Saturday, February 19, 2011

What an idea…bapuji!

Sealdah station.
It’s a Saturday…and hence a holiday for many.
The time is midday.
I was travelling upstream…which meant the rush should be in the opposite direction
(I just read it again and got how it sounds. I’m not that abominable that me travelling in one direction compels people to choose the other direction. I meant that during that particular hour on a Saturday most people travel downstream to return home from work.)

So the platform should be relatively deserted.
And yet…what did I find?
People (spreading objectionable odours) in multitudes jostling every where…crowding into your breathing space. It was getting scary…I’m no Geet from Jab We Met and crowds make me feel very claustrophobic and stir my instincts to run. (...that I feel like running away from every single thing that doesn’t conform to the dogmatic whims designed by me is an entirely different issue.) On hindsight I should have wanted to fly…since there wasn’t any space to allow me a sprint…(see how I can’t think properly even in purported emergencies…pitiful and disgusting.)

But it made me sit up and wonder…Indians need to look into this serious problem of over flowing population…admitted that India is the 7th largest country but does it really mean that we need to occupy every square femtometre of space available?

PS: When the father of the nation promotes “Do or die” could we really blame the Indians for choosing the much easier first option???

3 comments:

  1. a raunchy connotation of 'Do' :)))

    you should come travel by a Mumbai local and realise what is crowd and how to get in-n-out of a crowded train... norokdorshon!!

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  2. Hell Yeah Souvik!
    Monday Morning peak hour Western Rail to Churchgate.....

    Chere de ma kede bachi

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  3. and a more recent experience .. in the Unreserved compartment of a 9:45 p.m. train on a Tuesday .. while executing sudden plans .. 9 on a sleeper berth .. 5 on each top bunks .. numerous on the floors .. with literally inches left to place my feet without moving .. and no space to even turn my head in the aerial zone .. 7 hrs from Secunderabad to Vijaywada ..

    Instant Realization .. ever if IT shuts down and I would not get so-called-intellectual employment .. I would still be able to survive in this world !

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