At Burdwan, we were told, “Third class tickets are not booked so
early.” I went to the station master. He also gave the same reply. As soon as
the booking window opened, might was
right and passengers, ahead of others and indifferent to others, coming one
after another, continued to push me out. I was, therefore, about the last of
the first crowd to get a ticket.
The train arrived and getting into
it was another trial. I went to the guard. He said, “You must try to get in
where you can, or take the next train.” Much against my wishes, I got into an
inter-class compartment with my wife. The guard got us getting in. At Asansol
station he came to charge excess fare. I said to him “It was your duty to find
us room. We could not get any, and so are sitting here.” “You may not argue
with me,” said the guard, “I cannot accommodate you. You may pay excess fare or
get out.” I wanted to reach Pune
somehow, so I paid the demanded excess fare, but resented the injustice. The
woes of third-class passengers are undoubtedly due to the high-handedness of
railway authorities. But the rudeness, dirty habits, selfishness and ignorance
of the passengers themselves are no less to blame. The pity is that they often
do not realize that they are behaving badly, dirtily or selfishly. They believe
that everything they do is in the natural way. All this may be traced to the
indifference towards them of us ‘educate people’.
1. The author
travelled by inter-class because
a) The
inter-class compartment was comfortable
b) The
inter-class compartment was not crowed
c) He could
not get into a third-class compartment
d) The guard
charged him the inter-class fare
2. The author
had to pay excess fare because
a) The guard
had seen him entering the inter-class compartment
b) He was
travelling by a class higher than the one he was entitled to
c) He intended
to travel up to Pune
d) The third
class compartment was crowded
3. The passage
is mainly concerned with the
a) Woes of
third-class passengers
b) Rudeness of
railway servants
c) Crowded
trains
d) Indifference
of educated servants
4. According to the author, the hardship of third
class passengers will be minimized if
a) There was
provision for more third class compartments
b) Passengers
were allowed to travel inter-class compartments were overcrowded
c) Trains stopped at the station for a long time
to enable passengers to enter third-class compartments
d) Railway
authorities show genuine concern for the passengers
5. How many
stations are mentioned in the passenger?
a) One b) two c)three d)five