Train Talk

It was a Monday morning, like any other. The city of Cochin was
bustling about with its usual activities. People leaving for
work, government offices were opening later than usual, school
students going to schools, college students going everywhere but
college, cars, buses, auto rickshaws, bikes and all other types
of vehicles were spewing smoke, trying to ply across the pothole
filled roads, and so on. Most people who read this will feel this
is a rather inappropriate way of describing a city in 'God's own
country'. But we Kochites know this to be true, and what's more
we are pretty proud of it too.
This story isn't about Cochin city, rather the story of 4 people
who are leaving Kochi. And it starts at the Ernakulum South
Railway Station.
The Chennai Express proudly puffed its way into the Ernakulum
South Railway station. Hundreds of passengers crowded on the
platform, pushed their way into the various coupes. Passengers
heaved baggage into the train, relatives waving good bye, son's
promising their mom's they would call at every station,
businessmen hurrying the porter, and picketers searching for
their next targets.
Along with this crowd was Kala , a 19 year old girl on
her way to college, bidding farewell to her parents.
"Don't eat anything from the train; only eat the food I have
packed for you. Okay?" said Kala's mom.
"Yes amma, seri", replied Kala, tiredly.
"Call us before you go to sleep, we'll call you soon, and don't
talk to any strangers. Seri?" said Kala's dad.

"Yes appa, seri" replied Kala, now climbing aboard. "Bye, now.
I'll call. Okay, bye."
"Wait, should I help you find the seat?" asked Kala's mom.
"No, it's okay. I've done this before, no? Now, if I don't go,
the train will leave without me." said Kala.
"Seri, bye" said her parents, waving.
Kala waved and walked into the train. She could see her
parents walking along the platform, trying to peep through the
tinted glass of the two tier AC compartment. She paused for a
minute, then found her seat, and called her parents.
After a few minutes of assuring her parents that she was fine on
the phone, she pulled out a book from her bag, and settled back
into her seat.
Kala had made this journey several times before, and she
realized the best way to go through a train journey safely, when
traveling alone is to not get too familiar with your fellow
passengers. Ask no questions and you will get no lies. In most of
her previous journeys, this was the habit followed by her fellow
passengers as well. But sometimes, it was exactly the other way
around.
"Are you going to college in Chennai?" asked a woman seated
opposite Kala.
Kala looked up surprised. The woman was smiling. Kala
nodded at her.
"Yes, I thought so. Classes are starting next week. Is it your

first year?" continued the lady.

"No, second year actually." replied Kala rather surprised.
"Of course, first year students are usually accompanied by their
parents. So which college do you got to?" asked the lady.
Kala paused uncertainly, not sure if it was wise to continue.
"I'm sorry, I didn't introduce myself. I am Ms.Swati Dev. I am a
professor at IIT Chennai.", she said.
Kala smiled a little more warmly now. One could usually trust
professors.
"I'm Kala . I study at SMR University. Engineering,
Computer Science." replied Kala.
"Oh yes, pretty famous, yes, I thought so, yes, naturally."
muttered Ms.Dev, more to herself than Kala.
Kala smiled, but went back to her book, for she knew further
involvement in the conversation would result in a debate about
government and private colleges. Besides, she didn't like the
slightly demeaning tone in Ms.Dev's voice.
"Which station is this?" came a sleepy voice from the top berth.
Kala looked up as a man sat up on the berth right above hers.
Tousle haired, with a crumpled shirt, a sleepy looking man arose.
He bore the unmistakable appearance of being a North Indian
politician, who came down to the South to follow his 'ideals'.
Ms.Dev frowned slightly, and looked out the window. Evidently she
didn't approve of this man.

"We are at Ernakulum South Railway Station." answered Kala.

