SAMIR NAZARETH
A journey by train in In dia is a deep dive into societal and govern mental thought-process. It also provides a peek into di chotomies that India is rich in. Take for example the In dian Railways messaging service on train running sta tus for passengers getting on. This is a technological advancement. However, the Railways definition of ‘on time’ harks back to anoth er era. Per the Railways, ‘on time’ is not a fixed time, but a window. Carrying on in this vein, this expanse of time that defines punctuality does not govern the run between intermediate stations. For many, waiting at rail way stations for a train in volves being surrounded by a sea of other passengers. The activities whilst waiting include sleeping on the plat form, staring into phones, chatting with others or sit ting quietly. Eating becomes a pastime too. This frequent ly ends with food waste be ing disposed on the railway tracks for well-built rodents to enjoy. Sometimes, while desultorily looking past these crowds and a few plat forms, one gets an opportu nity to watch the ultra-mod ern Vande Bharat Express (VBE) glide into the station.
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I experienced this while waiting for my train to Mum bai that had begun at How rah but arrived 8 hours late at my station. Passengers entering its second AC com partment were welcomed by an overflowing garbage bin. The vestibule had two large plastic bags with garbage. The open toilet door gave ol factory proof of its use. It ex uded an air of uncleanliness. What was worse, the toilet screamed of shoddy work manship. Those entering the com partment included delivery agents carrying food for passengers who had pre-or dered via apps. Inside the compartment an assortment of litter – brown paper bags that once contained bedlinen, paper cups with remnants of a hot beverage, food crumbs, emp ty snack packets – peeped from under the seats or lay along the aisle. Once the train recom menced its journey to Mum bai, an attendant collected used linen and handed over fresh linen packed in brown paper bags. He folded used blankets and handed them to those who had just boarded. Another person came with a mop and pushed the litter out. This garbage was forced through a crack in the ves tibule into the ground that rushed past us. Requesting fellow passen gers to not drop the brown paper bag on the floor led to the response that the area would be cleaned again.
A cockroach strolling on a plac ard printed with a hotline for cleaning the compartment provided sufficient distrac tion. The 2nd AC compartment was attached to an over crowded general compart ment. Passengers there sat next to the toilets forcing others to pry open the door separating the two bogies to use the 2nd AC toilets. However, a 29-hour jour ney beginning in Ernakulam was different. The toilets and the compartments were cleaner. The bins were not overflowing and the garbage was not disposed while the train was moving. These occurrences are not examples of India and Bharat peacefully cohabiting. Nor does it suggest there are two Indias. Both distinctions sug gest a transition. These ex periences at stations and on trains reveal administrative triage, apathy and indiffer ence, and passengers’ callous resignation. It proves State and citizen behaviour are in tertwined. Here, as one is part of the incongruous, incongruity goes unnoticed. Passengers on the vaunted symbol of New India, the Vande Bharat Express, unperturbedly en ter crowded and unclean railway stations. Let’s not forget, the VBE is cited as an example of the success of the govern ment’s Atma Nirbhar Bharat – self-reliant India.
However, India has been manufactur ing and using indigenous train engines and bogies since the 1950s. India first exported bogies and coaches in 1967 to Thailand. These now banal dichot omies are consequences of new ideas of progress. Probably, Indians are no longer able to recognise iro ny even when they are one step removed. Thus, no one recognises the dichotomies of the VBE operating from dirty stations or of the cel ebration of its speed when other trains run late by many hours. A pattern becomes rec ognisable, the modern VBE caters to a few, operates between ill-maintained sta tions and demands the sac rifices of other trains. Just as India’s GDP grows and wealth disparity increases in the socio-economic environ ment of underemployment and distress employment; and unemployable gradu ates. One can hear the silent command – ‘proudly cele brate something not built for you, and which you may never enjoy.’ The Railways has always operated a variety of trains, in terms of speed and luxury, to accommodate passengers of various socio-economic strata. Unfortunately, these trains seem to be surviving on step-motherly treatment. It is argued the investment on the VBE could have been better utilised in maintain ing and upgrading existing trains and rail network.
How different is VBE from government expenditure on vanity projects? For exam ple, will the Central Vista Project, the government’s attempt to replace coloni al-era government build ings, make Delhi’s highly polluted air breathable? Is the need for spectacle overshadowing utility? All the apps and phone num bers the Railways provide for passengers camouflage the fact that trains are run down, and stations ill-main tained. Just as the increase in national pride and in ternational respect have once again proved to have questionable returns, these gizmos don’t really improve railway journeys. Unsurprisingly, increase in national pride has not decreased the penchant for littering and the concom itant acceptance of being surrounded by garbage. Probably such behaviour is a modern vestige of India’s feudal mindset, class-fuelled irresponsibility which dele gates tasks downward. Ulti mately, this indicates public hygiene is not a personal responsibility. India will have another global teach ing point if its greatness is built on its citizens lack of personal and civic respon sibility. Like cricket, the Indian Railways is a colonial leg acy. The English built the railways to control their colony.
In independent In dia it is the vein that courses through the country. Thus, the Railway’s slogan – ‘Life line of the nation’. But the quality of this lifeline is not the same for all. As the In dian Railways unwittingly prove, India’s focus on im age doesn’t result in the im provement of the lived reali ty of many of its citizens. (Samir Nazareth is an author and writes on so cio-economic and environ mental issues)
