Happy Birthday Michael Jackson

The day was 29th September and the world was mourning the death of Michael Jackson on his birthday.As usual I was travelling from Bareilly to Lucknow by train. Unfortunately, my usual train Mughal Sarai Express was 1 hour 30 minute late and so I had to catch another train which was running late by more than 4 hours. It was Amarnath Express from Jammu. I boarded the train at 6.30 PM from Bareilly. The journey was as usual, there was no fun. A total of 6 passengers were occupying a seat meant for 3-4 people. Thankfully, the railways have converted the pre-independence legacy of wooden seats into the luxurious rubber cushion seats in general bogies.Every year the Railway Minister announces the increase in number of trains but he or she never announced about the increase in general compartments in trains. About 40% of the total passengers occupy 4- general compartment and rest 30% get the luxury of sleeper, AC & 1st class. One can easily found around 20-25 people in each compartment which is meant only for 8 peoples. That makes a total of 200+ peoples in each bogie. If we divide the society into segments, like superclass, 1st class, 2nd class, 3rd class and 4th class then we found that super class usually do not travel in trains, they prefer air or road. The 1st class occupies the 1st class compartment because they have enough money to spend to get the luxury. However, this class has to check on internet whether their class is available in a particular train or not. Now comes the 2nd class. This class is generally those who are on paid travel by their company or government employees or rich businessmen. Like competition among students for Medical or IIT seats, there is a huge competition which starts almost 60 days before the travel date. Thankfully, the computer literate society (which is less than 5% of population) avails the luxury of booking their tickets online. And they think when they can use their mobile to book their tickets or simply buy a platform ticket. Thanks to the visionary late Shri Rajiv Gandhi for bringing the CPU to our society or today Wipro, Infosys would not exist. Next comes the 3rd class society, which is middle and lower middle class usually government servants at low wages. They are as we say are daily commuters, who may travel upto 200 kms to make their daily living. This class is not denied the 'Janm sidh adhikar' to travel in sleeper (birth right) class. Next comes the fourth class, this class of people are labourers, masons, unskilled population who are the poorest section of the society. The increase in their numbers in trains has made havoc in northern India because their number is not decreasing. They are like migratory birds that travel from home to working place depending upon the festival which falls. They do not want a seat in sleeper class rather they prefer to sleep below seats in general compartments.Such was the scenario in our 08982 compartment of Amarnath Express dated 29th September 2009. We all have travelled around 200 kms from Bareilly watching each other faces, sharing some jokes and reading newspapers (the most touched/transferable thing in a train). Lucknow was only at a distance of 36 kms, when a voice of crying child disturbed the sleep of under benchers. Some of the people suggested giving milk to the child.A voice came from the next compartment'Bacha abhi abhi hua hai (the child is born just now), the next voice from our compartmenttrain mein bachcha (child birth in train).A section of people laughed. I also smiled on that version of language.The voice from next compartment followed 'Haan ladka hua hai' (Yes a boy child born).Then we all believed that it was true, an India Mai ka lal jai Kishen (Michael Jackson) was born to a Assamese woman. Three other women unknown to the Assamese couple helped the mother during the child birth process. The mother was lying on the floor of the compartment. Everywhere, there was blood. The child was okay but the mother was resting on the ground wanting some medical help. The other women do not want to cut the food pipe connecting the mother and the child because it may lead to infection; moreover, they were also new to birth giving process. The child was lying on floor alongwith his mother crying for help still connected. Seeing the situation I called the father of the child and suggested to seek help of Railway Police Force (RPF) of Railways or Ticket Collector or Guard. He tried but the passenger bogie was not connected from as the next bogie which was of 2nd AC. The usual thing the 2nd class wants to keep distance from 4th Class. After 30 minutes, the train stopped at Lucknow junction. I alongwith a co-passenger rushed to the Guard. His compartment was closed and he was absent. Then, we rushed to the engine driver. He said talk to the RPF we again rushed to search any RPF jawan. Our eyes started scanning the over crowded platform. We found a policeman. We told him that in bogie number 08982, there is a woman lying on floor alongwith her new born baby. Hearing to that he said talk to RPF. I am a daily commuter from Hardoi. There was no one to help, so we decided to report to RPF office on platform no.1. From platform no. 2 we ran to RPF office. We found Inspector C.B. Rai, we told him the entire story. He immediately called the RPF to check the matter on platform 2, bogie no.08982 and assamese couple. God knows why, we thought that he was befooling us. So to exert pressure on him, we moved to Station Master office. We knew that he was watching us. We did not found the Station Master there. However, there was a man with wireless in white dress who seemed to be a genuine railway employee. We again narrated the whole story. He told us 'Jab tak woh dono platform par utarte nahin hain main kuch nahim kar sakta (I can take action only when the mother and child deboard the train).Inspector C.B. Rai came rushing in. He told us that the mother, child and father had deboarded the train and asked Station Master to send someone with stretcher so that the mother and child could be taken to the railway hospital. I was happy to hear his words and hoping that he was not befooling us.Inspector thanked us for being a good citizen of Indian republic.I just told my helper (the other man) that what will he say to the world?i. I share my birthday with Michael Jackson or may addii. I was born of a train floor dated 29/09/09.And then, what the world will say?Congratulations?????