"So, we didn't reach Chennai yet?" asked the man.
"No, I believe we'll reach there tomorrow morning" replied
Kala cautiously, now beginning to wonder if this man was
drunk.
Ms.Dev muttered something that sounded very much like
'illiterate' to herself, and stared pointedly out the window.
At this juncture, a Sardarji walked into the compartment,
carrying a simple suitcase. He seated himself next to Ms.Dev, and
asked everyone in general, "Going to Chennai?"
Ms.Dev nodded curtly, Kala nodded smiling and the man from the
top berth jumped down saying "Yes, I'm Mr.Patel. Going to
Chennai. You are?"
"Myself, Jolly Singh" was the reply. "Was going to take a flight,
but no booking, now what to do."
Kala smiled thinking to herself, "A student, a teacher, a
politician and a Sardarji are travelling together. This might
just get interesting.
After the initial introduction, everyone settled into their own
domains. Kala would listen to music on her IPod, Ms.Dev read a
science journal, Mr.Jolly Singh read the newspaper, and Mr.Patel
would talk about his political party and achievements, to the
world in general. He wasn't particularly concerned about
including other people in his discussion. He simply needed an
audience to talk to. The TTR arrived, verified their seats and
left. Passengers, tradesmen selling their wares and more
passengers walked past them.

An experienced traveler knows how conversations in trains occur.

First you have the small talk for a while, introducing yourself,
asking about the destination, the weather etc. Then you either
relapse into silence, each person amusing themselves in their own
simple ways. The second situation is this; an incident will
occur, and that will stimulate a highly involved conversation
that lasts all the way through dinner till the lights go off. The
incident is usually something very simple. Passengers discover a
common friend; debate arises over something in the newspaper, and
so on. In this journey, these four passengers experience the
second situation. And their incident was because of a simple
dislike that one passenger had developed towards the other.
As mentioned earlier, Mr.Patel was not a quiet man.
He enjoyed conversation; he wouldn't go through a journey
quietly. Ms.Dev as mentioned earlier didn't particularly approve
of Mr.Patel, or his mannerisms. She was a professor who treated
life with discipline, she didn't approve of illiteracy, of non
ambitious people, and she certainly did not approve of politics.
So one can imagine how irritated she would have become with the
incessant jabbering of Mr.Patel. As far as she was concerned he
was a young man who probably never went to college and would
have
picked up a flag when he was in school simply because it gave him
a free period.
Now Mr.Patel was a smoker, not a chain smoker, but he liked to
smoke and he wasn't particularly bothered about the hazards of
second hand smoke either. But this was positively the last straw.
"Will you please quit smoking in here?" she asked in a firm voice.
Mr.Patel appeared surprised. Kala was quite relieved, because
she wasn't very fond of smoking herself. Mr.Singh sensed the rift
that would occur, ad interjected.

"Why don't you step out and smoke, ji? Ladies are sitting here."
he said.
Mr.Patel looked insulted, but extinguished the cigarette. But Ms.
Dev wasn't exactly finished with him, and continued.
"It is because of people like you that our planet has reached
this state." she muttered to herself.
Kala looked rather alarmed; she wasn't very keen on an
argument during the trip. Mr.Singh looked quite embarrassed as
well. Mr.Patel however didn't just keep quiet.
"Excuse me, what do you mean by that?" he asked.
"You know what I am talking about. "Global Warming"," Ozone layer
depletion"," Environment Deterioration", these are phrases we
hear every day in today's world.
A child of the 21st century is well-versed with the "problems in
the environment", because as far as he can remember the "ozone
layer had a growing gap", the "global temperature was always
rising and falling at unexpected levels", "Land, water and air
was severely polluted because of factories" and so on.
What went wrong?
Here's what happened: when man strived to achieve excellence, to
dominate and grow, he forgot his origins. He forgot that he was
as dependent on Mother Nature as she was on him. He went on
plundering so fast that he forgot that he was, to use the slang,
"digging his own grave". So why is the environment such a
significant part of our existence?
It is because we are as dependent on her as she is on us. For
every step of the way we need her to cooperate with us. Now, we
have exploited nature so much that she has nothing of her own. We

