Cultural Differences

I was travelling from Kanpur to Bengaluru (Then Bangalore). It was in the early 90’’s. There were no direct trains between Kanpur and Bengaluru in those days. Options were to travel to Delhi and then take another train to Bengaluru, or take a flight from Delhi. Then airfare was beyond my reach. Another option was first to travel to Jhansi and then board a train to Bengaluru from there. There was a quota system for railway reservations. From Kanpur, one could book up to six seats on any given date from Jhansi to Bengaluru from Kanpur itself in Karnataka Express and some other southbound trains. The reservations would start three months prior to the journey date. One had to book at least one to two months in advance. But for the month of May, June and July one had to book three months in advance. In those days one could not book from the comforts of the home or from the mobile phone in hand. One had to go to the station and stand in queue and spend quite a bit of time or pay a good amount to the middleman who would do the job for you. No identity proof was required. You need to fill in the details in the given form, pay the cash and buy your ticket. Those were the days we did not have Gpay/Paytm/Bhim we had to carry the cash. We had added fear of losing the money to pickpockets. The reservations used to be entered in big register books by the ticketing clerk. It used to take quite a bit of time for everyone. On some occasions, I had to return without getting the ticket as we ran out of time and stood afresh the next day. Also, I remember having gone to the station around four o'clock in the morning to stand in the queue for the ticketing. Well, those were more time-consuming and painstaking days. We had to bear this ordeal almost two or three times in a year.

It was summer. During summer, those days it was common knowledge that most long-distance trains ran late by at least two to three hours. Summers in the Northern part of India are unbearable. The air itself is hot. They call it “lu”. Under the shade of a tree also you won’t get any respite from the heat. You have to cover your ears and forehead and keep hydrated all the time to avoid getting sunstroke.

We were a team of about five, including my friends from Lucknow and Korwa. Our train would start late in the night to Bengaluru, but our train from Kanpur to Jhansi brought us around noon. There we no good buses flying between Kanpur and Jhansi, hence we chose the train. We had sufficient time left. All of us decided to go and explore the Jhansi Quilla or the Fort once ruled by the Famous queen Jhansi Rani Laxmibai and then have dinner and get back to the station before the train departure time. We put the luggage in the cloakroom and took tum tum ( Three wheelers, unique in that part of UP, with a carrying capacity of around eight including the Driver) and went to the fort. 

Jhansi Fort is located in the heart of the city. The city was once known as Balwantnagar. The fort is ascribed to be built by Bundela King Bir Singh Judev of Orchha Kingdom somewhere around 1606. Once a lively and roaring place now stands in ruins as a place of historical evidence of the destruction caused by the British. It’s a witness to the fiery first battle for the Independence in 1857. 

We roamed around and reached the Shiva temple which dates back to the queen’s time. Puja is done even now also. The fort is managed by the para-armed forces. There was a person at the temple managing the flow of people and probably tended to the temple duties as well. My other friends just walked into the sanctum sanctorum to offer prayers. I sought the permission of the person to get into the sanctum sanctorum. He looked at me and allowed me. When I came out he stopped me and asked whether I was from the Southern part of India. I said yes but got curious. We conversed and it turned out that he was a friend of my classmate. He had joined the armed forces immediately after his schooling as his family needed support. For the last year, he has been posted in Jhansi. His duty was about to finish, so he asked all of us to wait. After some time, he took us to his barrack (where he stayed) offered nice tea and asked if someone wanted beer. Some of my friends were more than happy to grab military quota beer. They were happier as they learned it happened to be a dry day and no Liquor shops were open. 

During the conversation, I asked him why did he ask me whether I was from southern India. He smiled and said all my other colleagues ( who happened to be from some or the other north Indian states) did not seek permission to get into sanctum sanctorum and I was the only one. He said this is a subtle observation he has made. In northern India, one enters into the sanctum sanctorum and worships the idol directly, whereas, in the southern part, it’s only the Poojari or Panditjee who worships and offers puja to the idol directly. Only on special occasions observing all sanctity and decorum required one can offer puja directly in southern India. This, I also had observed. This is a very fine cultural difference that can be seen between North and South. It’s difficult to draw a line that separates the two but it is somewhere in Maharashtra one can draw the line or maybe The Narmada or Godavari River demarcates the two. 

During his stay here he was tasked to tend to the duties of the temple. He had taken an interest in religious things and started learning about religious rituals and procedures. During this, he said he could understand why this difference in culture is there. His observation amazed me. He said Most of our Gods Like Shiva, Krishna, and Rama were all born in the Northern part of India. The religious heads like Mahaveer, and Buddha also have their Origins in the north. So these Gods or Heads are like family members to the people up north. They consider them as one of them and have what you call as Vatsallya Bhava(Affection). Sort of reverence with fondness or affection. Hence they have no hesitation to enter the sanctum sanctorum. Yes, they do observe minimum requirements for entering the sanctum sanctorum. 

Whereas down south, we have Bhakti Bhava( Devotion), we revere the Gods and as such stay at a distance in devotion and reverence. Only the Pujari or Panditjee performs the rituals. 

You can feel this when you visit Vishwanath Temple in Banaras or Krishna Temple in Mathura and then visit Tirupati Balaji or Madurai Meenakshi Temple. You can make a difference. It’s one of those fine differences that differentiates between Southern Behaviour and Northern Behaviour.

This affection and devotion make a lot of difference. When you have devotion, you tend to be disciplined, God-fearing and mild. When you have affection, you tend to be protective, take things for granted and be assertive. 

The train journey will make you feel the differences. In the North, people are accommodative and will adjust for the co-traveller with no reservation. There will be a number of people without reservation sitting in the bogie just requesting other co-passengers. This behaviour has helped me many times in completing my job. As most of the time we had to travel on short notice, we always ended up travelling with wait-listed tickets. Many times having a first-class ticket but travelled in second class. People in Second class are more accommodating than those in First Class or AC. It’s generally observed that the more you have, the more you want to possess. The less you have, the more you want to share. That’s typical of our middle-class behaviour. We used to request to explain our situation and somehow, we used to get to sit at least and also sleep in the upper birth in the time. 

In the south, a person with no reservation doesn’t find a place. He has to get into general bogie or coach. In the North, the TTE will simply check the tickets of reserved persons. He will not bother to ask others to travel without reservation. He will suggest adjusting and travelling. I tried to reason out on many occasions. I learned they fear for their life. Because passengers may get angry and beat them. Many times TTE never turned especially when there is too much of a rush. This was not true for prime trains Like Shatabdi and Rajdhani. They were much better managed. Though even on these trains there will be people travelling unreserved changing coaches very frequently, avoiding TTE and staying near the entry etc., 

In the south TTE will ask non-reserved persons to vacate and issue penalties also. The general upkeep of the coach also will be bad in the North. In the south generally, the Coaches are clean. I have not travelled by train in the last five or six years. So if things have changed then I don’t know. Basically, the fact that the north is more densely populated and the literacy rate is lower leads to such behaviour. Awareness towards cleanliness and social responsibilities is a very dear thing in the north. There is a very interesting experience about how to travel in exigency without reservation in Rajdhani or Shatabdi which I will reserve for another story. I have to keep writing and you have to read my writings. I intend to keep my write-ups short to ensure it does not consume your valuable time.