On my current visit to India, I boarded a train for a short trip. A gentleman was struggling to hoist an obviously heavy suitcase on to the overhead luggage shelf above the seating area. A uniformed gentleman, presumably a railways Ticket Collector(TC), hurried over to help him. Both of them managed to get the big suitcase situated onto the luggage shelf.
"Thank you," the passenger said to the TC. "You were very helpful."
"You are very welcome, sir" the TC replied, scribbling furiously on an official looking note-pad. "And here's your challaan (monetary fine)." The TC tore off a sheet of paper from the note-pad and held it towards the passenger.
"Challaan? For what?" The confused passenger asked.
"For putting your bag on the luggage rack. Its too big," the TC said.
Now the passenger was really confused. "But... but you helped me put it up there!"
"I sure did, as any responsible citizen would help a fellow citizen. But as an official of Indian Railways, I have to penalize you rupees 200 for putting the bag where it doesn't belong." The TC was very polite.
"I have to give you 200 rupees fine for something that you helped me do?" The passenger was clearly irate now. All of a sudden, other passengers joined in. Vociferous opinions flew thick and fast, mostly in favor of the now fuming passenger!
As the heated discussion went on, a overhead announcement blared-- "A 1-yr old child traveling on the train has become suddenly ill, so if there is a doctor on board, would he or she please help in Coach 3, seat number 15?"
So I got up and the TC looked at me. "You are a doctor?" I nodded affirmative.
"Please follow me, Doc sahib." He started to walk away, looking back at the passenger. "I'm going to come back to collect that fine."
"We'll see about that," the passenger replied. "You look after the child first."
As we got to Coach 3, there was a crowd of people standing around the sick child and his parents, all giving their opinions as to what was wrong. As far as I could make out, none of them were even remotely connected to medicine. And there was a lot of advice being directed at the parents of the child including never to travel by train ever again, the color of clothes to be worn while traveling, to hold the child upside down, the type of food to be given to the child before, during & after travel etc etc.
This is India. Situations that are exasperating and amusing at the same time, occur everyday. Everybody will give you advice on everything, it really doesn't matter whether you asked for it or not. But the indefatigable spirit of the people and their overwhelming faith in a higher power never ceases to amaze me. The eternal optimism, the hospitality and the abundant energy of a billion people overshadows the corrupt politicians and as a result, India ticks along.
Jai Ho, India!
.