have uprooted her trees, dried her rivers, and weighed her down
under our weight. So now she resorts to the oldest trick in the
book "An eye for an eye". For when man strikes nature, nature strikes
back."
Ms.Dev paused triumphantly. Mr.Patel looked aghast at her.
Mr.Singh however asked, " But there is no proof for this is
there?"
Kala looked at him in disbelief. Ms.Dev could hardly contain
herself and continued.
"The Proof?
"Current global temperature is about 2-3 C higher than about 50
years back"; "Sea level has risen by almost 3 m"; "Intensity of
cyclone activity, heat waves etc are at an all-time high";
"Mountains, glaciers are melting at such exponential rates that
in a few years countries in the Northern Hemisphere will have
restricted drinking water supply" and so on... The list is
endless. There is ample evidence to prove that global warming is
real and is here to stay unless we do something about it. Allow
me to elaborate.
For instance on the basis of observation alone it was concluded
that over the past 50 years cold days cold nights frosts have
become less frequent over most land areas and hot days and hot
nights have become more frequent. Heat waves have become more
frequent, the frequency of heavy precipitation events has
increased. The glaciers in Himalayas Indonesia and the North Pole
are a few that are rapidly melting.
Are we doing anything about this? Yes. Has it been very
effective? No. Why?
It's because the things that we have done so far, were relatively
local efforts that didn't have the cooperation of enough people.

There is hardly any point in planting one tree, if we are gonna

sell 5 SUVs on that very same day in the very same city.
We need to think on a much larger scale, something that is
realistic, as well as, useful. The time is long gone when we
could tell people to switch of their ACs, to prevent release of
CFCs, temperatures have risen so high that Air conditioning is
now a necessity, not a luxury. Considering the crime rates now,
people avoid public transport and stick to their own vehicles,
for need of protection, not luxury. Our society has transcended
to such a level that what was a luxury in the past, is now a
basic necessity.
So the solution we come up with has to be something that
cooperates with our current lifestyle. We need to create new
rules which while being effective are not so inflexible that
people end up not adhering to it. Governments and scientists all
over the world are trying to solve this mind-boggling problem.
The answer is right in front of us !
Students, the youth, the future leaders of the world have to be
convinced that the threat is real. There are millions who think
of global warming as a fairy tale, something made up to stop
people from living extravagant lives. So where do we go from
here. As a society we increasingly care about environmental
issues. This is good. But as a society we are increasingly
failing to manage the environment.
Now being green is the 'in thing'. We have to make it 'The
thing'. We have to find different answers. The choice is ours to
learn and make. Only ours."
*******
She summarized. Her audience seemed rather overwhelmed by the
extent of information she had submitted before them. Being a
science student Kala had discussed this topic several times

during her time in college and school. Mr.Singh was thoughtful,

and started to speak, however, Mr.Patel started after a minutes
pause.
"I am sure you are a very distinguished professor, and
everything, but excuse me when I say this. The Environment is not
what Matters! Have you read the papers? You are concerned about
smokers and cars and trees! The state of our nation's politics
doesn't bother you? And do you know why that is? It is because
the involvement of youth in politics is NIL!"
Do the youth think about their country? Are they interested in
the policies of the nation? These questions, which may seem
bizarre to many, are the questions we need to raise. The word
politician envisages an old, tired and worn-out individual,
people hardly think of youngsters as politicians. Many of you
regard politics as "quicksand" from which you will never be able
to come out. Due to this wrong notion, politics is definitely not
one among the diverse career options chosen by the youngsters.
Why is it so? Have we taken for granted that the politics are not
for the youth . Is your only aim an affluent career? Well, people
portray youth as `cool, young and happening' but you fail to
realise the potential and capacity of the young blood in
reforming our age-old politics.
Young educated classes should actively participate and come
forward to contribute to the process of rebuilding our nation.
The norms of today's society demands the front benchers to opt
for "Dollars in the US" and thereby leave the backbenchers to
"supposedly lead the country" by declaring strikes and waving a
flag.
Young people are not entering the political arena due to the
social stigma attached to the political career. The stereotypes
of the past are still rooted in the minds of the public. What we
need is dynamic and educated youth who are willing to make a mark
in the democratic system of our country without any selfish

