This huge network of Indian Railways is so infuriating! Beyond doubt, I will disregard the positive aspects of it. There is no dearth of negative issues that run parallel to the Indian Railways namely non-availability of tickets, dirty platforms, train accidents and not even the additional money the passengers pay to get a seat in an already house-full train! Here, I bring all your attention to this gargantuan and no-solution-seems-possible problem of the trains running behind schedule and the problem isn’t very young; it is as old as the network itself!
Did you just say that you haven’t faced this problem? Impossible! I won’t believe even if you ask me to inherit the property of the richest man on earth! I can claim (with complete confidence) that almost every person (atleast in India
Ours is the largest railway network in Asia and Indian Railways runs around 11000 trains per day. 13 million passengers are using this system everyday! Thus, there is a huge ‘responsibility’ on our railway system but the same was kept under consideration only while designing the tag line for the Indian Railways ‘Life line to the Nation…’ and the magnitude of this responsibility was forgotten immediately after.
‘Welcome to the Indian railways enquiry system…’ this sounds familiar, right? Yes, it is the same facility introduced with the purpose of cautioning the passengers with respect to numerous aspects of our railway system, but rarely has it been the source of accurate information (especially with regard to the arrival and departure of these 11000 trains)!
The railways do assume the agony of the passengers and express their concern through the incessant and unfathomable railway announcements ‘inconvenience caused is deeply regretted…’, we listen to them attentively, just hoping against hope that this time the announcement is being made for the train’s arrival! Indeed, that’s an easy way of clearing oneself of one’s wrongdoing. There is a sigh of relief when the train finally reaches but don’t dare to think that it will catch up on all your lost time and energy, indeed there is doubtlessly a possibility for further delay! Wonder about those who are waiting with you amidst chaos (read it fellow-sufferers).
Think of this article again on a day when you are standing on a platform, waiting for your train to arrive. I wonder you will because at that juncture you would be busy hurling expletives, obviously to the railway system and its people! If your train is running on time- it is just an exception and if it is running behind schedule- there is no reason to get worried, it is the most trustworthy trait of our great Indian Railways!
Have a happy journey!
Monday, September 20, 2010
Hi Sneha,
ReplyDeleteI loved this piece. I do feel you're bit hard on the railways though. U.P. is definitely bad but I just returned from Maharashtra and I saw people cleaning the train every hour. The compartment smelled of phenol! It was the people in the train, crass and uncouth, shelling peanuts and throwing them right next to where they sat.
It's a poorly managed railway system vs a completely (un)civil society.
are you a school teacher?
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