tour started on a high note amidst shouts of 'Har Har Mahadev' and the two buses left the Rajputana hostel, the fog having reduced the visibility to zero. Having reached Mughal Sarai and with nearly 4 hours of time left to idle- it later went on to six, the train owing to the thin visibility was delayed by 2 hours. And thus Anthaaksahris and Dumb shows- mini flash mobs in their own like, attracting the attention of on-lookers and thus a time pass for them as well.
And the sleep deprivation started to wear on us. The wait became more intense and with the announcement of the arrival of our train, we woke up from the slumber and collected our belongings to wait for the train. The hazy image of the advancing train brought relief onto our faces and the wait to a comforting sleep ahead was over.Little did we know that there was something very wrong with the train.
We were to witness our first train hijack(Ever heard of one)- one that was to show the Bihari might, their unity in considering public property to be their very own, one that Lalu had bestowed upon them years ago when he became the Railway Minister.As the puffing engine slowly swept past us the coaches that followed gave us the fright of our life. They were fully packed with people- no less than 300 of them were stuffed in each coach. The initial reaction was one of shock, disbelief at what we saw and hope that the reserved coaches would empty at Mughal Sarai and that we'd get into our compartments as usual.The train came to a halt and nothing happened. All the coaches were bolted from inside giving us no chance to even get ourselves inside. And there we were staring at our compartments, not knowing what to do, completely awoken from the slumber we were in.
Soon panic started. The doors of S7 and S13 were furiously banged, abuses hurled at the passengers for not vacating. Nothing would budge them, it was as if we were trying to trespass their property. Finally, when the doors did get open, hardly a student could get inside. Getting in was not the option, that much was clear, The compartments had to be cleared before we could get into them. The police were playing hide and seek with us worried that we might ask them for help when they were as much helpless as we were.Tension increased as people ran helter skelter asking for instructions.New leaders erupted passing orders from Sirs, telling us not to panic. Slogans soon started 'kahi nahi jaaegi ye train'. We had Santosh and a few others inside the train pulling the chain everytime the train tried to budge.
On the other side some of our friends(Ajay Bhaiya,Ajeet, Mufeed, Sardar and others) with the help of the police force have managed to empty S13. Just when success was within reach and we were almost getting in, plans turned upside down. The Biharis had threatened us that they would set the coach on fire. Knowing very well the intentions of the mob, we alighted the train and in front of our own eyes the tour got cancelled before it even began.
And so we retreated, the sullen look on our faces said it all. As a last attempt- Pallav and the core team took charge of this one- we staged a demonstration asking for justice. Media was roped in and with the DRM intervening, the station master caved in. He promised us that our train would be waiting for us at Naini and that we should reach there by the Anand Vihar train. So thanx to the core team, we managed to reignite the hopes of our tour that were long extinguished.
Ironically the mob from Patna was heading to Allahabad to appear for the Railways recrution exam. When the Railways should've provided them with an extra train, it didn't and the people had to take this unruly step. The people couldn't be wronged either; Such is their need. Still, to give us a sense of last triumph, they couldn't manage to give their exam which was scheduled at 11 am as the train dropped them at Allahabad at 12pm.
(to be continued)
A lot has happened over the last 10 days that it has become a bit difficult for my mind to delve deep into my memory to retrieve my tour memories. What with one big event- I'd say a catastrophe- following another with very little time gap, it became incomprehensible for the mind to digest the first one and accept the next. Giving you the entire details our eventful and not so joyous yet memorable tour would need reams or paper, so I'd tell you about the incidents the memories of which the Trical'14 batch would cherish in the years to come.
16th december 2012 THE TRAIN HIJACK
The tour started on a high note amidst shouts of 'Har Har Mahadev' and the two buses left the Rajputana hostel, the fog having reduced the visibility to zero. Having reached Mughal Sarai and with nearly 4 hours of time left to idle- it later went on to six, the train owing to the thin visibility was delayed by 2 hours. And thus Anthaaksahris and Dumb shows- mini flash mobs in their own like, attracting the attention of on-lookers and thus a time pass for them as well.
And the sleep deprivation started to wear on us. The wait became more intense and with the announcement of the arrival of our train, we woke up from the slumber and collected our belongings to wait for the train. The hazy image of the advancing train brought relief onto our faces and the wait to a comforting sleep ahead was over.Little did we know that there was something very wrong with the train.
We were to witness our first train hijack(Ever heard of one)- one that was to show the Bihari might, their unity in considering public property to be their very own, one that Lalu had bestowed upon them years ago when he became the Railway Minister.As the puffing engine slowly swept past us the coaches that followed gave us the fright of our life. They were fully packed with people- no less than 300 of them were stuffed in each coach. The initial reaction was one of shock, disbelief at what we saw and hope that the reserved coaches would empty at Mughal Sarai and that we'd get into our compartments as usual.The train came to a halt and nothing happened. All the coaches were bolted from inside giving us no chance to even get ourselves inside. And there we were staring at our compartments, not knowing what to do, completely awoken from the slumber we were in.
Soon panic started. The doors of S7 and S13 were furiously banged, abuses hurled at the passengers for not vacating. Nothing would budge them, it was as if we were trying to trespass their property. Finally, when the doors did get open, hardly a student could get inside. Getting in was not the option, that much was clear, The compartments had to be cleared before we could get into them. The police were playing hide and seek with us worried that we might ask them for help when they were as much helpless as we were.Tension increased as people ran helter skelter asking for instructions.New leaders erupted passing orders from Sirs, telling us not to panic. Slogans soon started 'kahi nahi jaaegi ye train'. We had Santosh and a few others inside the train pulling the chain everytime the train tried to budge.
On the other side some of our friends(Ajay Bhaiya,Ajeet, Mufeed, Sardar and others) with the help of the police force have managed to empty S13. Just when success was within reach and we were almost getting in, plans turned upside down. The Biharis had threatened us that they would set the coach on fire. Knowing very well the intentions of the mob, we alighted the train and in front of our own eyes the tour got cancelled before it even began.
And so we retreated, the sullen look on our faces said it all. As a last attempt- Pallav and the core team took charge of this one- we staged a demonstration asking for justice. Media was roped in and with the DRM intervening, the station master caved in. He promised us that our train would be waiting for us at Naini and that we should reach there by the Anand Vihar train. So thanx to the core team, we managed to reignite the hopes of our tour that were long extinguished.
Ironically the mob from Patna was heading to Allahabad to appear for the Railways recrution exam. When the Railways should've provided them with an extra train, it didn't and the people had to take this unruly step. The people couldn't be wronged either; Such is their need. Still, to give us a sense of last triumph, they couldn't manage to give their exam which was scheduled at 11 am as the train dropped them at Allahabad at 12pm.
(to be continued)
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