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The Tale Of Two Cities

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The time was 4-30PM and the date was12th of May 1967. Mr. RAGHURAMAN of Chennai aged about 30 years was waiting for his bus-39 at the CHITHARANJAN HOSPITAL stoppage of PARK CIRCUS MAIDAN. He was having a compact kit bag slinging from his shoulder that comprised of his TABLE TENNIS kit and Tiffin box. On that day he had decided to route his journey to HOWRAH STATION through CHOWRANGHEE and BABUGHAT as there was a friendly match between SOUTH INDIA CLUB –which he represented and GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY at YMCA near PARK STREET. For the benefit of readers who are not familiar with the above names we are referring to THE CITY OF JOY- CALCUTTA (now KOLKATA). Every day he was in the habit of taking different bus routes to reach his destination of HOWRAH to suit his engagements with different clubs.

After his switching job from BANGALORE he has earned lot of friends and admirers in spite of his limitations in conversing through BENGALEE. Actually they loved his way of talking their language rather crudely giving them lot of scope for humor in which they excel any race. When he boarded the bus it was already crowded with more and more people entering at SYED AMIR ALI AVENUE, MULLICK BAZAR and WELLESLEY Street. He had to struggle hard to get his ticket in spite of 2 conductors at both ends. A middle aged man by his side advised him to remain calm and also suggested that there was no harm in saving 20 paise that way. However the conductor managed to come to their seats and demanded for ticket when his neighbor promptly asserted that he had purchased his ticket and it was their in his tightly folded palm. When the conductor insisted to open he became furious that his honesty was doubted and challenged him that if only ticket was there in his hand was he prepared to face the consequences for humiliating him? Unlike other cities, in CALCUTTA public always sides with general mass and as such that poor conductor proceeded on with out any further confrontation.

It was a different thing that much to the shock of our friend when both of them got down the person in question mischievously laughed and stretched open his empty palm. During that journey a person lost his purse to a pick pocket that was caught then and there and ruthlessly beaten by the passengers. Even in that crowd and humidity sales men were threading through the congested bus to sell toffee, groundnuts and so on. But one thing was quite visible that even in those adverse conditions joke loving Bengalis were inventing opportunities to laugh or make you to laugh there by the heat and ordeal of the journey was contained considerably. There was perfect harmony between young and old when senior citizens were offered seats voluntarily by younger folks and keeping that trend Mr. Raghuraman surrendered his seat to a nearby old man.

At last when the CORPORATION reached he deboarded the bus after considerable struggle. YMCA was only 2 minutes walk from there and after a good fight Mr.Raghu’s team won by a narrow margin of 5-4. However he could win all his matches by creating an upset in beating a State player. He was in a hurry to reach LINDSAY Street to taste his favorite coco-cola kept ice cold and costing him only 15 paise. After a hard day’s play he used to feel as if he was in heaven while sipping through the bottle. Now he has to take another bus for HOWRAH station and from their catch the local electric train for SANTHRAGACHI where he lives in govt. quarters. When he took the bus he was thoroughly drenched by extreme humidity and also the uncontrollable sweat after heavy play. The bus was going through STRAND ROAD where side by side TRAMS were also plying in snail’s pace. But even before reaching BADA BAZAR the bus came to a complete halt as the traffic congestion won’t allow even an inch of progress. Almost all the passengers had come out including Mr. Raghu as the walking was the only way of reaching the station in time. But that was also a welcome proposition as he could pass through the wonderful HOWRAH BRIDGE with lovely breeze caressing you all the time with vast and deep stretch of HOOGLY River enchanting you over its entire breadth. He was admiring the well built youngsters practicing wrestling on the banks of the river well illuminated and their proportionately chiseled bodies shining in sweat and sand. The river was flowing quietly reflecting the buildings on the banks as a true artist. The silhouette of fishing boats and steamers carrying the passengers on the other side of the bank slowly but steadily was itself enough motivation for a budding artist to bring it in to his canvas. Healthy men and women were carrying their merchandise from the nearby wholesale market of SEALDAH over the foot path of the bridge jogging all the way rhythmically with their loads perched on their head. The speed and control with which they could thread through the crowd with the bulky mass on their head reminded a seasoned dancer. The bridge was continuously carrying lots and lots of buses, trams, cars, Lorries, rickshaws and even horse drawn carts with out any interruption that made a huge noise. For nearly 100 years that bridge is with standing magnificently to this hard use and there by certifying the manufacturing skill and the quality of steel used. Only a few days back a horse’s hoof was locked up in a carelessly kept hole of the iron bridge that they had to cut the metallic fittings with electric saw even when the horse was writhing with pain due to the heat generated by the cutter. All along the bridge and even near the railway station 100s of fruit and vegetable vendors were spread all along and the choicest ones could be procured at the cheapest rate as they were in a mood to dispose off and pack off for the day by the last train.

