Off the ground for 60 seconds

Off the ground for 60 seconds
I had gone for some work to a place in UP called Kanpur. If you rate Chandigarh as No1 well planned and the most well maintained city in India you can rate this city as no 1 from the bottom of the most well planned cities list in India. The first curse of the city rather the state is the population which makes it difficult for the administration to control the connected problems related with it. The streets are narrow, filthy, unplanned, the traffic sense is near zero, the crowd ,the heat, the dust, the noise all above the safe limits of an acceptable standard but the show is still going on. One place where you can breathe properly is the cantonment and the second in the IIT campus apart from few green manned patches.
I was to board a train from the railway station at Kanpur for Allahabad, a short distance of about 4 hours in a normal train. I got into a long queue for getting the ticket after my friend left me at the station as I did not have a reserved ticket since the distance was short and there was no fixed plan. The rush was very heavy due to ‘Magh Mela’ celebrations at Allahabad so all the trains were going packed. I somehow managed to get a ticket and proceeded to platform No 2 where the train was to arrive after about half an hour.
To proceed to platform no 2, I had to cross over a bridge which connected it to PF no 1. The stairs were wide about 5m in width and the rise and tread of the steps was also comfortable with a strong railing on both the sides of the steps for the old and weak to hold it and pull themselves up. The young lot was generally in the centre with women behind their men to take cover and follow their footsteps as some were holding child in their laps. The men were holding the luggage on their heads as were mostly from the labour class category which formed the major chunk of the crowd. Some children were seen holding the fingers of their parents and quietly climbing the stairs in the crowd. The rush was more than expected. Suddenly there was an announcement that some other train would also arrive nearly at the same time on platform no 3 (which was adjacent side of PF no2) instead of PF no 4. As soon as this was announced there was a sudden shift of the rush and everyone from the PF no 4 started to arrive at PF no3 through the stairs and soon there was no space left even to walk.
Soon the crush gathered so much momentum that it was becoming difficult to even stand leave apart walking. I somehow reached the top of the bridge and started to move towards the PF no 2. As I reached the steps to get down to PF no2 to ensure safety of my belongings on my body I kept one hand on my purse on my rear trouser pocket while with the other I was holding a small bag lifted up in the air in front of my face with my forearm tightly pressed against my mobile kept in the front shirt pocket. I got stuck in the mass and was not able to proceed further. I tried to make my way through but could not budge an inch. Soon I saw some of the kids started yelling, the ladies had even started screaming for space. The situation was getting worse every second and I soon realised that if this continues it may lead to a stampede in which many would be injured. The first thing which came to my mind was to reach to a safe location as I was caught in the middle of the crowd where I could barely move and for getting some support just in case the situation worsens further and lead to a stampede. The only safe place which I could notice nearest to me was a pillar at the starting point of the descending stairs at the edge of the steps from where they started. I tried my level best to reach there but was unable to move since was tightly packed by the human bodies from all the sides although the pillar was just about 3m away from me.
For immediate relief my plan was to reach the pillar, holding it climb the railing and stand on it as it would give me air to breathe and be out from the crush as I expected a stampede in next few minutes. I feared that if somebody fell on the ground it would be very difficult for him to get up and would soon be crushed under the crowd. Fearing this I then applied all my strength and took a step forward towards the pillar forcing my way through and with great difficulty managed to take my right foot up off the ground to advance towards the pillar but when I tried to put it down to land on the ground for taking my next step of lifting the left foot I failed to succeed as there was no place to land my right foot down on the floor so I was literally standing on one leg only.
Now all the weight of my body was on my left leg and I stood in that awkward position for quiet a long time as a result of which my left ankle started paining like hell. My backbone also started paining soon since I was unable to stand straight. As I was trying to adjust myself to a comfortable position a rush wave came from the rear which pushed the complete group standing next to me towards the steps as a result I was also pushed ahead which detached my left foot also from the ground. Now I was in the air with both my feet off the ground with my body weight being taken care of by the horizontal forces of the human bodies who were tightly pressed against me in the crush to finally transfer it to the floor through their legs and this frightened me as I did not have any control over my body anymore. My movements were now with the disturbance wave. I swayed and floated like this for 60 seconds like a top of the eucalyptus tree in strong winds , the moment which I cannot forget all my life. I only desired if I could just get an opportunity to touch the ground for taking a push with full force on the ground and dive on to the pillar to get out of this situation since I was losing confidence every second to bail out unscratched. The matter was getting serious since there were chances of my falling down flat on the ground along with the rush wave which would have led to serious injuries as I would not have got a chance to get up so easily.
All of a sudden I saw the movement of the crowd as one of the trains arrived at the station on PF no 3 which diverted the rush of the waiting passengers to board the train and as a result created some space allowing me to land on floor after I immediately rushed towards the pillar and climbed the railing to save myself . I thanked my stars for helping me reach a safe position and now the whole crowd was under my vision with me standing like a policeman on an island watching everyone. In order to ease the situation I then shouted at the people who had got down from the train and were advancing towards the bridge to stop them from coming up the stairs as this would block the passage of passengers who were going down the bridge.
Suddenly I saw three people falling down at the bottom of the bridge and everyone rolled over them, the stampede had started and about 15 to 20 of them rolled over each other including ladies and kids. Some somersaulted, some side rolled while some fell flat. The area was filled with shrieks and screams and it appeared that it is the end of those fallen.The situation was however brought under control as the policemen took charge of the situation with their Lathis (big sticks) with which the newcomers to the crowd diverted their direction of move towards the crowd and this avoided making the situation complex. The policemen however lost their caps in action and some even rolled in the crowd who got up abusing everyone around.
When the train left the station the remaining crowd was diverted to other direction to reach the exit from the railway tracks since the bridge was already packed. The injured were helped by their companions and fortunately no one was hurt badly. Had the situation not brought under control I am sure there would have been several casualties. The situation eased of slowly and soon there was movement seen on the bridge after which I got down from the railing and went to board the train which arrived in next few minutes.
Incidentally I found that the front and the rear portion of the platform were not crowded as the concentration of the rush was restricted to the centre of the platform only. It was a fit case for study of poor management of the staff and nothing else. First of all had the rush been diverted to other platform by the management this situation could have been avoided and secondly there should have been some guides from the ‘May I help you’ booth to help the public evenly distribute the rush all along the platform which would have not allowed them to concentrate at one place on the platform. Anyway it was a lucky day that everyone reached their respective destinations safely. Lesson learnt for the day was
Firstly avoid the rush at any cost.
If you are too late to decide and are into it then,
Whenever you feel that the rush of the crowd may increase and there is no way out immediately start moving away from the centre of the crowd to a side and climb up some high place.

