Jul

4

train ticket collector throws 12-year old off the train

July 4, 2008 posted by indiatime |

“….I could feel him enjoying The Power, a strange opiate one feels when one knows one has complete authority over a situation, and someone without that authority wants what only you can give them. In India, coping with The Power is an essential part of survival: to get what you want you have to kowtow to sad little men who have snaked their way up the ranks of the railway company, always being polite when what you’d rather do is mash the bastard’s face into your right kneecap. I coped admirably, repeating in my head the anti-Power mantra, ‘I can always leave India, this poor bastard can’t….”

Mark Moxon, British travel writer, on Indian Railways ticket staff

This Wednesday, Sankar Singh, a 12-year old boy from Orissa, who earned his living by cleaning train compartments, nearly paid with his life for crossing swords with the train conductor/ticket collector.

While cleaning a compartment in the Rourkela Express, Sankar Singh found a 50 Rupee bill. He pocketed it, not realizing that the train conductor had also seen the unclaimed bill. The conductor claimed it contending it was his. The 12-year old refused, knowing fully well, that it belonged to some passenger.

The ticket collector, enraged by the boy’s refusal to hand over the bill, slapped him and threw him out of the running train. Sankar Singh survived, but lost his right hand and left leg in the process.

Indian Railways has a citizens’ charter on its website and it makes a promise to India’s public to

1. provide a safe and dependable train service

2. set notified standards for various services

3. set up a responsive and effective grievance redressal machinery

For Orissa’s 12-year old citizen Sankar, the first two items in the charter went flying out the window. As for the third, the Railways charter promises that in case someone has a detailed grievance, the administration would investigate it within 120 days. That’s 4 months. If little Sankar survives, he will have his day in court with the ticket collector and he will most probably ask for his 50-Rupee bill. As for the ticket collector, his real judgement day will come at the hands of his maker, who most certainly will throw the bastard into a pot of boiling hot oil.

More than a hundred years ago, a South African ticket collector threw an Indian called Gandhi, out of the train, for having occupied a first class seat. Hundred years later, in independent India, the cycle of tyranny still continues, albeit under a government of natives.


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5 Comments so far

  1. CPatel on July 5, 2008 10:18 am

    It was very unnecessary for the child to be thrown off the train and it was definitely a despicable move on his part as well…

    But looking from another point of view, what if the child had stolen the cash? or What if the child was actually very wealthy and did not even need cash, yet took the cash for greed,

    Would the negative perception of the conductor be turned around toward the boy? In other words, could there be any morality whatsoever behind the conductor’s actions?

  2. Naveen on July 5, 2008 11:17 am

    What if the child suddenly changed into a demon and bit into the conductor’s hand and the poor conductor while struggling to free himself from the vicious hold of the child, accidently pushed him off the train….. What if…

  3. The cycle of tyranny | ckunte.com on July 24, 2008 2:51 pm

    [...] Indiatime: “More than a hundred years ago, a South African ticket collector threw an Indian called Gandhi, out of the train, for having occupied a first class seat. Hundred years later, in independent India, the cycle of tyranny still continues, albeit under a government of natives.” [...]

  4. VIBHUTI KUMAR on July 30, 2008 11:23 am

    my ambition is to be ticket collector.

  5. Priyadevi on April 12, 2009 3:10 am

    CPatel

    The boy is not entirely blameless. However, even had the boy stolen 500 rupes directly from the conductors pocket, it is no excuse to throw a child from a moving train.

    The conductor should be charged with attempted murder of, no question. The conductor should be denied the 50 rupes as he owes the child support for life. He has eliminated this boy’s chance of being able to EVER do most jobs. This boy has been forced into the life of a beggar forever.

    Are you saying you find this suitable justice?

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