17.Action is better than mere talk=action speaks louder than words

Action is better than mere talk=action speaks louder than words

Action speaks louder than words especially if you are working in a grinding mill.

ACTION SPEAKS LOUDER THAN WORDS

I had my head plunged into my book unmindful of the constant opening and closing of the creaky door of the third A/C compartment.

There  descended a bevy of silk sari clad middle aged women with brisk movements creating the scroop [n. the rustle of silk], which soon died in the cacophony of multiple voices and mixture of tones croaky, screechy, squeaky and squawky all of them searching for their seat numbers each screaming from one corner to the other. All seem to have strained by a long session of Bhajan singing or excessive gossip or both. Their hirrient [excessive stress on the letter ’r’ ] accent indicated they were from Andra. They all settled finally, the train moved from the platform with its blaring horn, followed by the sweet whizzing which was gradually drowned by the pitter-patter of rain drops.

Finally two of the ladies sat in front of me along with a well built, thickly mustached man and all the four of us got into lively conversation starting with enquiring about each other’s journey, purpose and what not. Then, I decided to get back to my book, opened it but my ears and eyes were all around. In the meantime two young girls in their early twenties entered and seated by my side. They were in total contrast to those ladies both in dress and tone. Clad in short tops, sleek jeans exchanging in susurrous [whispering sound]tones something all the while ‘sms’ing with their mobile and then within 10 minutes slipped into their lap tops and every now and then giving some condescending glances at all of us with an extra stare at the thickly mustached man.

The burly man looked at the girls and asked, “ Are you software engineers working in IT sector?”. They were uneasy with his naivety and deprecatingly nodded their heads in affirmation. He continued, “I am happy to see the present generation, you all are IT savvy”, and the ladies sitting next to him continued “also get well paid jobs, work and travel in air-conditioned comforts”.

Of course throughout we were frequently disturbed by the vendor shouting ‘coffee coffee’ carrying the can of coffee with wonderful aroma but containing worthless wishy- washy liquid that passes for coffee.

One of the girls decided to put the burly man and the ladies in their place and started off, “come on, you people only see our salary and meager comforts, while you may be straining your physic we are straining our brains, it is much tougher, we work for clients whom we never see nor know. We are at the mercy of our bosses who always put pressure on us as if the work ought to have been finished yesterday. You may not know the pressure of targets and the pressure of being in the line of fire”. Then both the girls turned towards the ladies, smirking and simpering continued, “We do not have the luxury of time to travel and attend weddings and enjoy outings even at this age”.

The burly man just stood up, curled up his pants, showed his artificial leg and said,“I know not only the pressure but the pain of being in the line of fire. I also know the painful targets and ultimately I have been a target as well. I am an IPS officer who led a team against Naxals”. The two girls remained silent with choked throats. Action really speaks louder than words.

Now it was the turn of the ladies. They said very politely, “We are social workers, we sponsor an orphanage and we are returning after attending a function to feed, cheer and have fun with the orphan children.”