motives. That will be the change that many of us will welcome

with open hands. A vibrant India with youthful ideas and fearless
actions. Young India for the future.
Youth is the future of every society, every nation. It is the
youth with their modern outlook and progressive ideas who will
take the nation forward. If the youth shy away from politics
today, then who will lead the nation tomorrow? We constantly
reiterate "Today's youth are tomorrow's leaders". But why should
that be the case? Why can't today's youth become today's leaders?
While our mind are still fresh and our spirit's strong. But does
this mean that experience doesn't count? Undoubtedly not. But
there should be a balance where, the youth will possess the drive
and spirit to catalyze the future and the seniors will act as the
helping hand, a guide, a support if needed for that catalyst.
If we can co-operate and come into agreement, if this proposal is
adopted then what we are looking forward to is INDIA-Superpower
of the 21st century. A fusion of modern technology accelerated by
a budding government still firmly rooted in it's historic past.
*******
He ended with a huff. Ms.Swati Dev looked thoroughly disgruntled.
Kala stared between the two of them perplexed. Mr. Jolly Singh
however had something to say now.
"Patelji, you cannot blame India's political state on the fact
that these kids are not joining politics. Our Indian politics is
not a very clean area to enter now, is it? Take the Lokpal Bill
case for example. It only emphasizes that our political system is
very much corrupted. Which kid will join us then? And not just
that, what do we know about the Lokpal Bill? Let me explain more
clearly Ji.
India is a developing nation, ji. But we have been stuck at
"developing" for quite some time now. Why? What crippled our

nation? It's hardly a mystery. From petrol prices, to road

contracts, to hosting the Asian games, to the 2G Spectrum Scam,
corruption is omnipotent. It knows no boundaries. "When in doubt,
flash your wallet" is the motto practiced by our politicians,
bureaucrats, officers and so on.
To solve this crisis, we have come up with the "Lokpal Bill". Let
me highlight 2 interesting features of the bill: Point 1, it has
2 proposed versions: one by the govt. And another by Hazare and
his team, and, Point 2, it enforces the establishment of a Jan
Lokpal, a group of "people" empowered to look into corruption
cases.
Now, the very fact that point 1 exists, shows that even our
govt., is NOT keen on enforcing this Bill. If you look through
the features you will notice that the govt's version is rather
lenient, and does not involve stringent rules or effective
penalization.
With regard to point 2, the fact that we are empowering a "few
people" to make sure our corrupt citizens "toe the line" shows
how unaware we are of the causes of corruption. With such power
it is only a matter of time before which the members of the Jan
Lokpal fall prey to corruption themselves.
So back to the beginning, do I agree with Anna Hazare that the
Jan Lokpal Bill will eradicate corruption? No, because corruption
isn't an issue which can be resolved by merely giving a few more
people some more powers or by enforcing a few more rules. We have
been able to bend rules in the past and we can certainly do it
again.
Corruption can be resolved only if the people themselves decide
to change. And till that problem is solved, forget educated
youth, even uneducated youth will stay away from politics."
*******

