Train to Mumbai: Ordeal on wheel

LUCKNOW: Mumbai might be like Big Apple for this Gonda-ite, but his travel travails to the financial capital of the country would be a near experience of German dictator Hitler''s infamous gas chambers. You would shudder at the mere mention.
Not Rizwan Ahmad. This middle-aged tailor from Gonda has a family to support and business at his hometown just doesn''t seem to pick up.This is true for the 1,500 strong serpentine queue of eager poor, who are there each evening at 5 pm at Lucknow Junction to board train number 2134 Pushpak Express. Only to be fleeced by the too eager ticket checker accompanied by the lathi-wielding constables.
Paying an extra Rs 50 over the Rs 243 ticket, he then lands up in Hitler''s stifling paradise. Filled to the brim, passengers almost sit on top of one another, in the hope of a few thousand rupees extra.
Ahmad says that it was mandatory to pay up the constable. "Jhagra ladai to kar nahin payenge — jo nahin dega woh nahin ja payega," (We cannot fight with them — if we do not pay, they will not let us board the train). He mentions that this was a norm and he passed through this routine every time he boarded the Mumbai-bound Pushpak. That is at least thrice a year.
Gonda just doesn''t give him the bread. While on his own soil he would earn a mere Rs 2000, that too working as a civil labour, Mumbai gives him the opportunity to do what he loves — tailoring. And gives an instant jump to his income, which mostly crosses Rs 7,000 a month in Mumbai.
Rajendra Yadav is apprehensive. It is his first time. The 24-hour-long journey already petrifies this 21-year-old. Basti, his homeland, was reeking of ennui and he wanted to break free. Earn more and live more. This, however, is not what he bargained for. Almost ready to quit, he still struggles to push his hand inside his tattered trousers pocket to verify whether he has the required cash to carry him forward to the dreamland.
He grimaces in dismay when Ahmad reminisces: "Seat to sabko milti nahin, farsh par baithte hain ek doosre ke uppar — agar bathroom jana ho to doosre ke upar chadh kar jaana parta hai. " There are two (three to be precise) general compartments in this 18-coach train. However, of the three, one coach is forcibly occupied by Army jawans, who, claim senior North Eastern Railway (NER) officials, "torment and force the passengers out of the train". ACM (NER) DK Srivastava admits that the coach has not been allotted for Army personnel, yet they forced their entry to force others out.
This mad rush is repeated in other Mumbai-bound trains too, but nowhere does it portray stark need as at around 7pm when the Pushpak whistles in on platform number one. The scramble for entry is punctuated by lathi blows on the hard platform, from the constable who stands guard lest an ‘irregular'' passenger boards the train. (This one has not paid. He musn''t go.)
The TC too becomes active, not even letting those who have come to see off their kin to have a final word. He pulls the woman who is standing near the window, and pushes her off from the train. He then finds the next target — the eighty-year-old who has come along with his grandson. Obviously, this one is not aware of the procedure. He will either have to go by Kushinagar Express later, or can board train 5063 Awadh Express. Then again, he can also board train 2108 Lokmanya Tilak Terminus from Northern Railway (NR).
DRM (NER) KK Srivastava feels that people must opt for other trains rather than trying to board the Pushpak. "While we have added an extra coach to Pushpak, we have also started a special train, number 524 for Mumbai, but as of now people are not aware of these trains," he mentions. Besides, Pushpak seems to be a favourite for around 3,000 Mumbai-bound passengers each day, of which around 1,000 get the chance. In two compartments, of which, one is for the ladies.