BLOCKBUSTER BABA

Lost and Found

1994 Lucknow, UP, INDIA:

“Romeo naam mera , chori hai kaam mera” was the anthem of the most notorious gang of under 13 pick pocketing gang of Lucknow, UP.  Mostly seen as pitiful unfortunate kids trying to make a living by selling Samosas, kachodis, boiled chanas and similar other time-pass snacks to the commuters of the local trains between Lucknow to Kanpur, were smooth in flicking off people’s  wallets on the go . Their daily target was to collect minimum of 200rs per day, out of which they get to keep 20rs. They were hard working and honest even in that kind of profession. They were a part of an organized network.  Generally a group 10-15 guys were based out of each station further divided into platforms reporting to their so called Station Masters. These Station masters are the graduates after being in field for almost 10 years. They all going up , used to report to Maalik, the Super Boss, who apart from Pick pocketing also used to manage the business of begging and street hawking  in his region. He was backed by the Local MLA, Bhushan Tripathi, who used to receive a decent cut from Maalik, every month, in return of which he would keep Maalik and his people away from police and other troubles.

Among the group of more than 60 slicks, the 10 yr old Ramsi was everybody’s favorite. He loved to take a different job and a different disguise every day. One day he will be blind by wearing black glasses and holding a stick and some other day he would dress himself like Lord Shiva, by painting his body blue and grey. Till date his best was, when he disguised himself as a girl, wearing a frock, with all the accessories, for which even his Station master could not recognize him. Ramsi is 5 yrs old in the group and is one of Maalik’s most loved ones, from the time Pintu and Kukku picked him up from Lalitpur.

18th April 1989, Lalitpur had seen one of the major train accidents in those days, Karnataka Express derails killing more than 75 people.  Personnel from Railways, Police, Fire department and various other NGOs jump into action immediately rescuing people in crisis. Among the dead people were the parents of 5 yr old, Ramaswamy who were travelling to Delhi to attend one of their cousin’s marriages in Delhi.  Ramaswamy was the only child of his parents.  Little Ramaswamy insisted on going to the toilet alone, with his father standing outside near the door just 2 mins before the unfortunate event happened. Ramaswamy remained locked in the toilet as the train derailed.  He got unconscious as his head hit the basin and stayed in the same way for a very long time. In the rush of rescuing the injured and people in need of help, the rescue workers kind of ignored the possibility of anyone being trapped in one of the toilets.

The accident ruined the lives of more than 100, but at the same time came as a big opportunity to local thieves and rag pickers of the nearby slums to loot the unattended belongings of the passengers.  Of all those scavengers was the gang from Lucknow station who took a day off to encash on the situation in Lalitpur.  Pintu and Kukku were happily scavenging the compartment S4, when one of the police constables noticed them and chased them.  To escape the cop they thought of hiding in one the toilets. As they opened and shoved themselves inside the toilet, they found Ramaswamy, lying on the floor. Both thought the boy must be dead, the feeling of which gave a creep to them. They decided to get out of there as soon as possible but the constable searching them standing outside made them hold their breaths and stay there hidden for some more time.  10 min passed liked that, they tried to avoid looking at the body, till the time one little hand grabbed Kukku’s ankle. Kukku screamed with fear. Pintu somehow managed to contain Kukku and turned towards the body on the floor and discovered he was not dead yet. He touched the kid’s chest to find heartbeat. It was definitely there.  Pintu asked Kukku to open the door and see if the constable was still there. The constable was gone.  They both picked up the kid and brought him out. One of the volunteers noticed them and took them to the first aid corner. The volunteer quickly applied medicine and wrapped a bandage around Ramaswamy head, while cleaning up the other bruises. A doctor tried asking him, what’s his name? Where is he from and who are his parents? But little Ramaswamy was in deep shock, he blurted few words in Kannada, but no one understood.  The volunteers decided to hand him over to the police and report him missing. Hearing the word POLICE Pintu and Kukku got alarmed who were till then happily relishing the packet of food, what the volunteers gave, assuming them as victims too. They quickly got up from the bench and got out from there picking the two three bags of the passengers they managed to steal. As they walked towards the other side of the track, they suddenly realized they are being followed.  Ramaswamy was running behind them, screaming in some language completely unknown to both. They tried to shoo him away but that did not help. Rather they thought that crying kid was attracting a lot of attention towards them. So they went back and thought of handling the situation. They tried asking his name and where did he come from? But the wailing kid’s language was totally unknown to them. After almost 5 min, Pintu said to Kukku “Sala yeh toh Madrasi hai”, which is typical north Indian way of addressing person from any part of south India, irrespective of them whether from Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra or Tamilnadu. Kukku felt pity for the kid and asked “Let’s take him along with us”. Pintu asked “Who will take care of him, he is a small kid, will you?” Kukku said “yes” without any hesitation. Ramaswamy enters the hood for the first time, which is the slum next to Lucknow railway station. Tony bhai, one of the Station masters to who Pintu and Kukku reports, gets delighted to see the new recruit.               He gets Ramaswamy a glass of milk and asks “Naam?”  The kid says “Ramaswamy Shripati Venkataraman”. “Arrey baap! His name is as long as the Kalka mail” says Tony. “Let’s call him Ramsi and Pintu –Kukku, you guys have brought him, so from now he is your responsibility, train him up and get to business” Tony bhai concludes and walks out.