Free on Top...

FREE ON TOP... 29.10.01

Hi guys..

I took a day off from lab, yesterday(sunday,28.10.01). We all went on a mission that we were planning from the day we landed at IIT. Ya, its the mission of a small train trip to near by place- on train top.!!! We have always been enthralled by people on train top. We accomplished the mission in style..!!!

Following an unstructured schedule, the day started for the eight of us with a cup of chai at the entrance. Our tea master became an expert guide in giving details like trains to nearby places, deadly frequencies, diesel engine, meter gauge etc.. The only one criteria we demanded was that the train should run beside the walls of the IIT campus.

The old man was kind enough to give details and the place was decided - Kannauj. It is a historical place where king Har Shah, the great had built a fort. We were also informed that 'Kannauj city' was famous for perfumes and gulab jamuns.

The train(Pavan Express) to Kannuaj was at 11.40 a.m. The first obstacle came from the beloved auto-rickshawala. He refused to take us. Then came the rescuer, a goods carrier bhaisaab. The vehicle was with an open top. Oh! what a way to start the trip!! The trip had already started in full swing. We've always invited creative experiences. Within ten minutes we were enjoying the ride...even to the railway station, Mandhana. Surprisingly in the middle of the journey he stopped the vehicle to collect the money....had he got scared on seeing our enthusiasm? But the journey resumed, mitigating his doubt that
passengers might run away without paying!!

Anyways, we were at the station at the right time and got tickets for Kannauj. Amazingly, the man at the counter spoke in English listening to our pathetic Hindi. Were we mistaken for some cranky anthropologists? Our excitement about the trip was doubled when we came to know that we were left with little money...either for food or for a return ticket. Without hesitation we opted for food and a ticketless return journey..after all thats how to learn living on the edge!

The train was on time(trust me), and but there was nobody on the train top. So, we didn't want to climb on top (didn't want to break the norms just like that). Moreover the weather was a bit hot. After an hour and a quarter of a musical journey (yes we sang our hearts) we reached Old Kannauj. Interaction inside the compartment had enlightened us that the train would not go to the new city, a fact that we weren't aware of. On the way, we also saw a board that said there was a bird anctuary near by. (guys...this is for a trip in winters)

At Kannauj we halted for a cup of tea (the budget was getting cut slowly on a full lunch). After we asked for 'Kheela' (fort) and we were told that 'khela' (banana) would come only in winters. After serious interpretations we got an auto-rickshaw (this time bull's-eye). It was already quarter to 2.00 and we were feeling hungry. The train to IIT was at 4.30, so we planned to roam around first, then have late lunch before taking the return train.

Now, we had to find the fort! We enquired and started walking for about 15 min. and we found a dome. The man at the entrance said, it was a mosque and that the fort was farther away. After about a 10 min walk, we found the plains rising, and a man washing clothes nearby said that the fort was infront. We got excited and started running..but to our surprise we found a big ground with a few kids playing, what else but cricket. We enquired of the kids, but they panicked and ran away. Where is the fort? From there we could see a temple dome and we headed towards it, atleast to see the temple. We didn't want to return to IIT without seeing anything. Otherwise for the next trip nobody would come and I was scared of kickings for poor organizing.

At the temple, there was a flag of the xxx (censored for political reasons) and a few boys playing there. There was something written on the wall and we tried reading it but we could hardly get anything. One of the boys there, read the scripture and translated. We were able to understand that 'the fort was there once at the site of the playground that we saw before and that now it has vanished'( into thin air ?!?!). It was built around 640 A.D. by Har Shah, the great. We rested in the temple for sometime. The boy had said that there was another fort( one more Edengardens?), near by. It was time for us to go to the next fort.

We had to pass through a narrow street, where the villagers were looking at us as if we were aliens. The fort was a sort of tomb. It looked like the kings have buried some of their relatives or VIPs there. We got into it through the back entrance(probably made by the village kids). The architechture was that of the Moghul's. It had a few pillars and the usual decorative walls and ceilings, typical of the Moghul style. Then suddenly someone was shouting at us. "Come down!! Don't stand on the roof!!". When we came down, the man started explaining that it was a holy place and that we should remove our footwear. He was surprised, that we didn't read the notice written on one of the walls. We could see wrath in his eyes, talk and gestures. Someone asked for the excuse that we came through the back entrance. We knew that even if we had noticed it, we wouldn't have been able to read the notice. None of us know how to read Hindi!

Half of the fort was damaged and no one seemed to take care of it. Only a few pigeons were there inside. We thought it would be a monument like the Taj Mahal (atleast a pirated version), rather than a fort. When we came out of the tomb, we wanted to drink some water from a near-by hand pump. Then the man, now his anger subsided to a greater extent, was there welcoming all of us to quench our thirst by not letting us to pump water but doing it himself for us. Now we were his guests and he our host. The water tasted sweeter when we looked at his other side. Then it was time for us to go back!!

After a 10 minute walk we came to a main street, where a few horse-carts were parked. Our next fantasy!!!!! We boarded on two carts, four on each thinking it would not accomodate more. On our way, we found the cart-man taking four more people and two rope-woven cots(inspiration for a better fevicol adv.) We just pitied the horse for having so cruel a horseman! (next trip - going on a horse-cart trip to the Ganges from IIT, cook and spend the day at the river bank. Again reserved for the winters. How many trips?!?!)

That was a 20 minute ride, when we stopped at a 'dabhaa' for lunch. We ate some roties and rice, quite heavy...FAR BETTER THAN OUR HOSTEL FOOD... to our surprise the bill was much less than we expected and we had enough money to get tickets for the return trip.

The long awaited train came at 4.30. right time!!!! It was a passenger, already crowded. The main aim of our trip was getting shattered when we again found that there was no one on top of the train. We dared not climb up, lest we get into trouble. Again how to break the norms just like that! So we comforted ourselves by saying that it was the wrong train. But still we were hoping that we would wait for a few more stops for the people to go on top. The train started from Kannauj, we on the foot-board.

It was the second stop, Bilaur, when we saw two men climbing to the roof top a few compartments away from ours. In a flash, we were there to accompany them..Men on top!! The excitement level was increasing... all of us settled ourselves on the roof finding a suitable place. The entire group was with spectra-wide smiles and laughter. A few more men followed us. We discussed how to sit safely and the positions in which one would feel comfortable. We sensed that it was going to be the best train journey of our life time.(How to travel by train top - for the next issue of Meander!!). We had the full view of the train behind and in-front, cool evening breeze and the whole world around you to watch as you go along. The train started slowly with the huge fumes from the engine and with a loud whistle. It was no more a noise!

Then there was a little boy selling groundnuts, with a weighing machine, walking there on the top, and another selling 'paan'. We got some nuts for ourselves and started gossiping about the day we had. The train speeded up and we felt like flying. We tried standing, half sitting, and kneeling. More people came on top at some other stops. It grew dark early(winter had just started ) and then we neared the IIT campus. We had bought our tickets for Kalyanpur. Soon we were there passing the IIT entrance gate ..with loud cheers!!!. Afterall we had seen the trains passing the IIT gate a hundred times with people on top, and now it was our turn to look at the gate from the top of the train. Soon, our fantasy trip came to an end, when the train stopped at Kalianpur.

For many of those people who were on top of the train, it was a compulsion with no place to sit inside. For some it was a free journey. For a few more it was living. For us it was a trip, that we would never forget; a dream that had came true!!!!

luv,
l.raj