On May 26th, I and my husband were traveling from Hubli to Bangalore by train, when this incident happened and I was shocked to see how indifferent the railway staff could be towards their duty.
It so happened that we were the first to get into the compartment at about 6.10 pm while the train was scheduled to leave at 6.40 pm. We had reserved our seats in Second sleeper. We made ourselves comfortable and just then at around 6.15 pm a crude looking person entered the compartment and placed a huge bag on the upper berth, which was reserved by us. I immediately asked the person to remove to bag to which he said that he will be sitting there only for a few stops and started talking to someone on mobile. A few minutes later, a family entered the compartment and asked this person to vacate the seat as it was reserved by them. This person promptly gets up and walks out still talking on the phone, leaving his huge bag on our seat.
Then the compartment got crowded with people having general tickets entering the reserved compartments. It is nearly 6.40 pm and there is no sign of this guy and this started to worry me (particularly because this was the immediate day after the election results were announced). I and my husband were the only people who saw this guy keeping his bag and all the others are assuming that the huge bag is ours. My husband went to check the bathroom and the platform to find this person and this person is not to be seen.
Then I see two TCs (one tall & hefty and the other a short guy) entering the compartment and making themselves comfortable in their seats. The train is delayed by 20 minutes for reasons unknown. Even at 7.00 pm when the train starts to move, there is no sign of this person and I worriedly went to the TCs to inform them of the incident.
I started explaining the incident to the TCs (when the train is in motion albeit slowly). When I finished my version, the hefty guy (looking at his personality I thought he will do something) told me in certain terms – “Madam please go and complain to the ASM in his office at the other end of the platform”. I was shocked at this response and said “What!!!”, and to this the reply from that TC was “ASM means Assistant Station Master.” I was very angry with this attitude and raised my voice and asked him “Do you mean to say that I need to go the ASM to complain when the train is in motion?”. Looking at my expression, the short TC immediately responded and asked me to show him the bag.
After seeing the bag he said, “This is very much common in this train. People with general tickets get into the reserved compartments to travel upto Haveri. If the person does not come until we reach Haveri, then let us do something.” And to my utter shock, I learn that the train would take another one and half hours to reach Haveri.
Then the train starts to gain speed and the compartment is awfully crowded with people traveling with small kids. And then we see the guy who kept his bag running and catching the train. Only after we were sure that this the same guy who kept his bag, did we heave a sigh of relief.
I do agree that I was being very skeptical about the whole issue. But, I also strongly feel that being skeptical is a virtue these days. People were not skeptical about unattended bags in Hyderabad and there was a bomb blast at Gokul Chats, which is always crowded. I was a regular at this eatery when I was in Hyderabad and the thought of it scared the wits out of me.
In this case, there was no unpleasant incident but I was surprised to at the attitude of that TC who asked me to go to the ASM and lodge a complaint. This was the least thing I expected from the TC. And the other one was trying to draw a logical conclusion though I appreciate him for atleast coming to see what is wrong lest being as irresponsible as the first one.
This is not the kind of attitude expected from people in public service, who are expected to be more skeptical and more responsible than the general public.
