Talking Shop: When duty goes grind

“Be active and take on (given)

responsibility. Work for the things

you believe in. If you do not, you

surrender your fate to others…”

―APJ Abdul Kalam

Quite clearly, the protagonist in the episode below has not read the quote above by the inimitable APJ Abdul Kalam, former President of India and a guiding force in our country’s mission to conquer the frontiers of space and beyond. If he had, engine driver that he was with the Indian Railways, our protagonist would not have stopped or left his lohpathgamini agnirath (train) at Barabanki’s Budhwal Railway Station. But stop he did, thundering that his duty hours were over, and walked off with a lisp in his gait. His action threw the scheduled service from Saharsa to Delhi into a tizzy for the next four hours and the train, already 16 hours late when the driver ambled off, was stranded at Budhwal on 28 November, eventually reaching Delhi 20 hours late. A new chaalak (driver) had to be found and jhemp kar (peremptorily and sheepishly) despatched from Lucknow on emergency duty.

In a similarly whacky incident, a locomotive ‘pilot’ stopped his passenger train at Hasanpur Railway Station in Bihar’s Samastipur district and got off to have an invigorating guzzle at the nearest theka (liquor vend). The train, which has a two-minute scheduled stop in Hasanpur, spent that eventful evening of May 2 at the station itself, till harried passengers finally found the driver enjoying a feisty siesta, knocked out by the immortalizing elixir. Try as anyone might, the inebriated driver could not be woken up or, obviously, entrusted with the task of running the train. Passengers twiddled their thumbs and toes till a new chaalak was found to take over the controls. Such incidents, hilarious and criminal as they may be in cahoots, are not restricted to India—this is happening around the world, sometimes only so that train drivers may watch their favourite team play football matches, or gab with their woman while their mobile phone still has a signal.

Why are we talking duty?

After I promised to be blithe and wispy; why am I talking of a heavy item like duty a day after the poll results, you ask? Well, it is because post the pandemonium on TV over the last 24 hours, I felt it would be medicinal, even blasé, and certainly easier on the eyes and our weather-beaten innards. This is especially as we witness increasing instances of people shirking away from responsibilities for inane reasons—some to watch TV, others to get drunk and a few just to prove a point.

Mind you, this process has not sprouted in the lower echelons of society and/or creeping up now. It is the other way around, having started at the top and now trickling down inexorably, a new, indefatigable and determinant way of living. It is this ‘devaluation’ in our definition of duty that has sparked curious (and spurious) news headlines—of best-in-the-world hospitals opening up nationwide, but only vacant tracts of land captured by cameras when they reach the haloed spot; where we do have hospitals, there are no doctors or medical supplies. The same miserable cameras can’t find railway tracks when they go all gutsy to shoot our new Next-Gen trains with digital bullets.

In other fables and folklore, there are bustling schools and learned teachers; in troth, there are none. There are few playgrounds and fewer highways still; and where there are, they are either ‘manned’ by maweshis (cows and buffalos) or used only by those valiant enough to pay hefty toll fees which match the fuel cost of the drive in their swanky SUVs. Paradoxically, duty is turning out to be an equalizer like no other in our roopaantarankartic (transmorphed) society—because big or small, in designation or countenance, we are either flouting our responsibilities or turning a blind eye when we see others doing the same.

The world has faltered

To prove the point in the quote by APJ Abdul Kalam, I could list down elemental phenomena and examples worldwide, but to what end? This is not an outburst on hospitals, schools, trains and highways that mysteriously or surreptitiously aren’t. This is not an essay on the failure of any state or mankind itself—neither a rant on the global refugee crisis and humanitarian catastrophe being witnessed; a recap of the heritage of colonial regimes which continue to destroy traditional social structures, even after their demise; a gory delineation of modernization and increased geographical mobility which have counterbalanced nation-building processes; nor indeed a reminder of global weather systems running amok and asunder. This is all that and more.

The Mahabharata says states have to discharge their duties towards the safety of the people from attacks internal and external, preservation of life and property, general upkeep and judicial management. A state has to initiate multifaceted social, economic and moral activities for the development of the people—this includes education, medical care, business, transport management, development of forest and mines, care of the poor and down-trodden, and more. That was in ancient times. In today’s world, we have modern problems, some listed above and most created and manifested by our very own selves. It is imperative, therefore, that the world and its leaders collectively and unfailingly congregate and converge, not just in body, but in mind and intent too, taking another excerpt from Kalam’s wisdom as their cue: “If you salute your duty, you don’t need to salute anybody. But if you pollute your duty, you have to salute everybody.”

Dictionary and diction

If we go by the Oxford Dictionary, duty is something you have to do because people expect you to do it or because you think it is the right thing. Wikipedia feels duty is a commitment or expectation to perform some action in general or if certain circumstances arise—they can include those that are fiduciary, customs, excise, best man’s and so on, or indeed when you drive a railway engine.

In some professions, as proven today(!), there are people who take their duty hours very seriously; if only they do the same with their actual duties too, we would be living in a daksh aur surakshit duniya (more efficient and safer world). Why am I resorting to Hindi and Sanskrit in an English column, you wonder? Well, it is only because today, I am smitten with Bollywood star Dharmendra, who used these unforgettable words in Chupke Chupke. Dharamji turns 88 this Friday. May the Lord bless him, his ilk and our brethren who travel by the lohpathgamini agnirath. Tathastu (Amen).

The writer is a veteran journalist and communications specialist. He can be reached on narayanrajeev2006@gmail.com. Views expressed are personal