While I was reading the blog by Alok Kejriwal I had this feeling of déjà vu. I knew I had read something like this before. I racked my brains but to no avail. Alok’s earlier blog on the Tatas and the Marwari had been an enjoyable read so I was not surprised when he articulated his perceptions of everything from a ground floor services company to a high flying company that had a helipad on the terrace. I particularly enjoyed the reference to a 5^th floor company which had kind of middle of the road ambitions and middle of the road prospects.

But still that feeling of ‘heard this before’ persisted and I couldn’t get rid of the itch. And then I saw another blog on Alok’s page – Which train are you Riding? And suddenly everything was clear. I was a ten year old again and going from Calcutta to a small village just outside. Our landlord had a house there with a pukur (pond) and I was being taken there to spend a long weekend.

It was a magical weekend. I saw from close quarters how a play was staged. I helped operate the cyclorama screen and ran the moving credits at the end of the play. I learnt to swim in the pond with a Dalda tin for life support. I ate humongous amounts of fish. And we sang every night. Old Bengali songs of the Rabeendra Sangeet kind. The newer stuff that we kids preferred – songs from Kabuliwalla. And I played with Bappa, Bobbin and Beauty – our landlord’s kids. And then we met Kaali the Jeep driver.

You must understand that a Jeep in those days was a machine to marvel at. It had an open top luxury that we used to love and hadn’t yet become a style statement of hoods. And Kaali the Driver was a fun guy to be around with. Always full of anecdotes. Full of stories. And songs.

The song that etched itself into my memory was a kind of autobiographical song. It went like this. Somewhat.

Kaali Paaglaar Jeep Gadi te cholbi kebhai aai,

Cholay aai, cholay aai.

Third classer jatri jaraa, thela thooli kore taara

Na na na dhadarina, na na na dhadarina, thela thooli kore taara.

The song would go an describe what the 1^st Class, 2^nd Class and 3^rd Class passengers on the train could look forward to and compare that journey with the Jeep ride in Kaali’s vehicle.

I remember even then wondering how Kaali had classified travellers and drawn vivid pictures of what each class of traveller was subjected to in a train. It was quite a study in human psychology for a simple Jeep Driver and for a ten year old kid.

This song became quite famous among the Boy Scouts of Andhra Pradesh as it was the only song I could sing and it seemed to endear itself to all those who heard it even if it was beyond their comprehension.

As I read Alok Kejriwal’s blog and was suitably impressed by his allocation of floors to companies and entrepreneurs, the division of society that Kaali had made more than 40 years ago came to mind and I couldn’t but help thinking that old Kaali must have been a perceptive man ahead of times.

And the tune haunts me today even if I have forgotten most of the words.