Secunderabad. Sarojini Devi road. Taj Mahal Hotel. It was about 10 AM when my senior Regional Sales Manager got the 4 carton boxes containing test equipment unloaded from his hired Ambassador car in the parking lot. I had instructions to leave from Secunderabad directly to Aurangabad that evening, to deliver those boxes to Bajaj Auto Ltd., to immediately complete the installation & training for the engineers, and to collect the payment also. There was a bit of urgency from the customer side too and so I had to start immediately. The train from Secunderabad leaves at about 6 PM in the evening and I only had about 7 hours to start not just thinking about, but to execute the travel plan itself. 
I was working in Bangalore at that time, and was taking care of technical support for electronics test equipment customers in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala full-time, and Maharashtra part-time. When this instruction to go to Aurangabad urgently was given to me, I was already on a trip to Hyderabad for the prior 2-3 days, visiting different customers on service calls or annual maintenance visits etc.
Of the 4, the biggest box was of the size of a 21" picture-tube type color television set's box and the second one half that size. A computer CPU was in the third box and it's 14" CRT type VGA monitor was in the fourth. Plus, of course, my big travel bag. This was in the year 1992 when there was no online booking, not even email and internet at that time. Checking availability and buying train tickets at the reservation counters was the only option, and since this travel was planned at the nth moment, I did not have anyway to get an advance reservation to travel. So I moved around with the 4 boxes up to Hotel Manju's reception, vacated my room, and then again took them again to Secunderabad railway station before the arrival of the train. I hung around with the boxes and purchased a II class unreserved ticket on Ajanta express train, which was the only train running on that night, to Aurangabad. 
When the train came to the platform, the unreserved compartment was already overflowing with crowd. I loaded the boxes on to the coach and managed to somehow place them right near the two toilets, butting the end-wall, which had no passage to the adjoining compartment. Ajanta express runs overnight to go from Secunderabad to Aurangabad. I stacked up the 4 carton boxes near the toilets, leaving some space for people to get in and out of the toilets.
The compartment was very crowded and the only choice I had was to travel sitting on one of those boxes right near the toilets. With the floor around there wet with water-spills too often, many people getting in and out of the two toilets frequently, a terrible smell emanating all the time, etc. etc., I still tried to take short naps through that night, because, I had to be at the customer premises the very next morning to provide operational training for those few lakh rupees worth equipment that was lying beneath me. Even with the serious worry of safeguarding the valuable boxes all night, and crouching like a crane, I was unable to control sleep beyond some hour. I did not know how the time after 3 AM flew. I surely had slept a bit.
At about 6:30 AM the train chugged into Aurangabad railway station. I guessed it was much later than normal arriving time. My coach was the last one in the train and when I looked out of the door there was no platform to step on. Either the station platform was too short or the train was too long and so my coach stood well outside the end of the platform. I moved the boxes step by step to the doorway and then unloaded them on to the ground one by one. When I stood up and turned, I almost bumped face to face with this cop who stood right behind me, staring at me.
I had all the invoices and documentation perfectly for the equipment I was carrying for delivery. But he scrutinized them for 2-3 minutes and then looked me and asked for the 'octroi' bill. I frowned. That was the first time I heard that term. One good part was that I could converse with him in Hindi and after a couple of q&a between us I understood that it was the state entry-tax for the goods on my hand. I started thinking frantically. Either the Company had paid it but did not give me that bill, or, there was some oversight, or there was some other thing. I recorded this point in my mind quickly to address later with the Company. He realized my status easily and started vying for his commission in order to let me go. Or else he wanted me to take the boxes and go with him to the commercial inspector and tax authorities, pay up the full tax, plus penalties etc. before proceeding with anything I intended in Aurangabad. The sultry morning had already started warming up the air. My entire travel the previous night had been one of the horrendous ones. My shoulders were paining. I badly needed to lye my back on bed for at least 10 minutes and I badly needed a shower too. There was no Anna at that time but still I tried negotiating hard, very hard, to avoid paying him anything. I could not succeed. As minutes passed, I was loosing stamina. I then tried talking to keep his fee to bare minimum. Within seconds, a loadman porter appeared at the scene, and joined our dialog. He started mediating between us as well. He surely had a vested business interest to snatch from me next. Finally, I completed the formality to that cop, who, at last, let me proceed. Standing tightly close next to me, the porter got his turn next. He bid for a very high shifting charge to take the items out of the railway station. I was cursing my luck. My throat was bare dry. My neck had also been paining for rest. I still negotiated with him. I started my offer at 50% of what he wanted. After a few minutes of justification to each others' arguments, we agreed to a final rate. The problem for me was that I had never been to Aurangabad before. I knew nothing about the distances to go to the transport point, to the nearest hotel, the kinds of hotels, etc. There was no Google Maps too for a handy reference.
The porter walked with all boxes mounted on his head. They were easily weighing over 40 kgs, and the volume was also huge. I was amazed by the strength he had in his head, neck and shoulders. I was the last one to get out of the almost empty-by-that-time station that morning. This was in 1992, when population was not as high as today, and not many trains to & from that town. He put the things off for me in an auto rickshaw outside the railway station.
