[Reader-list] TC (Contd)...

[zainab at xtdnet.nl]

TC (Contd 
)

“People believe that all TCs are corrupt. All of them are out to make
money. Actually there are many such TCs. They start with nothing and end
up with flats and cars by the end of their term. People don’t have a very
good opinion of us. Why would a person want to make friends with a TC?
Maybe someday, when the person is caught ticketless, he will remember the
friendship and expect that I will come and release him.”

“I hate the police wallahs. They will travel in first class without
tickets. And I cannot even fine them. So what I do nah, whenever I go out
on my bike, I cut the signal when I see the police wallah. When the police
wallah catches me, I tell him, ‘baba, you travel ticketless in first class
that is nothing. Now I will also break the signal and get away without
paying a fine.’”

TC has sharp eyes. One day, he and I were to board a train to get to
Dadar. The occasion was that TC was going to introduce me to his other
friends. The train arrived. Some luggage carrier workers were about to
board the first class compartment. TC immediately warned them, “Tch, tch,
tch, tch 
 chalo, chalo, yeh first class ka dabba hai – this is the first
class compartment. Come on, you people cannot board this compartment.” I
asked TC the reason for his behaviour. He said, “Arre baba, you think
these people will have first class pass? They are poor persons. Simply at
all they will board first class and if another TC steps in, he will fine
them. That is why I was telling them not to board the first class
compartment. Otherwise, in slack hours, these people want to travel first
class.”

“I am well-to-do. Why should I make money like my other colleagues? I am a
sportsman. I have good salary. Allah is kind to me. One day, I caught a
man who had a pass only uptil Byculla and he was traveling upto Vikhroli
station. I told him that he would have to pay a fine of Rs.250. I looked
at the man carefully. He seemed like a peon. I asked him, ‘what do you
do?’ He said, ‘Saab, I am a peon in an office. Boss has sent me to deliver
this package. I was getting late and hence, did not have the time to buy
an extension ticket. Honestly, I have fifty rupees in my pocket right now.
You can take that away as fine.’ I said to myself, ‘Iska kitna salary
hoga? How much salary would he be receiving? 2,500 rupees? If I take away
the fifty rupees from his pocket, he will go without food for a day.’ I
ultimately said to him, ‘I am not fining you. I think you are a genuine
person. But yes, you have to buy a ticket and travel back. That much you
must do.’ He immediately fell to my feet and started to touch my feet.
‘Thank you saab, thank you saab,’ he started to say. I was embarrassed and
said to him, ‘Baba, don’t touch my feet. In my religion we don’t do all
this. Just thank uparwala, God, who put the thought in my head and I
simply executed the thought. Now go!’”

TC is a daily story man. He is not just a TC. He takes on various roles
while he executes his duties each day. “One day, I was checking tickets in
the first class. I checked an office-going man. Next to him was a school
boy. The moment the boy saw me checking tickets, he started shriveling up.
I knew something was wrong. I asked him to show his ticket. He said, ‘Sir,
I don’t have a first class pass.’ I already knew that something was wrong
because this boy was traveling in the down direction, in school uniform at
10 AM when it is school time for everyone. I asked the boy to get down at
VT Station. Then I asked him, ‘what is the matter? Tell me.’ The boy had
gone to school but because he had not done his homework that day, he was
suspended from school for the entire day. The boy thought that if he would
go back home, parents would shout. So he decided to go up and down the
train and kill time. I told the boy, ‘Parents shout at you for good nah
baba? Now, you must give me your phone number. Go back home. I will phone
you at home and check if you have reached. It is okay if parents shout.
Listen from one ear and take out from the other.’ The boy was scared. He
said, ‘Sir, I will go back home. I will give you a call. You please don’t
call at my home. I promise I will go back.’ The boy took my number and at
about three o’clock, he gave me a call saying he had reached home. Things
like this happen nah???”

Sure enough 



Zainab Bawa
Bombay
www.xanga.com/CityBytes
http://crimsonfeet.recut.org/rubrique53.html