Burger of 10 million

A chicken Burger of Rs 1 Crore only

It was a pleasant evening in the market of Sector 17 of the city beautiful: Chandigarh, in Punjab in Northern India. The place is known for its cleanliness and considered to be one of the best places in India. People come here in the evenings for a stroll , do shopping in various shops and refresh after a days work. The market contains every thing for the rich and the middle class. There are huge showrooms and the hawkers too including balloon seller for the kids who carries a long bamboo with lot many coloured balloons tied to it on his shoulders.
I along with my friend, Harish were also having a stroll on that summer evening with the pleasant wind blowing and freshness in the air. We went from place to place, shop to shop, visited the Reebok, the Woodlands, the Macdonalds, had those spicy sweet corns, the delicious juice and then stood at a corner of the market watching beautiful people of the city beautiful. As we were standing a lottery seller came to us and stood smiling in front of us prompting us to buy a lottery ticket. He said smilingly,
”Sahib lottery le low kismet chamak jayegi” (Sir buy a lottery ticket your luck will shine)
Harish replied,
”Hamari to aaj tak tambola mein kismet nahin chamki isme kya chamkegi”(Our luck did not turn up in the game of Tambola how can it shine in a lottery)
The lottery seller said,
”Sahib naseeb ka kuch bhi nahin pata hota kab, kahan, kaise aur kiska chamak jaaye koi nahin keh sakta”(Sir no one can predict luck. when, where, how and whose luck shines no one can say)
I asked him the cost of the ticket to which he replied that it is for Rs 100/-only. I then asked him what money will we get if we win the ticket as it was written in big bold letters ‘RUPEES TWO CRORES’ and followed by very small letters “worth of prizes”. When we both saw the lottery ticket closely it was written ‘First prize Rs 1 crore’.
After this the discussion between me and Harish started as follows which the lottery seller was hearing with full attention.
Harish said that out of two crores we will be getting only Rs 1 crore since it is a marketing gimmick to attract the customers by displaying Rs 2 crores on the ticket so there is a clear loss of Rs 1 crore straightaway. I agreed and continued the discussion that out of Rs 1 crore left and after paying 30% as income tax we will be left with only Rs 70 lacs. For collecting this amount we have to hire a security group for bringing it from Assam where the lottery ticket will have to be claimed or by a bank draft in which the bank will charge 2 % commission so 1.4 lacs are gone further with remaining amount as 68.6 lacs. Seeing this money our children will stop studying and would plan their entrance to medical college based on capitation fee which is 30 lacs for the medical leaving us with Rs 38.6 lacs. We would have to give a lavish party to everyone in a 5 star hotel which would reduce the expenditure further by 3.6 lacs so now we are left with only Rs 35 lacs. If we get a lottery of Rs 1 crore we will definitely go in for at least a Mercedes Benz 250 D model which is itself of 25 lacs. Now we are left with Rs 10 lacs only. If we do not go around the world with our family after winning Rs 1 crore what will the people say so that would finish our 10 Lac rupees and we are ‘Than Than Gopal’ now (Left with nothing) and back to square one. But to keep our self respect we will have to gift something to our near and dear ones, if to no one else but at least to our wife with an ornament worth about a lac . This is from our pocket and lot of other things also which we have not even catered for the unforeseen contingencies.
Harish further substantiated the statement by saying that the risk of our kidnapping by the goons would be in addition and carry unnecessary tension. So it will be a heavy loss rather than a gain. When the discussion finished . Harish shouted at the lottery seller in Punjabi;
“Too sada nuksaan karaan aaya hai ? Pajh jaa iththo di nahin te maar maar ke kookar bana davaanga” (You have come to put us to loss? Get lost from here or else I will hit you so hard that you will become a rooster)
The lottery seller did not speak a word and vanished in thin air. We proceeded to have two chicken Mc Grill burgers of Rs 50 each from the MacDonalds once again out of that Rs 100 with which we were planning to buy a lottery ticket worth Rs 2 crore because anything spent on yourself is never wasted.
A burger was thus of Rs 1 crore which we had that day with no tension involved in it . A wise decision which we took on that day indeed, of which we are proud of till date.

