A Republic sans anger!

It was an evening in 1986 when I boarded the Atari Special train to go to Lahore. I was in college, so a few of my close college friends came to see me off as I was going to Lahore to visit my elder sister.

After keeping my luggage, I was conversing with my friends on the platform when one European came and just enquired about his seat number and got inside. As the train started moving, I too went inside and took my seat and settled down on my lower birth.

“Hey!” Someone called from the upper birth and as I looked up, I saw the same European who entered the compartment when I was standing on the platform. Without waiting for my reply, he just threw an apple towards me which I caught with great difficulty as I was not ready for it. Then we asked about each other and after some time, I went off to sleep. From the initial chat, I came to know that he is a German married to an Indian girl and is going to Pakistan to meet some friends. In the morning, around 6 am, the train reached Atari and here all the passengers got down to change the train. The train was supposed to come from Lahore. The passengers coming from Lahore were to get down at Atari and passengers from India were to board this train to go to Lahore. But when we got down at Atari, we got the news that the train, supposed to come from Lahore in the morning, will come in the evening. Everyone seemed upset. They had to wait at the station for the whole day. Then, in a few moments it was clear that for one month the train from Lahore has been coming in the morning and then for another month in the evening. That day was the first day of the month when the train is scheduled to come in the evening. My German friend, who was fluent in English, and I decided to go for a cup of tea. He asked me if there was any solution. My reply was simple that I was not aware of any. My body language was likewise, nothing came to my mind and I had made up my mind to wait till the evening. After half an hour, the German came and asked whether I would accompany him to the Wagah border as we could go then through the land route. I was not ready to risk it as I was short of money and didn’t knew how much extra money I would have to spend if I opted for the land route.

The German decided to go and after he left, I calculated and recalculated my financial condition and finally took the call to go by the land route. I took a taxi for Wagah border and when I was in the middle of my journey, I saw the German coming back on foot. I asked the Sardarji, the taxi driver, to stop the car. I got down and asked the German what had happened and why he was coming back. He told me that foreigners were not allowed to move in Punjab (Militancy was at its peak in Punjab at that time and foreigners were not allowed to move around) and that no cabbie was ready to drop him back. I went back to my taxi and reached Wagah border only to encounter a horrible experience there. The staff was extremely non-cooperative and I was compelled to return to Atari station.

When I reached Atari, I met my one-day- old German friend. We both took showers at the station and around 4pm , we were both standing at the centre of the foot overbridge, connecting two platforms and chatting. Being a student, I was curious about German and Europe. I asked him what would have been the reaction in Germany if a similar thing had happened there. He looked deep into my eyes and said, “Germany would have been in flames if such a similar thing would have happened there”. I was extremely perturbed by the answer. I felt as if he had criticised the whole Indian race.

I would rather say that I was shaken by his statement. Since that incident, whenever I see the current and past developments, I feel that my German friend was correct. Actually, when Mughals came, apart from a little resistance from the top level, Indian people adjusted with them. We absorbed many things from them and in a few years, we were so comfortable with them that from marriage to business, we were together. We didn’t get angry though the resistance was from the rulers alone.

But as far as the masses were concerned, we were very happy to adjust and accommodate. Then came the Britishers and they also faced some resistance from the Mughals and other rulers but they were able to overpower this resistance with their ‘Divide and Rule’ policy. Again, the Indian people did not get angry and was very adjusting. Very soon, the whole of India was with the Britishers and Indians were seen praising them and their every move. For almost two hundred years, they ruled. So, two foreign races came to India and ruled the country for centuries and we adjusted with them well enough. We not only adjusted with them but we felt proud to speak their language. During the Mughal period, the language of the court was Persian and after that English is the court language. These are some past incidents but even if we go through current issues, we will realise the true nature of our people. When Rajiv Gandhi took over as the Prime Minister, he asked all government employees to comply with the office timings and to my surprise, government servants used to be in office before the stipulated time. They followed office timings religiously and adjusted their schedule though it was difficult for them as it was not their habit. Now recently, we are witnessing a regime which has taken decisions that have rocked the life of the common men.

The demonetisation exercise was one such decision and the people of this country adjusted themselves with every hardship associated with this decision. People died standing in queues outside banks, financially everyone was affected, domestic industry was ruined and family life of every third person was affected but we were not angry. Like good human beings, we adjusted and followed instructions religiously. I think the weather of the country also plays an important role in this nature of adjustment. Every four months, we have a different weather and we adjust with every one of them. Similarly we adjust with every regime and all hardships they bring about. People may praise the Indian race as tolerant or peace loving but I don’t believe in a race which can adjust to everything and everyone. It is because of this nature of the race that we were not only ruled by foreigners for centuries but still we adjust to inhuman practices such as mob lynchings, communal violence and corruption of every kind. If I get a chance to meet my German friend again, I will tell him that we are Indians who know the art of adjusting with everything and everyone. Mind it, we don’t get angry.