1. Home
2. Opinion

Grief at the Railway Station..!

By Robert Clements. Dated: 11/20/2017 12:04:05 AM

And as accidents happen with increasing frequency on the Indian Railways, I watched hordes of people filling the platform and standing round in bunches all over. "D'you think the trains will be able to transport such a huge crowd?" I asked.
"They are not all travelling," said the station master to me wearily. "Only one person in ten is really going to travel, the others have come to see him or her off."
"What!" I said, "I do know that in our country seeing people off is a tradition, but not so many people."
"Things have changed," said the station master. "In fact, the daily revenue from platform tickets is now exceeding the sales of journey tickets!"
"I find this unbelievable," I said, as I watched a mother and two sisters, along with an old aunt and another lady who I sure was the grandmother, crying around a young girl who had a school bag on her shoulders.
"They're all crying as if there's a funeral somewhere," I said. "That little girl I am sure is just going to the next station to her school."
"Yes," said the station master, "but they are not sure that they will see her again!"
"Of course they will," I said. "There is no war, or riots or fighting."
"Only accidents!" said the station master sadly.
I watched, as the weeping and crying grew louder and louder, as the announcer announced that the train would be arriving soon.
"At first," said the station master, "we thought that these accidents were just bad luck, maybe a signalling failure, but now they are happening all the time!"
"But still," I said, "why are there so many people."
"Well," said the station master, "that crowd over there are saying goodbye to that young man."
"Yes," I said, "I can see that some are his family members, from the way they are crying, but who is that man in the black coat."
"That is the family lawyer," said the station master. "He is writing down the man's last will and testament."
"Oh," I said "and who is that man in the white pyjamas."
"He is a train accident survivor. He has been hired by the family, to give last minute instructions as to how to jump over bodies, how to extricate luggage, and how to file a claim after an accident!"
There was aloud wail as the train left the platform, women screamed and tried to pull their husbands back, children shrieked in terror, and babies howled in fright.
Somewhere a little ahead, old worn out railway tracks and outdated equipment waited to spring an unpleasant surprise on the just departing train, as the government continued telling the country about new bullet trains..!"
bobsbanter@gmail.com