Shaking hands with the Prime Minister

SHAKING HANDS WITH THE PRIME MINISTER

It was at the high altitude area, Leh where I was posted in 2005. I was with my family hence did not feel the punch of being alone as the families were permitted at your own expense. We were staying in the area just near the famous ‘Shanti Stupa’, a Buddhist Temple popularly called as Gompa there. Since it was like Delhi of ladakh lot of tourists and VIPs visited the place quiet frequently.
There was one Central Lecture Hall (CLH) near the airport which was utilised for all the important occasions and speeches of VVIPs. It was thus well maintained but simple with the heating arrangements as no coolers were required there due to very low temperature. Even during the peak summers it did not exceed 20 degree Celsius which is what we have in plains during the winters. This was mostly used as a movie theatre for screening of films on the weekends. It had a huge stage in the front just below the big screen and seats down below in ascending heights towards the rear of the theatre. Outside the theatre was a large open space on both the sides and there were no plants as Leh is plain except some vegetation around the riversides in summers. A beautiful lounge was on the side of the theatre for the VVIPs and one behind for the others where arrangements for the central tea during lecture breaks were usually made.
It was late summers when the winter chill could be felt in the bones, the cold wind blew during the dawn and dusk which forced everyone to wear their jackets and proper winter clothing during that time. This time a visit of a very important VVIP was planned who was none other than Shri Manmohan Singh, the present Prime Minister of India. It was his first visit to this station in his first tenure as a PM so the preparations were also accordingly done.
All the important roads were resurfaced, the route was made spic and span, the buildings adjacent to the route from where he was supposed to visit various places were whitewashed, all the signposts were made new, some painted afresh, the stones on the sides of the road were whitewashed, welcome banners hanged at various places and all the basic minimum decorations done.


