An encounter with anonymous

For easy  reading.............

I had boarded the train at Jaipur to travel to Jaisalmer at 11.45pm. I was really tired after visiting the places in Jaipur under that hot sun. In between, there were intruders with general tickets in the sleeper class! I was feeling so sleepy and was not in a position to ‘adjust’ my berth with the local passengers. But the arrogance of these local people was really horrible. They never had a sense of guilt for intruding into sleeper class though they were supposed to travel in ordinary class. Over and above that, they behaved as if occupying in sleeper class was their right. A person had already slept on my berth. I went and asked him politely that whether it was his berth. He said “yes”!! Then I asked him to show the ticket. Then he asked my name as if I was intruding into his berth. When I showed my ticket and raised my voice a bit, he woke up and wished (cursed) ‘araam se so jaavo’(sleep well)!!! “Are bhaai, itna paisa deke, mere berth me mei nahi so jaavoo kya?” I thought myself! Thank god, he didn’t wish “Rest in Peace” for me as in Bol Bachchan!!!

           
            I sighed.  Kept my bags below the berth and went to get refreshed. By the time I returned, I was surprised to see another person lying on my berth!! I was no more patient now! But still, quarrelling was not a good idea. So I asked him politely, “is this your berth?” “No” he said. Thank God, at least he accepted the truth! He woke up and said that his ticket was in waiting list and requested me to allow him to sit on my berth. I accepted for it as I felt happy that he was an honest person. He asked me “where was I going?” I said “Jaisalmer. and You?”. “Even I am going to Jaisalmer” he said. He cursed for his fate as he had to stay the night sitting! I But he was optimistic of getting a berth by the time train reached Jodhpur by early morning 5 o’clock. I spread my bed sheet on the berth and stretched myself to relax. Then I thought of getting an advice from localite about Jaisalmer from him. So I asked, “what are the places that are ‘must visit’ in Jaisalmer?” He said “I too don’t know, I am new to Jaisalmer”.

I continued the conversation,

“Oh! What are you doing in Jaisalmer?”

“I am in Border Security Force (BSF)”

“Wow!! Thats great!” I was overjoyed to meet a protector of our nation and to share my berth with him. I was curious to know about the military life indeed.

“How is your life in BSF? How many years have you been working in BSF?”

“Life is good, I am in service since 18 years”

“Where is your native?”

“Uttar Pradesh, near Meerut”

“How do you feel about your service?”

“It is good. We get many facilities.”

“How is your work schedule?”

“It varies. We work in shifts. Since our responsibility is to protect the border, there will be night shifts as well as day shifts”

“Do you feel it stressful?”

“No. Not at all.  We watch the border with no stress. I serve  either on night shift or day shift. Night shift means I have to leave the camp by 7pm towards the border where I am assigned a duty. There will be 3 jawans assigned to the same place. All three will go together in the vehicle. The duty of eight hours is divided into 4 parts. One soldier will do the duty for 2 hours and the other two sleeps during that time. Then he would awaken another and  would take rest. This goes in rotation until the third soldier in the group completes his two hour duty.  After that, all three would keep awake and protect the border for the remaining two hours. Then another team of jawaans would arrive to the place allowing us to return to camp. In this way we do our duty with no stress.”

“How about food?”

“Oh yes, we do get a very good quality food. Always we get food as per a fixed time-table.  We are given chicken once in a week. They measure the food in calories and provide it to us. So, no complaints on food. We keep healthy.

“Whether sweaters, jackets of good quality are provided for you? That too especially when you work in Kashmir, you will definitely need them!”

“yes yes, we are provided with very good quality warm clothes, sweaters and jackets.”

I felt happy as the jawaan is happy with his profession and conditions of existence. I shifted the topic to suicides.

“I have heard that India is doing good in reducing the number of suicides among soldiers by psychological intervention. What do you say about suicides by soldiers?”

“There is nothing like that. No specific relationship between military life and suicide. See, don’t the common people commit suicide in our society? Similarly, soldiers may have reasons in their own life to commit suicide. There is nothing to hype about this matter actually. I have never felt any feeling like that. Yes, monotony will be there and we will be away from our family for a longer duration of time. But that doesn’t become a matter for a soldier to commit suicide. So, I don’t agree that the situation in which we live makes us to commit suicide.”

“How much leave do you get in a year?”

“60 days leave is our rightful leave. Every soldier can enjoy this much leave. No one can stop him from it. If we save them in our initial years of service, we can use them at later years.  We have 15 casual leaves (CL) too.  It is granted based on situation.    In cases of emergencies, there is also a provision of leaves without pay”.

Good, these people can use their leaves as and when they want. I wanted to know further about the facilities they are provided with.

“Whether you get travel allowances properly?”

“Yes, as per the new rules, we can travel in 2 tier AC coaches in trains. Earlier it was sleeper class. But the problem is that, we fix our travel not much prior to the date of journey. Our tickets remain in waiting lists most of the times. So, even though we have the facility, we are not able to utilize it. But no regrets. We adjust with the situation”

This was a notable point. I felt that the railways will have to have quotas for military and paramilitary persons at least in the trains which travel in the lines where movement of them is higher.

