Perhaps, we all may not empathise well with persecuted Rohingyas, homeless Palestinians, ostracized Srilankan Tamilians, and asylum seeking Tibetans but the trials , tribulations and traumas they undergo can well be felt while we travel by train either in waiting list or without ticket(under forced circumstances). This group or individual, I will call "refugees on wheel", feels the same sort of "microcosmic brunt" which those real life refugees do (in loose sense).
Though Railway itself is a "running mini India on wheel" which reflects the Indian ethos( tangible as well as intangible) in all sense whether it be implementation of affirmative action for needy section to ensure justice or reflecting myriad of diversity or all way "administration on wheel", the underpinned dynamics on its journey is itself awestruckingly mesmerizing . It is true replica of India's "kaleidoscopic composite culture" where people are set on to be entwined with common goal to reach their destination while establishing "live brotherly bonhomie".
However, amidst all such "hunky-dory" story there is a section which seems to be frightened, scared, insecure, deliberately humble, meek, overt generous in its all way behaviour. It is none other than "refugees on wheel". Why are they so? Because they want to be received/embraced well, accepted easily among well settled fellows and given a little piece of berth to rest their restless bumps. The hanging swords of black coated inspectors( TTE) keep on wracking ticketless individuals` nerves. A lot of thoughts rush in their mind to just survive the journey let the comfort journey be aside.
Ironically, waiting list individuals(counter ticket) pay the same much amount still are maltreated or seen as untouchables, outsiders, intruders. They are seen suspiciously, and can easily be pointed out for any material loss in the compartment. They are at receiving end throughout the journey.
They are found to be helping others to just create conducive environment so that there be theirs sustained acceptability. I remember, during my one winter vacation, I was coming(in waiting) from Nagpur to Patna ,throughout the journey, teaching an overtly eager parents`s slyly unwilling 10th standard child about future engineering prospects, though I was myself confounded with my choice after 4th semester( when my honeymoon period with mathematics got over, math was the reason to choose engineering..haha).
Similar situations (but on serious note) can be drawn for the real life refugees too, who are at receiving end for any deviant development in their vicinity. Recent, Rohingya refugees like episode and unleashed stories thereafter reflect the gruesome plights they undergo. They crave for a respectable physical and humane space but bear the brunt of military brutality. They deserve the same space on earth as any other individual does for just being a human but world is over blinded by the notion of nationality, sovereignty, citizenship which undermine their peaceful existence. Unlike the train there is vast space and possibilities to be accommodated on territorial terrain still they are doomed to die on margin.
Here, drawing parallel of real refugees with those on wheel would be oversimplistic and even trivialization of their complexities .Our limited/ bounded compassion for such sections have not pushed us beyond a limit of "armchair advocacy".
These refuged sections are vulnerable to be engulfed in all radical rousing terror activities. They are easily branded to be aligning the lines of all miscreants/criminal syndicates like berthless or ticketless mortals who are mostly first to be pointed on for any mishaps.
However, miseries of real life refugees are found to be further aggravated when there is invocation of "communal colour". The very notion of clash of religious/ethnic civilization has exacerbated their problems when there is rising case of selective "cleansing". Thanks to the intact moral mooring of our Indianness which is yet to be muddied by such malicious malices and hence, no such primordial sanction during our train travel. Our Gandhi might have faced it ( thrown out of train despite relevant class ticket) owing to his tanned colour and their "racial arrogance" but such inhumanity is yet to be crept in moving "MinIndia".
Though Railway itself is a "running mini India on wheel" which reflects the Indian ethos( tangible as well as intangible) in all sense whether it be implementation of affirmative action for needy section to ensure justice or reflecting myriad of diversity or all way "administration on wheel", the underpinned dynamics on its journey is itself awestruckingly mesmerizing . It is true replica of India's "kaleidoscopic composite culture" where people are set on to be entwined with common goal to reach their destination while establishing "live brotherly bonhomie".
However, amidst all such "hunky-dory" story there is a section which seems to be frightened, scared, insecure, deliberately humble, meek, overt generous in its all way behaviour. It is none other than "refugees on wheel". Why are they so? Because they want to be received/embraced well, accepted easily among well settled fellows and given a little piece of berth to rest their restless bumps. The hanging swords of black coated inspectors( TTE) keep on wracking ticketless individuals` nerves. A lot of thoughts rush in their mind to just survive the journey let the comfort journey be aside.
Ironically, waiting list individuals(counter ticket) pay the same much amount still are maltreated or seen as untouchables, outsiders, intruders. They are seen suspiciously, and can easily be pointed out for any material loss in the compartment. They are at receiving end throughout the journey.
They are found to be helping others to just create conducive environment so that there be theirs sustained acceptability. I remember, during my one winter vacation, I was coming(in waiting) from Nagpur to Patna ,throughout the journey, teaching an overtly eager parents`s slyly unwilling 10th standard child about future engineering prospects, though I was myself confounded with my choice after 4th semester( when my honeymoon period with mathematics got over, math was the reason to choose engineering..haha).
Similar situations (but on serious note) can be drawn for the real life refugees too, who are at receiving end for any deviant development in their vicinity. Recent, Rohingya refugees like episode and unleashed stories thereafter reflect the gruesome plights they undergo. They crave for a respectable physical and humane space but bear the brunt of military brutality. They deserve the same space on earth as any other individual does for just being a human but world is over blinded by the notion of nationality, sovereignty, citizenship which undermine their peaceful existence. Unlike the train there is vast space and possibilities to be accommodated on territorial terrain still they are doomed to die on margin.
Here, drawing parallel of real refugees with those on wheel would be oversimplistic and even trivialization of their complexities .Our limited/ bounded compassion for such sections have not pushed us beyond a limit of "armchair advocacy".
These refuged sections are vulnerable to be engulfed in all radical rousing terror activities. They are easily branded to be aligning the lines of all miscreants/criminal syndicates like berthless or ticketless mortals who are mostly first to be pointed on for any mishaps.
However, miseries of real life refugees are found to be further aggravated when there is invocation of "communal colour". The very notion of clash of religious/ethnic civilization has exacerbated their problems when there is rising case of selective "cleansing". Thanks to the intact moral mooring of our Indianness which is yet to be muddied by such malicious malices and hence, no such primordial sanction during our train travel. Our Gandhi might have faced it ( thrown out of train despite relevant class ticket) owing to his tanned colour and their "racial arrogance" but such inhumanity is yet to be crept in moving "MinIndia".
Bhaia awsome...
ReplyDeleteThanks Aman....
ReplyDelete