He ended. His fellow passengers stared at him rather perplexed,

more stunned by the fluent English and vocabulary, than his
interpretation of the Lokpal Bill and youth in politics. Mr.Patel
seemed at loss for words for the first time. Kala spoke now.
"Sir, I don't think it's just those factors. At the end of the
day, hardly any of us, be it youth or not, give our nation the
respect it deserves. It's all talk and no actions. Don't you
think so? Take the way we celebrate our national holidays like
Independence Day, Republic Day etc. I'm not referring to our
parades and the obligatory actions we do, but about the way each
one of us celebrate it at our homes, workplace etc.
There are a lot of differences in the way we celebrate these
festivals. About one week prior to a friend's Birthday or
Christmas we are busy at Archies selecting greeting cards. The
weeks prior to Onam and Eid are filled with shopping for new
clothes and so on. But you hardly find anyone pausing at a gift
store to buy a greeting card saying 'Happy Independence Day'.
Only a handful of people wake up in the morning to view the flag
hoisting, the rest are, well let's just say too tired.
These lax behaviors only signify the lack of importance we
attribute to our Independence; it's just another date in our
history textbook plus a public holiday.
That shouldn't be the case. If it weren't for Independence Day we
wouldn't have been able to achieve anything that we have so
far.Vishwanathan Anand,Sachin Tendulkar,P.T.Usha,Arundati
Roy,Venketraman Ramakrishnan would have all won accolades for a
British colony.The worlds most brilliant minds would be from
British India.Slumdog Millionaire wouldn't be famous for the song
"Jai Ho",it would be famous for "Live Long".Chandrayan I would
have probably been Moon Walker the First.
So what am I implying? Let's give our Independence Day, Republic

Day and every other historic day the respect it deserves. It's
not much, but if we all just respected our history a little more,
we could achieve a lot more than what most people might think."
Kala concluded, rather pink. Ms.Swati Dev was thoughtful, and
Mr.Jolly Singh nodded appreciatively.
Mr.Patel just launched into the conversation,"So, you agree with
me that youth need to involve themselves in politics, or not? "
Kala sighed and said, "I think everyone should be involved in
the nation's politics, not just the youth, or any other group.
The whole society."
"I think I understand what you are thinking of Kala", said
Ms.Dev.
Mr.Patel was about to interject when the train came to a stop at
the next station. Passengers boarded the train, and two new
passengers came into the compartment and sat on the passenger
side seats. And just like that the tide of conversation ceased.
It wasn't that they forgot about the debate, it just lost its
flow. Now strangers had arrived in the group, continuation of the
discussion seemed inappropriate. Once again each of them slinked
back into their own private domains, with books, newspapers and
phones. They couldn't go back to the previous topics, but that
didn't mean the topic was forgotten. Within a few hours the train
had reached its destination. The old passengers got off, new ones
got on, and each person went their own different ways; traversing
rails that sprawl across our nation.
*******
But this by no means was the end of the story. A further look at
what unraveled in their lives proves one thing to us. We are all
faced with choices in every step of our life, whether we know it
or not. Every decision that you make involves selecting one

option while neglecting another. The choice maybe 'should you

pick a red dress or the blue one', 'Take the bus or the car',
'Stay at home and go to college or leave to study in another
country', 'Leave your job to do something you love or work on to
get a better retirement life'. Continue to read this book or not?
Such choices we face at every juncture of our life.
And when we realize that these choices have an impact not just on
our life, but on the life of others as well, their level of
importance increases.
For instance, that morning when Kala woke up and packed
her bags to go to college, she had no clue about the difference
she would create simply because she decided to leave home in
Kochi and go to Madras to study. Or Mr.Jolly Singh's choice to
switch his travel preference from air to rail.
Read on to find out what happened to all of them.
Kala goes on to college, but after acquiring her bachelor
degree in engineering, she proceeds to take her masters' in
political science and writes the IAS Exam later on, to finally
become an IFS officer. Her life found its goal because of the
young politician Mr.Patel.
Mr.Patel removed himself from the political party and instead
started an NGO. He hired a few of his friends, their goal:
educate students about politics. He realized that simply asking
people to join politics wasn't enough. He had to make politics
appealing to everyone. It was a slow process, but he started it.
His life influenced by Mr.Singh, who reminded him why people
hated politics in the first place.
Mr.Jolly Singh went on to develop an organic insecticide that was
actually effective without destroying the soil and water used for
farming. He made his company eco-friendly, thanks to Ms.Swati
Dev.

Ms.Swati Dev went on to write a book, a simple one that

highlighted several issues that existed in society, such as,
environment, politics, importance of giving the nation its due
respect and so on Courtesy Kala.
And the journey is complete.