Formsake

'Bhaisahab, yeh S4 hain na?'

The man behind the window was expressionless.

'Coach number jo hain, woh S4 hain na, aap jis coach par baithe hain?'

The man raised his head slightly and said "Hum nahi bata paayenge".

After I walked away, I saw that he spit out the tobacco rich saliva out of the window onto the platform. Involuntarily, I shook my head and moved away.

It was the Delhi bound Swatantrata Senani Express train passing via Kanpur. We, the tree of us, had got up at 4 in the morning for the sake of one among us. He had to collect 'information' from as many passesngers travelling between Delhi and Kanpur as possible, analyse the data and obtain valuable information for his Master's degree.

'Ka karenge aap log yeh sab lekar?', a group asked me. None of then knew English. I did not know technical hindi!

Woh kya hain, hummm.. railway to dedenge. Laloo ji ko.
I expected smiles. Some smiled. Only later did I realize that I was luckier than my friend who had tried a similar tactic.

'Dekhiye, aap pahle bahar jaayiye. Aapko is dabbe pe yeh sab karne nahi denge. Laloo ji ke barae mein aise kaise bata sakte hain? Laloo ji sab kuch theek karte hain. Aap jaayiye pahle. HMMM..', was the reaction. He had rushed out from there!

Nevertheless, I liked the accent of their speech. The thick, raw, Bhojpuri mixed Hindi was soothing on the ears!

I met a group of people eager to make fun of me, or at least that's what I felt. They belonged to a particular political party(I won't mention the name, why take chances!). I gave them the forms and asked for their annual income.

'Ka karege aap isse?', was the immediate reaction.

'Analysis karne ke liye yeh sab chahiye'

They looked at each other and grinned. God knows what they understood analysis as.

'Hamra bahut kam hain' remarked a fellow. His neighbours protested loudly. 'Aap income tax department se to nahi?', he added.

'Nahi bhai sahab. Yeh dekhiye', I showed him my IIT I-Card. A card can be useful at times.

'Aaaa. Theek hain. Humra income jo hain, woh jyaada hain. Par hum kam likhenge ispe.'

I nodded my head in agreement and smiled.

Now I started looking for the other two surveyors. I came to know that the TTE had advised them not to go into any compartment after it was dark, 7 pm, say. It was still bright then.

The presence of a beautiful girl made the prospects brighter. We all went in that direction. I gave the form. Honestly, I was interested only in getting the form filled. I told her about the form and stood there at some distance.

'You can start filling the form from the end', my friend said sitting beside her.

I looked at the other friend; both of us smiled.

The girl looked at me and asked, "Can I not fill it from the beginning?"

Oh! why not.