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She’s got a ticket to ride, and check it too
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This book NGO is selling socialism
Palatial campus of the Sainik School at Kapurthala.
— Tribune photo by Pawan Sharma For
Ghuggi, comedy is no laughing matter Ode to Madan Mohan Cadets felicitated
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She’s got a ticket to ride, and check it too If the sight of an Indian Railways TTE (Travelers’ Ticket Examiner) makes you uneasy, think if the official turns out to be a woman? Look around the trains passing through the Jalandhar station and you will find a dozen ladies doing this tough job with élan. From nonpaying passengers to secret bombs, these women have to deal with everything. Part of the Bhairavi, Surakshini and Tejaswini contingents constituted by the Indian Railways, these women literally on the move are busy keeping trains safer for passengers and dealing with ticket defaulters with a firm hand. Gutsy and ready for surprises, the job they say gives them a new experience everyday. When ordered to produce the tickets, passengers do throw astonished glances, but for these TTEs, the profession has no male-female distinction. The staff though wears suits in blue or work in plain clothes. They are also as deft in meeting revenue targets as their male counterparts. “If it comes to handing over someone to the police, we hardly hesitate,” says Ms Gurdeep Kaur, on duty for the last 15 years. Why not. These women are trained to deal with defaulters at the Chandosi Training Centre. The female squad has caught some 16, 892 defaulters from January 1 to June 30 across the nation, making railways richer by around Rs 20 lakh. Cases registered number up to 15,990. It’s understandable. The target earning from penalty i.e. detecting fare theft is up to Rs 30,000 per month. For Ms Gurdeep, the greatest high comes when a passenger thanks her for being a woman TTE. “Passengers say a male official would have had charged a few extra bucks for the tickets and signed the receipt for a smaller amount. Women TTEs are looked upon by the passengers for their honesty.” In all, they cover eleven trains, including Chattisgarh Express, Tata Moori, Swarn Shatabdi, Golden Temple Express, Ferozepore-Jammu Tawi, Jhelum Express, Shtabadi, Jammu Mail, and Jan Sewa Express. Out of staff of 40 TTEs in the Ferozepore division, which also includes Jammu, Ludhiana, Amritsar and Bathinda, there are 12 women– all from Jalandhar. Starting from a Ticket Collector, a woman becomes Reporter (TCR), and is then promoted to the rank of a TTE. “For someone who does not want constant traveling will have to forgo promotion. But the working hours have been adjusted due to lower strength of female TTEs. Also, most staff are not put on night duty or sent outstation,” says Ms Abha, a ticket collector, working in the local division. There is another form of female company for these TTEs. A woman RPF (Railway Protection Force) constable usually shadows them. The provision for female TTEs had been in place before Independence but most women are coming forward only now, Ms Abha adds. “It requires grit and effective use of power to control erring passengers,” says another female TTE here, as she waits for her duty train to arrive. “The working hours are unlimited many-a-times, as the trains can be held up anywhere. We have to take care of chain pullers, nonpaying passengers, and even bomb scares. After all, TTEs are considered the frontline of railways,” says Ms Gurdeep Kaur, as she rushes off to check out train.
