This is my first post on this blog and i chose to pen down my "Indian Railways" Experience of my Journey from Bangalore to Lucknow recently. This was a mere co- incidence that my journey was planned just one day after our beloved 'didi' presented the Union Railway Budget in the parliament.
I am very much intrested in the current affairs and this budget was the hot news those days. I really appreciated most of the proposals in the budget until in my journey I realized that these are only the proposals, same as those which came last year or the year before that. This was the result of my journey. It totally changed my mindset after I realized that most of these proposals are merely been included in the budget but never followed and moreover , most of the real issues are not even being touched.
This journey starts from Yeshwantpur Railway Station, Bangalore. The station is fine ,clean enough. Well, i can say that from my observation of around half an hour,till the time my train was on the platform. The train was originating from the same station so was on right time. But now , here is the twist, no lights at all , nothing ,all dark,no fans. This is normal , of course , they switch on the power about half an hour before the departure and thanks to the pleasent weather of bangalore that I didn't feel the need of fan.
But it was not the same for others. There was an elderly couple who had neither got the place to sit at the platform nor were they able to board the train because of the darkness in the coach. They waited and waited, in fact all of us did so , till a group of boys went in search of station master to wake him up from the sleep to see into the problem. The lights were switched on and the elderly couple was helped to board the train. This is just a starter and the flavour of Railways is still there, which I'll taste in my Journey, I thought.
Now I searched for my seat. According to my calculation I must have got the Side upper birth. But hey, whats this. I forgot to consider the newly introduced side middle births in my calculation. My mistake my mistake....well, the calculated side upper changed to side lower and my hopes of a comfortable journey came crashing down. The middle birth really made the journey so uncomfortable for me as well as the person on the middle birth too. I was just thinking that was this the only solution to include hundreds of more passengers. Why is that only the people in sleeper have to face this why is this not introduced in 1st AC or 2nd AC and then later on in sleeper coaches.
Really, if you have not yet come face to face with the drawbacks of Indian population you must travel on this seat.Indian railways has devices a unique way of making you realize that you are in the second largest populated countries of the world. They actually put your patience to a test through out the journey. Why don't they add some more coaches instead of these seats??? Well, of course why will they.....our politicians have a habit of doing something different. Mr.Lalu was no exception. But the removal of these berths in the current budget is a great relief...especially for all those unfortunate people who have suffered at the hands of Mr.Lalu's unparalleled creativity.
Now somehow I had to adjust in this. No problems....i convinced myself and tried to find comfort in the winds coming through the window. I was distracted by the pantry boy asking me if I have would like to order some dinner. The menu sounded impressive until he told me the rates which were very much different from the IRCTC's official rates of the pantry food. Moreover, if you ask for the reason of this difference there's no answer except that if you want you can go for that otherwise don't argue with them.
The ball was in my court now. I had to answer the pantry boy if I m ordering something or not. I had to because i dint had my dinner yet. So I ordered for a Veg Meal(Thali). The content he told me were 2 Chapatis, Daal, Potato Curry and Rice. At least were enough to get my stomach full for a sound sleep. He brought all he promised in a thali.....really he was very accurate he brought only the things he told me. It was my mistake that I assumed that he'll get me a spoon and a glass of packaged mineral water along with the meal. Again, some arguments continued just to make him get the spoons only, we never got the drinking water that is entitled with every IRCTC meal.
Is this necessary....is this the only option left....do we have to fight for every single thing we are entitled to get.....is this the only option left to handle the situations in this country???? This was my Question to myself. What are these budgets for if you get down the train after a long journey, frustated and regretting that you chose this mode of travel for your journey. Whats the use of all these budgets. Are they not just a formality....in front of people, in front of country when the real issues are not even touched. The food Quality is not improved neither the rates at which they are offered are checked.
While I was searching for the answers I saw something which I thought can be useful. Somewhere it was writtent hat the Complaint book is available with the Conductor. At first it was a bit difficult to figure out who was the conductor here. Then at last i asked about it to the T.C. and guess what , he told me that it is with the station master of the originating station. So, of course, if i wish to complain about the pantry staff then i need to get down and start walking back to Yeshwantpur....Great, isn't it!!!!
Whom are we dodging by these things....by making promises, by never acting to make those promises change to reality. We say we'll become a Developed country by 2020. Are we getting to the right direction. We have talent, we have skill in our people then too we are going too slow towards our aim as a country. Just because we have endless loops in the chain of Governance through which these budget promises reach the roots. And till they reach they are short of resources to get implemented.
Well, this was the story of my journey. For 2 days i was made to eat the same pantry food because the train timings to stop at the stations was pretty odd for lunch & dinner. This was a different experience of both, how to survive & what our railways is. At last, my request is to all the governing people, please please see to it that people of India are patient but their patience is not endless. Get going for the changes before the people get on the streets like they did after 26/11, for every small or big issues.