Not sure whether the porter and the auto driver had any signals exchanged, but a
t the sight of the boxes, the auto fellow sounded greedy. He started his turn asking for a hefty sum. I felt - oh, not again. Surely the auto guy knew that I had no other choice. And, without knowing anything about how far a hotel was for me to go refresh, and to take off soon to Bajaj Auto Ltd., my negotiation was baseless. But still I started my offer at 50% of what he wanted. He laughed. I knew I was completely off track. I tried haggling intensely, to avoid being taken for a ride - pun intended. I somehow struck a rate with him finally. I loaded the boxes and my bag on to the seat, the foot space, the luggage space and then somehow got myself also buried amongst them, squeezing in a crammed posture. He drove me to a hotel that was only some 400 meters from the railway station! But one good thing was that we got into a dialog, he asked me where I had to go for duty, etc., and agreed to come back in 90 minutes and take me. Bajaj factory was over 15 KM away on the state highway towards Ahmednagar. 
That small hotel's reception was a bit elevated from ground, at a mezzanine level. I realized that the 4 boxes plus my big travel bag were having a lot of fun, enjoying the rides with me, loving my carriage services and test of my physical and mental strengths! I climbed up the stairs with all the boxes one by one to the mezzanine level, shove them near the front-desk with permission from the staff, and then almost tiredly crawled up four-legged to my room on the 2nd floor. I was completely exhausted, had an almost broken back, with mangling arms and legs, and my whole body fully drenched in sweat, with stinking stench that had been accumulated from every minute of the past about 21 hours - right from Sarojini Devi road Secunderabad when I collected the 4 boxes from my RSM's Ambassador car. At last, I took my warm solacing shower that I was really really longing for. Ah, what a pleasure that shower was. The auto rickshaw driver did come back by about 9 AM right after my breakfast, which was good. I brought down all the boxes and loaded all of them once again in the auto, he helped me a little bit, and we started towards the last leg of the marathon - to the customer's factory. I still had some smile left on my face.
The sun was shining and heating up the air already. The roads were not too crowded, and had only minimal traffic and people movement. The auto guy talked about a couple of local stuffs and then drove quietly. Soon, we were out of Aurangabad town and he expected at least a 45 minute drive with his slow-speed front-engine. I was still buried amongst the boxes in the auto rickshaw and somehow stuck out my neck to look around the roadside. 15 minutes later there was a sudden appearance of a lot of trucks, vans, mini-vans, etc. either stopped or pulling over on either sides of the road. I wondered if there was a big traffic jam due to some accident or something else was wrong. Within seconds I came to know that we had just neared a commercial tax naka (check-post) on the state highway. As the auto driver steered and negotiated through the gaps to move forward towards a roundabout junction, there was this attendant waving at us to stop by the side. He commanded me to bring the documents of the goods to the officer sitting inside the plaza counter. I could feel the sudden rush of warm blood flowing into my face and head, all over. I knew exactly what whirl I was getting into, once again. The auto driver showed a wry face at me.
I ran to the plaza counter that was haphazardly surrounded by several vehicle drivers, apparently punjabis, maratis, etc. I tried to poke either my head or hand and to squeeze into the gaps between the men. There were loud chats and discussions going all around from the 2 officers present there with each vehicle driver on various kinds of issues, from under-invoiced documents to octroi shortfalls to document copy problems to others. The officers in their late 40's looked dirty and soiled, but still acted rough and tough. I gave the documents of my goods, wearing a broad smile on my face, trying to impress them. Upon a quick scan around, I appeared to be the most educated and well-dressed professional person standing in that whole surroundings. When my documents were scrutinized by one of the officers, he asked me to show him the octroi bill. I gave him a copy of some of the documents again and some round-about statements trying to say that every thing was perfect. After a couple of my such explanations the officer got heated up. He almost started saying that the boxes have to be unloaded in their office right away unless I show or pay all amounts that they expect. I was going through a horror in terms of handling their questions while still trying to get out of that scene as smoothly as possible. The auto driver stood a couple of yards away and was probably having fun watching my battle. The officer's dialog clearly was pitching for some big gain in order to allow me to proceed further. I got into a negotiation mode with him and started with something very mean. I also simultaneously thought about all possible options I had, in order to tackle the issue on hand. The push and pull dialog between us was not getting anywhere. I stood quietly by the side allowing him to drive the dialog while he was also interleavingly handling other customers in the waiting. I was sweating profusely and the furnace-like breeze-less setting there did not do any good either. After some 35 minutes of intense verbal exchange I got him to agree to something finally. 
The driver turned right where a big sign showed the direction to the factory, and he pulled over to stop near the huge main gate that had tall arches and multiple security cabins. The 7 or 8 guards standing, sitting, talking and walking around there were quite vigilant. One of them walked up to our auto while I was just getting down.
The guard asked me what it was. I explained to him that I was there to deliver those goods purchased by their factory and I had the documents to make entry in the materials IN register at the security, and I also courteously checked with him whether there was any other procedure I had to take care first. Pat came the reply from him: 'Sir today is a weekly holiday here, nothing can be done today, please come back tomorrow'. I was stunned like a frozen rock. Instantly my thoughts shot up about the series of events I will have to go through - I will be questioned again by the naka fellows when going back to the town, will once again have to lift up all the boxes to the hotel's mezzanine level lobby for the rest of the day, and get them all down to the auto the next morning again, pay-up for the duplicate transportation, and then be questioned again by the naka fellows once more when passing through towards the factory.
I felt dizzy, giddy, and drowning, all the same time. I slowly fainted unconscious.
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Raj,
ReplyDeleteThe way you portrayed the story was great and i felt like i was traveling with you.
Awaiting sequel of "Secunderabad to Aurangabad"
Regards,
Sankar.