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This book NGO is selling socialism This mobile NGO bookstore goes from city to city — loaded with translated novels, biographies and studies, parks at important points and disseminates forgotten knowledge. Most are in Hindi, some in Punjabi and English. It calls itself “Lok Media Muhim.” This partner of the Lucknow-based Rahul Foundation — named after intellectual Rahul Sankrityayan (1893-1963) – keeps roaming Punjab. The medium is myriad faced — Mikhail Sholokhov’s pro-Soviet novels: “Quiet Flows the Don” and “Virgin Soil Upturned”, Mary Wollstonecraft’s “A Vindication of the Rights of Women”, works of Anton Chekhov, Maxim Gorky and good old Leo Tolstoy (although the Hindi edition of “War and Peace” is a lot thinner) — all in rich Devnagri script. Not to mention all the words the Karl Marx-Frederick Engels duo or Vladimir Lenin ever uttered. These is Premchand too. And none of the books cost more than socialism will allow. Marxist theoretician Rahul Sankrityayan’s musings too feature prominently. After all, from 1937-38 and then 1947-48, the renowned wanderer was Professor of Indology at the University of Leningrad, his “Volga se Ganga,” – an enduring 20 volume work of travel fiction is on the shelves. The Muhim even has a journal and some pamphlets, most printed in a publishing house in Lucknow and one in Ludhiana. It is also wise: who would otherwise buy the same books printed by obscure publishers? The cloak of social service is warm enough. Meanwhile, written on the representatives’ blue uniforms and bandanas is “Janchetna” (public awareness). There were two parallel movements actually — one in Uttar Pradesh and the other in Punjab. “We joined hands at the World Book Fair in New Delhi two years back,” says Ajay Pal, the coordinator for this Muhim in the state. Soon they started translating the works in Punjabi, with a Ludhiana publisher. Hence, on display are badly printed copies of the once inflammatory writings of Bhagat Singh and Rajguru. Punjab’s hero still sells briskly. The choice of literature is meticulous too —there are no dictators or war literature: no Stalin, Che or Castro. Though there is book on Mao. The representatives here also deny any links or help from the fierce Communist parties. “We sustain ourselves with the revenue we generate from the book sales,” says Laljit, a representative, eagerly explaining the merits of Lenin to a perspective buyer searching for a meaningful biography. Dr Sailesh, overseeing “the spread of right ideas” in this city full of foreign-returned capitalists says they are keeping all the revolutionary literature from around the world. Fair enough. But where are the celebrated, freedom-loving American or Spanish authors except for Sinclair Lewis? The bookseller-on-wheels even wants kids to read: there are simple Russian-Hindi tales and even one story by Satyajit Ray. Right ideas were not the Soviet regime’s prerogative only — defunct now with all the free trade hullabaloo. Out of date and out of times? May be not. As long as trade unions, leftist students and the average readers find capitalism too harsh to digest.
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Life a drill for Sianik School cadets Away from homes where they throw all kinds of tantrums, life begins anew for these cadets of Sainik School at Kapurthala. It’s a different life altogether: regimented by all means to train them for the tough life of
a soldier. The day of an ordinary cadet begins early with the resonance of a gong at 5. 15 a.m. The students freshen up and prepare for the PT or NCC parade that starts 6 a.m. sharp. After almost an hour’s drill, the students change into khaki uniforms, don their caps and move on to take breakfast in the mess. At 8.20 a.m., all the 604 cadets gather to attend the assembly in the school auditorium where a short prayer is held. Then, a bunch of half-a-dozen students show their extemporary skills delivering short speeches on current affairs. The classes begin at 9 a.m. and end by 2 p.m., intermitted by a 20-minute tea and snack break. After finishing classes for the morning, the cadets rush for a lunch to their respective houses. In this, they also squeeze in 40 minutes of rest. At 3.30 p.m., they are back to the school for the one hour self-study session. Nearly 30 teaching staff ensures that attendance is marked to ensure regularity. After prep, there is an hour-long sports session during which the students play football, volleyball, squash, and lawn tennis or do swimming as per their choice. Play session is followed by a lemon or tea session. Again the cadets move on to their classes for a 90 minutes evening prep. Dinner is served to the cadets at 8. 30 p.m. and are then told to shift to the TV room where they watch a 15-minute news
bulletin. The night prep starts at 9 p.m. and continues for an hour in the reading rooms of the cadets’ own houses. At 10 p.m., they move to the dormitories and the lights are switched off. The day has finally ended. Cadets say the routine is rigid and in the first week acclimatisation is difficult. “We keep longing for home comfort. But, soon the routine makes you busy enough not to think about family” said Anand Pratap Kasnia from Ferozepore, who joined the school in Class VI four months back. “We have a female warden in the house, who gives us motherly treatment and takes care of everything,” Amrit, another Class VI student from Gurdaspur added. Navjot, a Class XII student from Dyalgarh village of Gurdaspur and the school captain, said that though the routine was tough and they also received punishments in the form of extra drills, they did not find all days
monotonous. “On Sundays and holidays, we are allowed to watch a movie in our house. We have learnt a lot and I can see a total personality change in myself. I am being trained to join the NDA; what else can I ask for?”
