A life on track

A 10-something eagerly pops his head inside the gleaming, white Science Express on platform No.13 at CST station.

His mother follows and points to the LCD screen on the right. As the Big Bang theory begins to unfold, she looks around and finds Rakesh Tiwari, the science communicator, standing close. "Aren't you the volunteer around here?" she asks, trying her hand at politeness. "Well, it would be great if you could explain this," she demands, waving lazily at the moving images.

In another coach, however, Arpit Srivastav has good company. He explains the difference between Alzheimer's and schizophrenia to a bunch of animated 14-year-olds.
"Just remember," he says jokingly, "that Alzheimer's is a case of the apparatus in your brain gone bad while schizophrenia makes you see and hear things that don't exist."

That's being on the Science Express for you, says Tiwari with a smile. After six months and 57 cities, the 33 science communicators on the train say they've experienced it all — people, attitudes, stereotypes, exhaustion and unmistakable pride.

"Throw anything our way — and we'll deal with it just fine," says Tiwari. A post-graduate in Electronics, Tiwari remembers the first time the science communicators ("Not 'volunteers', mind you," he adds with a knowing smile), met on board. Some restrained, others awkward — everyone arrived with expectation and a sense of excitement. As expected, they say, there was north-south divide.

"But not for long," says Kunal Amin, a physics graduate from Ahmedabad. With time, there were more pressing matters than restricting oneself to a group. "Oh, we've dealt with all types of people — there are the genuinely interested ones and then there are the know-it-alls," explains Dhruba Jyoti, a botany graduate from Guwahati.

Among the usual sticky situations - when a visitor chats incessantly on the mobile phone or purposely distracts the communicator "just for some fun" — times can get quite testing, too.

Like they did for Anil Singh, a chemistry graduate from UP. He admits his halting English attracts attention but nothing, he says, called for his stint in the South. "A group of college friends came up to me and the instant they noticed my North Indian accent, they put their foot down and insisted I speak fluent English sans a Hindi word — or stick to Tamil!" Stung, Singh only remembers fumbling throughout that day. "It's OK," he says, trying to shrug it off.

"It was instances like these that made us come closer — there are no internal prejudices at least," says Singh warmly. Picking up on Singh's conversation, other communicators around him light-heartedly say they also bonded over chicken pox and bad or strange food in some parts of the country.

Srivastav, who claims to have lost 15 kgs on board, explains, "This trip has thrown up too many surprises. All of us took turns to take care of a communicator who once got chicken pox on the train — we barely knew each other till then."

As for the strange food, Srivastav relates how he excitedly ordered a dish of 'special meat' in Nagaland after days of bad food. "Dog's meat it was, no less," he says, shaking his head and trying to control the smirk. "If it makes you feel any better, I ordered two more of those," he winks.

Rachi Kemkar, team leader and science educator at the Science Express, joins in the laughter. "The boys have a winner's attitude," she says with a hint of pride. Being one of the two girls on the Express has been difficult for this once reticent nuclear physics post graduate. "I am the only one from my Baroda institution who accepted this challenge.

But once we got to Bihar, I had second thoughts because I just didn't feel safe. I was asked to remain inside the hotel and come out for only two hours a day," she says quietly. But her face suddenly breaks into a smile as she sees a new batch of school students enter the coach, and introduces herself with a beaming smile. "This is the part I love," she looks over her shoulder as she proceeds to lead them, "Generating excitement and keeping them interested throughout."

In the last coach of the Science Express, chemistry lab in-charge, Vikram Makwana, teaches experiments to a group of 18 hyperactive children moving around with test tubes. Speaking about his stint on board he discusses how it was like being around the military in Nagaland and Jammu Kashmir.

"You know, kids there didn't want to know anything about chemistry — all they asked me was about life in a free state, our colleges, how LCD screens work…some of them had never come so close to technology…" he trails off. Makwana swears that after his
stint, he'll never judge a person by his state or attire.

"I harboured a bias that North-East was only about ULFA. But after meeting their children and being stumped by their questions, I know better..."
g_kareena@dnaindia.net