The day, 11Jun2005, finally arrived. It was morning of early winters. I started from my house early to be well before time at the CLH. As I reached there in my vehicle I could see many security staff busy in ensuring the safety aspects at the last moment as the Prime Minister’s plane was to arrive shortly within two hours. The vehicles were all lined up distantly from the main venue, the CLH and within about 15 minutes there were hundreds of them lined up as everyone was rushing up to be seated in advance. It was like holiday from office and everyone was preparing for the big show. The administrative personnel were busy checking out last minute layout of tea arrangements for the break, there were many tents decorated in the form of stalls where the various groups of people were standing under it to meet the PM when he was to come out after his speech to meet them. Every big shot like the senior army and police officials were looking like ordinary people like each of us and were moving here and there to ensure the security aspects for their career could be at stake if something went wrong. The signalmen were worried about the performance of their microphones, the engineers were on the tents and the stage which they had made, the mechanical engineers were on the generator; should the lights fail to cater it as standby, the medical team was ready for any emergency just in case and the doctor was time and again checking about the technical items from his assistant, the security officer had his eyes on the sentries located at various important positions which was being cross checked from his brain map he had made in his mind, the traffic police was busy guiding the vehicles and diverting the traffic from the route where the PM was to pass, the police dog team and the army dog team were on the move sniffing everything in their respective areas for any bombs wagging their tails as was also a good outing along with their professional work for them.
The location where we were was at a higher level and the airfield was clearly visible from there being lower . It was soon announced for everyone to close in as the time was getting ripe for his arrival. We could soon see AN 32, the a Russian aircraft along with the PM ‘s Boeing plane hovering over the skies and a few minutes later saw them land on the airfield, first the PM ‘s plane followed by the AN 32 in which others and his BMW car was aboard. They soon landed and siren was heard. By this time we were inside the hall and everyone was now silent. After a few minutes we could hear from a senior officer standing next to the entrance.
”Ladies and Gentlemen, the Prime Minister”
And everybody rose from his seat giving a loud noise of the closing in on the seats which is heard when you get up from your seat in a picture hall. As he arrived inside, the National Anthem was played and then he sat on the front seat facing the dais accompanied by his wife and other senior officers. Everything was timed with precision. It was followed by a short speech of the senior most officer of the city and the PM was ushered to the dais where he barely took 10 minutes to deliver his speech and was out of the hall to the VVIP lounge to meet the senior lot. By this time we all were out as we had started to exit the hall while he was in the VVIP lounge. He started to mix around with everyone from one side, first the place where the jawans were standing and had lined up in rows to meet their PM. The atmosphere was suitably relaxed as army was in full control of the situation although the black cats were always accompanied the PM as his body guards with the most modern weapons in their hands in ready to fire positions. The PM was cheerful meeting the men and everyone clustered near him till the garnish line beyond which they were not allowed to go but they were giving their hands to him for a touch to have his feel. He shook hands with many of them and there was continuous flashlight of the flashing cameras. Then he came to the next group where students were standing and shook hands with them. They all cheered him. It was then final mixing around with the ladies and officers where all the senior dignitaries were standing clustering around him. The PM’s wife was equally busy discussing and speaking a few sentences with the ladies as fast as she could as the time was short.
I was holding a digital camera in my hand hence could not take my own picture with him but snapped many photos of the people I knew. As he came towards my side there was a great rush and I could not reach him but could only raise my camera up in the air to have a top view of him. He came near me but I was quiet far off so gave up the idea that I will get a chance to shake hands with him and concentrated on my photography. The camera used to shake as I was finding it difficult to hold it at a place due to the rush which disturbed my focussing of camera by the rush. I then moved ahead at a place where he was to come next and meet the remaining of us. As he passed this time with a row of other officers in front of me I just raised my hand in the air and extended it towards him from the second row where I was standing .He smiled at me and caught my hand and held it tight.
It was the Prime Ministers hand in my hand or mine in his I do not know but those 20 seconds in my life I cannot forget as the strength I experienced in his hands was tremendous inspite of being such an aged person for he was never a farmer nor had done any physically hard job to the best of my knowledge in his life but his hand was a real knuckle grinder. During the time he was holding my hand I could see honesty dripping out of his eyes which is a very rare commodity found in the politicians of today, expressions of a contented man and simplicity like a common man giving a warm and welcoming gesture. He was conveying the assurance that the nation handed over to him will be looked after well as is in the right and strong hands so I as a citizen do not have to worry anything about it. The best and the most surprising part was that he did not leave my hand for such a long time and shook it vigorously as generally one leaves after 5 to 6 seconds of shaking the hands and for a PM who has to meet thousands like me every day the time was at premium. I had heard some critics calling him a weak PM but I would like to tell them now that they should first shake their hands with him and then give such comments as a weak person cannot have such a strong hand; only the strong willed person have such ones.(Kindly refer to the book on ‘Body language’ by Allan Pease). It was exhibiting firmness, honesty, transparency, brilliance, accessibility to the common man and substantiated by cheerfulness on his face all in one go. After he left my hand he met others but had left a deep impact on me, a real memorable one and I was one of the happiest man of the day.
Soon he waived his hand to everyone, boarded his BMW car and within minutes the whole motorcade vanished as he was to go to other places. I considered myself to be lucky to have shaken hands with the most powerful and honest person of the nation who transferred his blessings to me through it and the day which would always be remembered all my life.