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For Ghuggi, comedy is no laughing matter “Comedy is no laughing matter. It is a serious business. Comedy has many genres and satire is one of them. I believe that satire has the potential to bring about changes in individuals. The changes may not be the sweeping ones, but surely each positive change counts,” he explains. He says he has taken up the issues of pesticide overuse, traffic chaos, blind aping of Western culture in his latest audio album “Ghuggi Khol Pitari”. Gone are the days of loud Punjabi comedy, he avers. “My background in theatre has given me a sound grounding in timing the comic element. I do not have to depend on double meaning dialogues to tickle people’s funny bone.” Penning his own script gives him an added advantage. “I can synchronise my dialogues and actions with perfect ease, as I know what exactly has to go into the presentation,” he adds. Hopeful of striking a responsive cord with the audience through his Punjabi movie “Yaaraan Naal Baharaan”, he says that he has a comic track in the movie that is the first regional venture of Yash Raj Productions. He is also acting in a movie being produced by Jaspal Bhatti. Commenting on the difference of style in the satires of Bhatti and his own self, he says, “Bhatti is an excellent narrator, while my strong point is acting. So, there is no competition between us. We follow our own distinctive styles.” Ghuggi says he can vouch that when all else fails, satire still retains its relevance.
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Ode to Madan Mohan The 11th annual Madan Mohan Nite was organised by the Sangeetkar Madan Mohan Yaadgari Sabha in association with the Jalandhar Gymkhana Club recently. Artists such as Naresh Dhiman, Arvind Dadwal, Arshpreet Kajal Panju Nidhi paid tributes to the great singer through their musical renditions. The magic of Madan Mohan was relived with songs such as “Aap ke pehlu mein aake ro diye,” “Ayo kahan se ghanshyam,” “Aji rooth kar ab kahan jaiyega,” and other songs as known artists like Ms Kirti Rajput and young talent like Ms Bhawana, Mr Lakshya, Deepanshu, Ashish, Ishita Sethi kept the audiences spellbound. TNS
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Cadets felicitated
It was a proud moment for the cadets of NCC contingent of Jalandhar Group as they were given a rousing welcome at the NCC group headquarters here recently. The cadets arrived after winning the first prize among all groups of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh during a month-long inter-group competition held as a part of Republic Day celebrations. Earlier the group had also won the contests in Thal Sainik Camp. Felicitating the cadets, Col D.S. Goraya, Group Commander said that this was the first time that the Jalandhar group had won both the prestigious
competitions.
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From Schools and Colleges
Media week As a part of media week celebrations, students from middle and senior wings of St Joseph High School, Cantonment Road, participated in a debate competition on Thursday. The students spoke on the topic pertaining to overexposure by the media on various issues. Aksha and Pratishtha shared the first prize while Harpreet Chawla stood second. Sister Sofi, Principal, congratulated the winners. AIDS awareness day Government Arts and Sports College observed AIDS awareness day on Wednesday. The students were made aware of the causes, symptoms and precautions that could be taken against the deadly disease. An oath was administered to the students by Dr Sunita to fight against it. Ms Kiranjit Kaur, Principal, urged the students to spread the awareness further among the masses. Lecture Dr Arun Dev Sharma, lecturer, Department of Biotechnology, Lyallpur Khalsa College, participated in an international conference on “Drought stress” held at University of Rome, Italy recently. Over 400 scientists from all over the world attended the conference. Talent evening To showcase their wealth of talent, students of Eklavya School presented a talent evening on the Nakodar Road campus recently. The programme opened with the recital of dohas of Sant Kabir. Colours of Haryana became vibrant as the students danced on the song “Mujhe chunar manga de”. Chairman, Mr J.K. Gupta, and principal, Ms Sapna Bakshi, were also present on the occasion.
— Compiled by Deepkamal Kaur
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If the sight of an Indian Railways TTE (Travelers’ Ticket Examiner) makes you uneasy, think if the official turns out to be a woman?.jpg)
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Capitalism sometimes drives socialism. If an NGO sells books on communism alias socialism, it earns money and unwillingly creates awareness among people who buy such works—even though they may say they don’t work for profits. Their cause, representatives in uniform reveal, is “to create parallel medium that will divert common people from the mainstream capitalist media.” And standing under the sun and shadows all day, it’s a hard sell..jpg)
If you thought comedy was all about rip-roaring laughter and loads of fun, go for a retake. Comedy can well shake up the social conscience and deliver a stinging verdict on social evils while arousing a nice belly laugh. Well, this is what the comedian (he would prefer himself to be called a satirist), Gurpreet Ghuggi, feels.