The railway uncle

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It was yet another dusky day and the Guwahati railway station was , as usual, filled up with hustling crowd of passengers, some of which waiting for their trains, others standing at tea stalls gulping down tea and discussing politics while some panicking at the enquiry counter, overloading the enquiry guy with arrows of questions seconds by seconds. The loudspeakers echoed together with the announcement of the arrival of the train for which Mr.Baruah was eagerly waiting. Mr.Baruah was a middle aged person, probably in his mid 40’s, a resident of Guwahati. He was not accustomed to travel in a train as he could very well afford the luxuries of a flight but the weather of Guwahati planned a surprise train journey for him and out of adventure he decided to travel in sleeper class rather than AC class. The train arrived and Mr.Baruah boarded it and got himself seated. Other passengers also took their seats one by one and soon the train was packed up to the brim, with hardly any space for anyone.

The train chugged off the station and picked up its full pace. The view outside the windows was very pleasant as the train was passing through rural areas of Assam. Mr.Baruah was busy in his short nap, which was broken by a sudden sound of abusing. He woke up and to his utter surprise found a group of guys, probably in their mid 20’s,  cursing and abusing a small kid of about 10 years old, just three compartments away. He inquired to a person sitting next to him,

“What happened??? Why are they abusing that kid?”

The man replied “nothing much, just daily mellow drama. These kids nowadays sing in the public transport and ask for money. Later on they have drugs with that money. These guys are doing the right thing by abusing him. At least then he would feel shame.”

That kid, after managing to escape the harsh words of those guys, again started to sing, with two stones in his hand, which he tapped against each other and produced a musical sound which goes very well with the song he was singing. Mr.Baruah was admiring the kid from the starting of his song to the ending. As his song finished he started asking people sitting around him to donate some money.

Some people gave, some didn’t. Then he walked towards Mr.Baruah and said

“Sahib, give some money. I haven’t eaten since two days.”

Mr.Baruah didn’t know what to do or say. He noticed the kid. He was too small, skinny. His hairs strands were dry and rough and certainly would not have been oiled for months now. His shirt on his body was there for namesake and his trouser did not fit him. One of his hands used to hold it on his waist and he had the innovative technique of fastening it with a rope of brittle plastic threads. He was standing expressionless just like an old stuffed toy.

“Beta, what’s your age?” Mr.Baruah asked him.

“Dus “

“Why you do this? This is your age to study, to play.” 

He didn’t say anything. Mr.Baruah repeated the question.

This time he replied

“Sahib, I have problems in my home. My father committed suicide as he was unable to pay back the loans which he took for his business as most of the money he took went away in buying his liquors. Since then, my mother works as maid in some houses to provide us food, I have two sisters, they need to go to school so I have to work, no other option left. I tried working in a tea shop but the owner thrashed me and fired me when I broke a cup while washing them. People don’t give work to me for the fear of being caught by police for child labor. Govt has setup strict rules for that, but they should have setup some rules for feeding us too “

              Hyderabad diaries

Being a NCC cadet, we get lot of opportunities to explore our inner self as well as the outer world and one such opportunity came to me when I was selected for the Air Force Academy Attachment Camp 2010. I am an ex-cadet of NCC air wing, NER directorate and it was a very proud moment for me when I was selected as the only cadet to represent not only Assam but the entire North East India.

The camp was scheduled to be held from 22^nd October 2010 to 4^th Nov 2010. The excitement in me was bursting out as days passed by and the time came for bidding good bye to Guwahati. Before that I collected every pre requisite items such as new uniforms, mufti dress, boots, flying boots etc. from the unit and received many advices and Do’s and Don’ts from our instructors.

The journey to Secunderabad was quite long, it took three days to reach there, and believe me when I say there was a time in the journey when I just wanted to get out of the train anyhow. I and my instructor V.P.Singh sir reached Secunderabad at around 6 pm in the evening on 21^st October. We went to the MCO office for the necessary to be done. An army vehicle was already waiting to pick us and take to the camp site. Two more cadets were waiting there. Later on after having conversation I came to know that they were from West Bengal directorate. The three of us (cadets) were now taken to the transit camp site where a huge army NCC camp was being conducted. We were to spend our night there and the next day we would be taken to the Air Force Academy.

On 22^nd nov, after a briefing by the Deputy Director General of NCC, Andhra Pradesh directorate, we were taken to our destination, the one which we were longing to see since we joined NCC, the one where the finest air warriors of the world are created, the temple of discipline and knowledge – Air Force Academy, Hyderabad. We were allotted our tents. I have to share my tent with four other cadets from Bhopal, Coimbatore, Jaipur and Bangalore.

We had to follow a back breaking and super hectic routine for the next 14 days. Our daily routine included getting up at 4 am to the sound of air deafening alarm played on loud speakers by our camp instructors, which followed up with a health run covering a stretch of about 9 kms, then we got half an hour for nature’s call and getting ready for the drill, then breakfast and off to classes. We were giving lectures on a diverse topics ranging from Aero Engines to SSB interviews, History of IAF to the Latest weapons and missiles inculcated in IAF. We were made to visit various departments of the Academy such as Aero Medical Training Centre, Tettra School, Hangars where we saw shining Kiran Mark-1 aircrafts used for training of Fighter pilots, Helicopter unit  at Hakimpet air force station, transport air craft unit at Begumpet air force station etc etc….

One of the most enthralling day for us was when we were taken for the tour of Hyderabad city. Our sight-seeing included the mystic Goloconda Forts, The majestic Charminar, the charming and beautiful Lumbini Park and the Magnificient Birla Temple.

“Good times fly away fast “so was the case with me. The days at AFA went away so fast and time came for us to bid good bye. With heavy hearts we bade bye to each other with the promise to be in contact always and to organize a re-union where every one of us will come once again to relive those golden days that we spent together. I entered AFA empty handed but returned with pockets full of knowledge, love and amazing friends from each and every part of India.

I am and always will be indebted to my CO sir and instructors who believed in my capabilities and provided me such a chance to discover and expand myself.