Mr. RAGHURAMAN who was always fond of vegetables and used to fill up his bags to the optimum before boarding the train became busy in those 10 minutes eying for his favorites. In those 30 minutes of train journey he could collect all the worldly news about MOHAN BAGAN-EAST BENGAL match, prices of food commodities, political developments, pictures released, recent accidents and so on. Every individual was having a free hand to utter anything he likes and with equal force statements made by any body was freely and fearlessly contradicted. There was a true democratic approach when a poor milkman strongly challenged the statement of an executive. But you cannot simply keep quite with out giving your own opinion, but forced to completely amalgamate in their discussions. You will be teased to such an extent that the best method would be to give your opinion whether it is right or wrong. So that day ended quite comfortably for Raghu and many more days were waiting for him to indulge with the local mass before his goodbye to these twin cities of HOWRAH & KOLKATA.

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The time was again 4-30 PM, but the date was 13th of JUNE 2005. The same old character Mr. RAGHURAMAN has really become old and also a senior citizen knocking at the door of septuagenarians. There is no promotion from standing for the bus even after nearly 4 decades as evident from his appearance at the PUZHAL CAMP bus stop waiting for the bus no114, coming from REDHILLS and bound for ANNA NAGAR. Again we would like to remind those who are less informed that the city is CHENNAI –that could be recognized even now by many as MADRAS only. Mr. RAGHURAMAN is not any less proud for his present status as he had successfully finished all his family commitments and now he was getting lot of job satisfaction with the same zeal and aptitude with life. But for the premature baldness that he had inherited from his maternal side he was quite trim and visibly active for his age. The contributory factors for his appearance are certainly his regular exercise with clean habits ably supported by healthy mind.

He thoroughly enjoyed that day having spent the time in training about 100 youngsters in the security matter for which he was appointed as a TRAINING MANAGER in consideration of his past service in the police department. He could prove his worth in no time and that international company is reluctant to give him his second retirement in spite of getting past 60 years. He used to start his day well ahead of the schedule in his TRAINING academy as he wanted to do cycling and freehand exercises before 7-30 am when the routine starts. In spite of a big gap with the culture of MADRAS and the need to talk in chaste TAMIL he could adapt to the changed scenario thanks to his never- say-die attitude with the desire to learn and improve. The bus came as scheduled –but quite packed due to closing hours for schools and colleges.

Mr. Raghu had to stand amidst pushing and pulling passengers and he found that he was the odd man in that assembly of youngsters and middle aged. He has to with stand another 40 minutes in that jostling crowd and irrepressible humid condition. Fortunately a seat just near by was showing signs of vacation and when that gentleman actually got up Mr. Raghu was startled to see a bag tossed to that seat from a considerable distance and even throwing a verbal warning not to take possession of that seat. He never expected this type of violent attempt to deny him his rightful claim for that seat as he was not only placed very near to that seat vacated but also a very senior citizen. He cannot help comparing his experience in the earlier city where culture and decency always prevailed over violence and aggression. But violence and unruliness were their for only right cause.

Unlike KOLKATA other passengers didn’t object for the treatment meted out to an old man. That boy of hardly 20 years old was not even having shame when our friend commented that he must have been very tired to claim for that seat and welcome to take it. He found normally the back seats of this city’s bus are reserved for ladies only.

But he was shocked to find a good number of ladies that comprised of even some old and weak were standing when young boys were laughing at making joke at the cost of young women with out showing any sign of vacating even for old women. The whole bus was managed by a single conductor by passing the coins and tickets through passengers themselves. Some times the coins were dropped enroute to the party or some unscrupulous thieves walking away with the currency with out passing on to the conductor. Whenever the conductor was getting bigger notes for which he couldn’t give changes he used to scold that passengers in spite of his age or decency and many a time used to be forced out of the bus much to their discomfort. One day when Mr. Raghuraman noticed that his purse was picked he could catch the thief just at that act and when he wanted to hand over him to the police station he was not getting any cooperation from his co-passengers on the plea that they belonged to a gang and might take revenge at any time. Whenever any body boarded the wrong bus for various reasons like poor sight, lack of knowledge of the route, or a man from outside the state, he stands the risk of humiliation by the conductor and the passengers also used to team up with him instead of being sympathetic to the victim.

