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| Chaiya Chaiya moment |
In 1998 ‘Dil Se’ movie, directed by the legendry Mani Ratnam
was released. The song ‘Chaiya Chaiya’ was
an instant hit as it stirred the imagination of the masses and classes. The
song was picturised on Malaika Arora and Shah Rukh Khan dancing atop a goods
train and the scintillating music was composed by the upcoming star A R Rahman.
The train passes through tunnels, green meadows and the mountains as the
dancers clad in vibrant colours danced with gay abandon oblivious to the danger
such an act could result in. This would arguably be one of the most beautifully
picturised songs in hindi cinema. This
one song capitulated a little known model Malaika Arora into big league. Her delectable waist
and her dancing rhythm would have made her quite a star. However she became Malaika Arora Khan the same
year after marrying Arbaaz Khan, brother of Salmaan Khan and could only come
back to limelight several years later in husband’s produced Dabang with another
wonderfully choreographed song ‘Munni badnaam hui….’.
It’s a pity that Indian Railway could not make the song ‘chaiya
chaiya’ into their advertisement as most of the action is atop the moving
train- totally illegal and dangerous! But this roof riding aspect on Indian
trains is part of an unwritten script in rural India which repeats itself day
after day. I experienced it first hand during an unforgettable journey.
As my school friend Anjani and I boarded the train for
Siliguri from the Charbagh Lucknow station in that summer of 1981, little did
we know that this journey which was on paper for 28 hours would actually take
52 hours ! In the scorching heat of 44 deg C as we boarded the 3 tier sleeper
(2nd class), we headed for cooler climes of Darjeeling . I hardly
knew the people we were staying with and to top it all, I had a guest with me.
Our hosts were related to my mom’s
friend and during that particular summer quite a few guests of theirs were
gathering at their house. I knew all these guests very well but not the hosts. The invitation seemed very genuine and without using
too much brains regarding the inconvenience which we may cause to our hosts, we had booked our tickets and were on our way to the views of Kanchenjunga in June 1981.
At the station Anjani’s dad informed me that he had fever
and I was to look after him and ensure that his diet was as per specification
and medicines were taken on time. He was a strongly built cop with UP Police
and was a concerned father. Train left Lucknow on time but came to standstill
just a couple of hours later in some remote countryside. We were told that our steam engine had collapsed and new one
will be brought from somewhere. So, we
decided to go for a walk in the fields and must have walked a km away when the
engine whistled, blowed out the steam and train started moving. It was our
sprint of a lifetime as we huffed and puffed and reached the train only to be
told that engine was just being tested and train was not going anywhere. The
net result was that Anjani’s fever disappeared and we just killed time till the
time engine was replaced. It is another matter that Anjani started burning in a
couple of hours as the train moved
towards Eastern part of India.
Gorakhpur is considered to be the badland of Eastern UP.
This was our last major station before the train moved into Bihar. The train
was already 3-4 hours late when we
reached here. I had told Anjani that I will get off and get some dinner. This
became unnecessary as 2 police
constables came looking for us carrying 2 thalis of station food. The perks of being police officers son were visible. They also
carried a thermometer and a few medicines. Anjani’s temperature was checked and
the constables waited till he finished food. A few doses of medicines were
given to him and the constables went off
to give report about Anjani’s health to their seniors who would further report
the latest health bulletin to his dad. All this worked as Anjani remained fever free from next day onwards.
Chaiya Chaiya moment came in Bihar. In the morning as we got
out of train for breakfast we noticed hundreds sitting atop the train. There
seemed to be more people sitting on top of the train than inside. No one was
remotely as sexy as Malaika but later at one of the villages we saw a full
marriage party boarding the train and then climbing on to the top . All were ticket-less
and all fearless. Amongst the all male marriage party was the newlywed bride with red sari and her
face well hidden behind a veil. Her journey to a new life had started.
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| A common sight on Indian trains |
Somewhere along the way the train got diesel engine instead
of steam. The villagers sitting on top of the train knew all the tricks. There
was not one village where train did not stop and none of them were the
scheduled stops. They knew how to operate the vaccum system which would
activate the ‘brake’ and the train would stop. After every few minutes there
would be a loud roar from above and when I asked a co-passenger why were they
making this sound I was told that they must be feeling hot. In the evening I learnt firsthand why this
periodic noise would erupt.
One of the co-passenger said that he was hot and sweaty so
seeing the hand pump on the platform he stripped to his undies and had a nice
long bath. I couldn’t resist the temptation so soon I was also doing the same.
Anjani didn’t want to take a chance with his fever so he stayed inside and rested but made fun
of me for doing this shameless act. He
said if he had a camera he would have clicked this scene and shown it to my
parents, my girlfriend and the class teacher! I decided not to tell him that I did have a camera.
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| Accessible bathing means at Indian Railway stations |
My Chaiya Chaiya moment
At a station, when I asked one of the villagers how it felt to be sitting
up, he gave me his hand and pulled me up. He asked me to experience this till
next stop. I agreed. It was around 6 PM and sun was not so hot. But the train
was burning hot. They would try to get water and throw it around so it would
get cooler. I had to sit on my haunches otherwise my backside would have got
burnt. The train took off and I felt that I would be blown away by the wind. I
had to take off my specs and put them securely in my pocket. There were small
handles on the sides which one had to hold onto. There were water filling covered holes to cling on to.
The air was still hot and it seemed to pierce the skin. As a tunnel or an
overhead wire approached , a team of spotters would give a shout and everyone
would shout and bent down till the danger passed. In the tunnel it would get pitch dark and you could almost feel the roof scraping against your body. You could smell the dampness of the structure before suddenly the bright daylight blinded you as you got out of the tunnel. This happened twice in 10
minutes while I was up there. This was too nerve wrecking. Luckily a village
came and vacuum breaks were activated. I was happy to be down in the
compartment. Anjani told me that I
looked like a total wreck. My body was full of soot and dust and the hair was
standing. I had to wait till next platform to take a bath under a hand pump.
The journey had many more incidents including a flash strike
by the driver of our train at Raxaul, Bihar. I really don’t remember the reason
but while waiting helplessly I realised that Anjani had disappeared. I went
looking for him and in one of the rooms noticed that there were many people gathered
and quite a bit of commotion. As I eased inside the room to check what had
happened, I could not believe it when I saw a meeting taking place and Anjani
being an active member of that meeting. The strike was called off and my dear
friend had a role to play as many people came to shake his hand and thank him
including the driver. When asked how he managed this, his reply was simple- “I
have a cop’s blood in my veins !”
Chaiya Chaiya and 'Dil Se' happened 17 years after my adventure on top of
the train. I have been to many amusement parks around the world and have been
through thousands of roller coaster rides, but the thrill of those 10 minutes
atop a running train remains unsurpassed.
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