I am very much intrested in the current affairs and this budget was the hot news those days. I really appreciated most of the proposals in the budget until in my journey I realized that these are only the proposals, same as those which came last year or the year before that. This was the result of my journey. It totally changed my mindset after I realized that most of these proposals are merely been included in the budget but never followed and moreover , most of the real issues are not even being touched.
This journey starts from Yeshwantpur Railway Station, Bangalore. The station is fine ,clean enough. Well, i can say that from my observation of around half an hour,till the time my train was on the platform. The train was originating from the same station so was on right time. But now , here is the twist, no lights at all , nothing ,all dark,no fans. This is normal , of course , they switch on the power about half an hour before the departure and thanks to the pleasent weather of bangalore that I didn't feel the need of fan.
But it was not the same for others. There was an elderly couple who had neither got the place to sit at the platform nor were they able to board the train because of the darkness in the coach. They waited and waited, in fact all of us did so , till a group of boys went in search of station master to wake him up from the sleep to see into the problem. The lights were switched on and the elderly couple was helped to board the train. This is just a starter and the flavour of Railways is still there, which I'll taste in my Journey, I thought.
Now I searched for my seat. According to my calculation I must have got the Side upper birth. But hey, whats this. I forgot to consider the newly introduced side middle births in my calculation. My mistake my mistake....well, the calculated side upper changed to side lower and my hopes of a comfortable journey came crashing down. The middle birth really made the journey so uncomfortable for me as well as the person on the middle birth too. I was just thinking that was this the only solution to include hundreds of more passengers. Why is that only the people in sleeper have to face this why is this not introduced in 1st AC or 2nd AC and then later on in sleeper coaches.
Really, if you have not yet come face to face with the drawbacks of Indian population you must travel on this seat.Indian railways has devices a unique way of making you realize that you are in the second largest populated countries of the world. They actually put your patience to a test through out the journey. Why don't they add some more coaches instead of these seats??? Well, of course why will they.....our politicians have a habit of doing something different. Mr.Lalu was no exception. But the removal of these berths in the current budget is a great relief...especially for all those unfortunate people who have suffered at the hands of Mr.Lalu's unparalleled creativity.
Now somehow I had to adjust in this. No problems....i convinced myself and tried to find comfort in the winds coming through the window. I was distracted by the pantry boy asking me if I have would like to order some dinner. The menu sounded impressive until he told me the rates which were very much different from the IRCTC's official rates of the pantry food. Moreover, if you ask for the reason of this difference there's no answer except that if you want you can go for that otherwise don't argue with them.
The ball was in my court now. I had to answer the pantry boy if I m ordering something or not. I had to because i dint had my dinner yet. So I ordered for a Veg Meal(Thali). The content he told me were 2 Chapatis, Daal, Potato Curry and Rice. At least were enough to get my stomach full for a sound sleep. He brought all he promised in a thali.....really he was very accurate he brought only the things he told me. It was my mistake that I assumed that he'll get me a spoon and a glass of packaged mineral water along with the meal. Again, some arguments continued just to make him get the spoons only, we never got the drinking water that is entitled with every IRCTC meal.
Is this necessary....is this the only option left....do we have to fight for every single thing we are entitled to get.....is this the only option left to handle the situations in this country???? This was my Question to myself. What are these budgets for if you get down the train after a long journey, frustated and regretting that you chose this mode of travel for your journey. Whats the use of all these budgets. Are they not just a formality....in front of people, in front of country when the real issues are not even touched. The food Quality is not improved neither the rates at which they are offered are checked.
While I was searching for the answers I saw something which I thought can be useful. Somewhere it was writtent hat the Complaint book is available with the Conductor. At first it was a bit difficult to figure out who was the conductor here. Then at last i asked about it to the T.C. and guess what , he told me that it is with the station master of the originating station. So, of course, if i wish to complain about the pantry staff then i need to get down and start walking back to Yeshwantpur....Great, isn't it!!!!
Whom are we dodging by these things....by making promises, by never acting to make those promises change to reality. We say we'll become a Developed country by 2020. Are we getting to the right direction. We have talent, we have skill in our people then too we are going too slow towards our aim as a country. Just because we have endless loops in the chain of Governance through which these budget promises reach the roots. And till they reach they are short of resources to get implemented.
Well, this was the story of my journey. For 2 days i was made to eat the same pantry food because the train timings to stop at the stations was pretty odd for lunch & dinner. This was a different experience of both, how to survive & what our railways is. At last, my request is to all the governing people, please please see to it that people of India are patient but their patience is not endless. Get going for the changes before the people get on the streets like they did after 26/11, for every small or big issues.
HI Prateek, atleast you sort out the problem. I phased the same problem in North east(2505). He gave me veg biryani only and promised that he will give the water later. He forget that.
ReplyDeleteReally yar middle birth alway giving problem
Yes, Thats absolutely true...
ReplyDelete