I think the American do-gooder Ralph Nader had nothing else to do. And went on tinkering with everything which provided him with mechanical thrills. A private citizen, he took on the might of U.S. (United States) auto giants like Ford, Chrysler and General Motors, detected faults in their mechanism and stopped millions of them plying on the roads. They were taken back to the factories for repairs and then put back on roads. Detroit and other auto cities hated him but for millions of car owners, he was a kind saviour from auto-mayhem. He contested the U.S. Presidential election as an Independent, but since the U.S. believed it could not exist\ without cars and political party candidates, he was eliminated. But times have changed. Japan and South Korea have overtaken Detroit, and the U.S. car industry can no longer afford to contest the Presidential poll.
Indians have a different outlook. Most of us rely on rail transport and the network is vast. We are also emotionally attached to trains. Even as babies we are familiar with the phrase chuk chuk gaadi. Airplanes and zooming cars are for the affluent. Trains are for the masses, a category to which I belonged. Till I reached middle age, I was accustomed to travelling by Janata class in trains. Then came the Sleeper I, Sleeper II, AC Sleeper III and II and finally, occasional air travel. The early era of travel was bad. Along with thousands of people, I had to fight my way into one of the unreserved third class coaches and left the rest of the journey to God. Occasionally, God was great at providing me with a second class coupe for a trip from Bombay to Calcutta for an interview for a salesman’s job, courtesy BATA Shoe Co. The coach built during British days had a bath room with a shower.
Other memories were quite unpleasant, the misery being caused by passengers who would not travel light or be clean. They were not co-passengers but mobs who had never heard of family planning and carried babies of all ages without diapers. ‘Make Indian Railways Your Home’ screamed a poster pasted inside a Janata sleeper coach. Taking this to heart, the mobs cooked, ate, washed clothes and utensils inside the train, and the limited supply of water was exhausted before we reached Lonavala. But no one was bothered about the rest of the trip. Cursing, I got down from the coach every four hours at different stations to alert the station maters that we had run out of water. The Central Railways rose to the occasion and provided us water till the train chugged into Kerala.
The return journey was equally “exciting”. The third class coach was slightly different. Almost every one of those travelled with huge sacks of coconuts. Enormous bundles scattered all over the coach and huge jack fruits carried by some of the passengers emitting their own strong flavours. While gastronomic juices flowed freely, I was certain that even the best airlines could not have provided such a magnificent treat.
Speed was not everything though many people repeated the phrases ‘rushing off to catch a train’. Perhaps I am a bit old fashioned and am not happy with the phrase ‘I am rushing to catch a flight’. Basically I am scared of excessive speed and often advise the cab driver to slow down and take me to my destination in one piece. Na Mo is now talking of Bullet Speed trains as they have in Japan. I am excited that such trains will come to India one day. But will they operate under the diktat of Uma Bharati followers who may pull the alarm chain every five minutes? I pity our new railway Minister Suresh Prabhu who has to deal with the same politicians and the same rowdy commuters. For them, at any speed, chain pulling is a major entertainment.
[/column][column size=”4/5″]
V. Gangadhar
The writer is a well-known satirist.[/column]