While vegetable marketing was a pleasure at Kolkata he was getting abuses in the filthiest language for the audacity to bargain. Even beggars won’t hear your refusals for giving alms and may use some hard words on their disappointment. In Kolkata just a word for excusing them for not obliging them used to suffice. After entering a shop of any type like clothing, slippers, or articles it was very difficult for Mr. Raghuraman to come out with out effecting a purchase.

Mr. Raghu had traveled all his time in a bicycle starting from Bangalore. Apart from commuting for the office, he was liberally using it for his entire transport for marketing, playing or even meeting friends. He was invariably using this time tested machine which was the cheapest and also effective to get cardiovascular exercise. Now European countries have switched over to this cheap transport to avoid traffic congestions. Also the criminal share of polluting the atmosphere is also nullified.

Quite aware of all the above proven factors of bicycle one day Mr. Raghuraman toyed with the idea of procuring a moped for covering the distance of about 22 KM from his residence to office. Much against his family’s advice that was in concern of his mortal safety a SUPER EXCEL was brought to his house after much fanfare in the near by Ganesh temple. However he was using it only for SUNDAYS to the office and also for local transport. On a Sunday Mr. Raghu was returning from his office at PUZHAL after his commitments. He was thoroughly enjoying the breeze on that wide road with less traffic when his vehicle was smoothly traveling at 45 KM an hour. He had already crossed the RETTARI, TVS-LUCAS, MOGAPPAIR AND 100 FEET ROAD and entered ANNA NAGAR and approaching the ROUND TANA of ANNA NAGAR when the signal turned red. But as the traffic was less on Sunday, 4-wheeler, 2 wheeler and also buses and autos never bothered about red or green and going in full flow. Our friend was not in a mood to violate rules at this age and tried to slow down when repeated horns and whistles were practically pushing him to go past red. But as he was slow other vehicles bypassed him and from no where a policeman made his presence and stopped him. Naturally he wanted to make him as his prey to knock off some amount. He was also sarcastically questioning him that why he ventured at all outside at this heat and advanced age.Mr. Raghu was always carrying his identity to show his previous police service which he presented and questioned his efficiency in allowing so many to violate the rules and singling out innocent people. There is no need to put here that he profusely apologized and also pleaded him for not informing to the higher ups and damaging his career.

He made a perfect salute in an attempt to minimize the damage done. Now Mr. Raghu turned for COOVUM Bridge and emerged out of ANNA ARCH and again entered Nelson Manickam road to reach his house at GILL NAGAR EXTENSION.

But Mr. Raghuraman found that these people of CHENNAI were remarkably active instead of a lazy approach in the earlier city. Every body was trying his level best to improve his status and reputation in this society and that race starts as early as 4-00 AM when milk man, paper man, vendors etc were on the move. Shops are opened at the early hours with tea and coffee doing brisk business. There is no time to stop and talk. Sometimes the same boy or even girl used to drop milk packets, and after some time news paper and go for computer training or other busy work. They have no time for humor or leisure talk with the look of tension reflected in their faces all the time. Almost all the housewives are supporting the bread winner either working outside or doing some vendor’s job. Their purchasing power has multiplied over these years that could be as well be verified by a casual glance of RANGANATHAN STREET, USMAN ROAD, PONDY BAZAR, AND PURASAWAKKAM. There may be lot of chain snatchers, burglars, house breakings or pick pockets-but street beggars are comparatively rare. People are still GOD FEARING as is evident from the early morning rush to VADA PALANI MURUGAN TEMPLE, MYLAPORE KAPALEESWARAR TEMPLE, PARTASARATHI TEMPLE at Triplicane, and RAMASWAMY TEMPLE near PARK STATION and so on. There is no disparity in celebrating, PONGAL, DEEPAWALI, X-MAS, NEW YEARS DAY and of late VALETINE’S day. International TENNIS MATCHES, CRICKET TEST MATCHES are heavily crowded with the KOLYWOOD inviting JACKIE CHAN proving their versatility even in the film world.

But MR. RAGHURAMAN has no idea about the recent developments at his city of youthful days –KOLKATA- which is also fast developing and narrowing the gap slowly but steadily with other metropolitan cities. As the water finds its level all the uprising cities are bound to get uniformity in culture wealth and values as the ever developing communication and information technology would have a major contribution to achieve this desired goal in the interest of perfect harmony amongst citizens of INDIA.

BY J.PANCHAPAGESAN FLAT-11,130 GILL NAGAR EXTN STREET CHOOLAIMEDU CHENNAI PH-044 23744963 EMAIL id- jpanchapagesan@yahoo.co.in