Page:Speeches And Writings MKGandhi.djvu/492

 402 EARLIER INDIAN SPEECHES

and curse before they can speak through the window in order to get standing room, who have to wallow in dirt during their journey, who are served their food like dogs and eat it like them, who have ever to bend before those who are physically stronger than they and who being packed like sardines in compartments have to get such sleep as they can in a sitting posture for nights together. Railway servants swear at them, cheat them. On the Howrali-Lahore service our friends from Kabul fill to the brim the cup of the misery of the third class travellers. They become lords of the compartments they enter. It is not possible for any one to resist them. They swear at you on the slightest pretext, exhaust the whole of the obscene vocabulary of the Hindi language, They do not hesitate to bela- bour you if you retort or in any way oppose them. They usurp the best seats and insist on stretching them- selves full length even in crowded compartment. No compartment is deemed too crowded for them to enter. The travellers patiently bear all their awful imperti- nence out of sheer helplessness They would, if they could, knock down the man who dared to swear at them as do these Kabulis. But they are physically no match for the Kabulis and every Kabuli considers himself more than a match for any number of travellers from the plains. This is not right, The effect of this terrorising on the national character cannot but be debasing. We the educated few ought to deliver the travelling public from this scourge or for ever renounce our claim to speak on its behalf or to guide it. I believe the Kabulis to be amenable to reason. They are a God-fearing people. If you know their lan- guage, you can successfully appeal to their good sense..

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