Now I wanted to probe him more with critical questions!

“What is your opinion about India – Pakistan relations?” People in external affairs ministry might talk for hours about this issue. They may explain the bilateral ties between the two countries better than anyone else. But I wanted to know the opinion of a person who strives at the border and not in the AC room.

“India – Pak? O.K. fine. Compared to earlier days it is going on better now. Yet, every night DIWALI is celebrated even now! In the morning we meet on adjacent border but in the night, firing takes place. But I assure you, India never  initiates firing but Pakis do. Of course, we retaliate and we never accept defeat. If they fire one bullet, we will fire two. In case if they kill one person from our side, we won’t rest before killing at least two soldiers from their side.”

“What if India – China war takes place in the present scenario?”

“Well, China is a powerful country. But we are not weak. We are equally powerful to defeat China. If war takes place, we have good chances of crushing them”.

This confidence in a soldier is really laudable. I felt proud of him. Seeing me in sleepy mood he asked me to take rest. Though we wished to see in the morning he was nowhere when I woke-up. He could have got berth in some other compartment.

I couldn’t locate him in nearby compartments. Even I had forgotten to ask his name!! Whatever may be his name, I felt, the information out of this conversation is worth sharing. He had broken the misconception among us about the difficulties of life in military and paramilitary forces. Now I feel that more and more youth of India may find a good placement in military. 

Light up lives and not crackers!

 

                Boys have already started bursting firecrackers on the streets as the zeal of festivity is increasing. Diwali is just round the corner and the festival reminds children of firecrackers!! I was no different in my childhood. My father used to purchase sparklers, ground chakkars, flower pots, twinkling star and a packet of crackers. But as I entered secondary school, he used to convince me to burst lesser firecrackers as they cause heavy air pollution. By the time I entered high school, we discontinued buying crackers. We used to celebrate Diwali by taking oil bath in the early morning as some sweets are prepared for noon as oils are lighted in the front of the house at evening.

What is the relevance of Diwali?

               Diwali is celebrated to commemorate the return of Lord Rama, Sita and Lakshmana after completing 14 years of exile (vanavaasa) and killing of the demon king Raavana from Lanka. Ayodhya residents had welcomed their cherished prince by lighting diyas (ghee lamps).

             

               Naraka Chaturdashi is celebrated one day before Diwali as the day Lord Krishna and Satyabhama’s victory over Narakaasura. Thus both days hold significance as two incarnations of Vishnu had achieved victory over demons. I don’t know when the use of fireworks had started!! But I was wondering how it might have come into practice to burst firecrackers during Deepavali? Someone told me that the purpose of bursting fireworks was to drive away evil spirits!! “Oh!! What an idea sir ji!! Pataaki jalaake (udaake) bhootonko bhagaa denge!!!”  But with our ‘extra’ enthusiasm to drive away evil spirits, “dev deviyaan bhi bhaag gaye to?” They have no answer to this question.

Should we use fireworks during Diwali?

                It is difficult to curtail the use of fireworks completely. But some initiative must be taken in this direction too as fireworks are hazardous to mind and body. Nature is, however, a victim anyway with air, water, soil and noise pollution!!

                It is quite common every year to hear reports about people losing their vision, hand or other vital organs on account of bursting of firecrackers. Accidents occur due to people’s carelessness or due to the usage of substandard fire crackers. But finally the result is miserable.

                Special care should be taken with infants and toddlers. There is a greater possibility of them getting scared due to huge sounds of fire crackers which may also pave way for mental stress. In severe cases, this effect of trauma may last long or may be for lifetime.

                 It is a well known fact that inhaling of smoke is harmful for health. Children in particular should not be exposed to such thick smoke which emanates from fire works that can easily cause some respiratory disorders.

                We should not forget the Sivakasi tragedy which took place just two months ago. Nearly 40 people lost their lives and hundreds were injured due to inadequate safety measures be undertaken in the factory building. Few years back, similar tragedy had taken place and people had lost their lives in the same place.

                I appeal to people to stop bursting fireworks as I am concerned about human lives. Many children and youths are not really careful while bursting fire crackers. For instance, a physically handicapped woman was walking in the bylanes. Some boys were bursting firecrackers in the vicinity. Suddenly they started screaming at the woman to go away from the place. Thankfully, she could move two steps away and the cracker blasted there! When she asked the children to be cautious while bursting crackers they turned a blind eye towards it. When I interfered, they calmly said, “It’s Diwali festival, so we are bursting crackers. She should have been careful!!” How adamant! They simply ignored my request. The women sighed that she could rescue herself! But the question which arises in my mind is can someone harm the other for the sake of having fun!

               It is time for the government to take immediate steps to curb the menace by allowing the sale of only sparklers, twinkling stars, flower pots or such burning fireworks in the open market so that children can have fun during Diwali. High decibel firecrackers should be banned to rescue people’s lives.