A Travel story shared publicly by Shri Pulak Kumar Sinha click here
Challenge: Face it boldly or Flee from it
The dictionary meaning of “Challenge” is “Something that needs great mental or physical effort in order to be done successfully and therefore tests a person’s ability”. In other words, it can also be defined as an adverse situation in our life which we need to tide over.
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lives are full of challenges. Incidentally, human beings cannot live without challenges. Day in and day out, we have been encountering challenges. While arranging for two square meals is a challenge for a poor man, protecting his wealth is a huge problem for a rich man. But then these are routine or foreseen challenges. We shall, however, discuss here about challenges which are unforeseen. Broadly, they are of three types, as under:
 Those created due to your action / inaction e.g. you have invested hard earned savings into chit funds for higher interest but lost everything, you failed to ensure proper maintenance of your vehicle and met with an accident, etc.
 Those created by others, e.g. cheating, burglary, unnecessary harassment, road rage, bandh, etc.
 Those are created by nature e.g. flood, earthquake, wild fire, etc.
At times, the challenges, particularly those created by nature, are devastating and very difficult to face still human beings are surviving. Recent flood in Kerala is a glaring example. However, we have no / very little control over it. Challenges created by our own action / inaction can also be brought down drastically with proper knowledge / information / action in time. On the other hand, challenges due to someone else’s action are completely unpredictable and ever increasing in the modern world. While the people responsible for creating troubles are a very few in number, they always pose a huge problem for individuals as well as society. At times, even the law enforcing agency like police can also create problems for you. I know facing such challenges is very difficult and most of the times, we have to eat humble pie to save ourselves. I, however, venture to suggest that we need to assess the intensity of the challenge and act very judiciously. We must not take the issue head on if the opponent is strong and there is a threat of life. Instead, we have to use our brain to find out a solution to the problem. Despite huge degeneration of the social and moral values, the quote “Pen is mightier than Sword” still remains relevant. It is not a sermon as I was successful in getting success on a number of occasions. Here, I would like to narrate an incident which we encountered at Jamalpur Railway Station while we were on way to Pakaur from Patna, as under:
It was sometime in July / August 1989. I was posted in SBI, Local Head Office, Patna. My in-laws were in Pakaur. There were only two direct trains viz. Delhi – Sealdah Upper India Express (Now Varanasi Express) and Danapur – Howrah Fast Passenger (Now Rajgir – Howrah fast Passenger). As the running of the former was a bit erratic, we preferred to travel by the latter which used to be around 11.30 a.m. at Patna. The schedule time of arrival of the train at Pakaur was little after mid-night. Accordingly, we (myself, my wife, my sister-in-law and my 9 month old son) boarded the train and occupied seats in an unreserved compartment as reservation for 3-4 hours (beyond 9.00 p.m.) was meaningless. Journey was smooth up to Jamalpur.
As the train stopped at the station, I alighted with a view to purchasing some food items and taking tea. It was around 6.00 p.m. The halt of the train at Jamalpur station was almost half an hour. After completing my work within 15 minutes, when I came back near the compartment to board the train, I found one of the doors of the compartment (a smaller one with two doors) was closed, a hanging sign board mentioning thereon “Escort Party” both in Hindi and English and passengers alighting from the other door. There were five police personnel. As I was trying to board the train, I was not allowed to go in. I pleaded with one of them, “We are coming from Patna and shall go to Pakaur. I am accompanied by two ladies and an infant. Where shall we go? The train has become crowded now. We may be allowed to travel in this compartment only.” He, however, insisted on vacating the compartment. By then, excepting my family members, everyone else vacated the compartment. Finding no assurance from the police party, I went inside to help my family members to help them to come out. As we were about to come out, one of the police personnel came to us and told us not to get down. I thanked him for the nice gesture.
Very soon, what I saw had really surprised me. Passengers started entering into the compartment and within no time, all the seats got filled up. Though I could guess the motive behind the action but I did not ask anything to the fellow passengers. The train started its onward journey. After around half an hour, what I saw that didn’t surprised me at all. I saw that two police personnel were collecting Rs. 5/- from all the passengers (They were without tickets) and in the process, they asked for Rs. 15/- (3 persons) even though we were having proper tickets. I tried to argue with them but to no avail and we had also to pay. As the train was a little late, we reached Pakaur one hour past mid night.
As I could not digest that illegal practice, I sent two letters – one to the SP, Railway Police, Jamalpur and another to IG, Railway Police, Patna – narrating the episode. To give emphasis to the complaint, the letter was, however, signed by my wife. We went back to Patna after a week and was pleasantly surprised to receive an acknowledgement with an assurance to look into the matter from one, Shri Sahay (Unfortunately, I forgot his full name.), IG, Railway Police. In another one month, we received another letter mentioning therein that a Test Identification (TI) Parade of all the police personnel would be held at Jamalpur as per the availability of my wife. As going to Jamalpur was very difficult for my wife, she wrote a letter to the IG stating her inability. Within a few days, she received a reply that TI Parade would now be held in our residence at Patna wherein the date was also indicated. We certainly expected some action but never ever thought of such an action.
On that fixed date, around 9.00 o’clock one police personnel knocked at the door and introduced himself. He was the observer for that purpose. He said, “All eight police personnel (We saw only five at Jamalpur) who were on duty on that day are here. If it is okay with you, we can call them one by one for TI Parade.” We asked him for tea but he said that it could be once the exercise was over. So TI Parade started. As one after another police personnel appeared before my wife, the observer asked her two questions – (i) Did any police personnel ask you to vacate the compartment and subsequently ask for money? and (ii) Was he one of them? In response to first question, she told “Yes” and for the second “I do not remember.” Incidentally, I also could not identify any of them.
When the exercise got over, they all came together, thanked her and left the place. The observer then wrote a note and took her signature. While taking tea, he said, “ Madam, though you could not identify anyone, the practice has been completely stopped now. Moreover, everyone in railway police force in Bihar knows you by name. I appreciate your courage. Our IG was also praising you.” He also left after finishing his tea.
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