Railway station
I took the Shatabdi Express from Delhi to Jaipur early in the morning last Monday.It has been a long time since I travelled intercity by early morning train.
Railway station sin large metros like Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai etc represent microcosm of India. The wealthy passengers in transit stream into the station for early morning trains from lodges and hotels in the city. Some of the not so well off manage to stay in guest houses and railway retiring rooms. The vast majority tend to spend the night in the open areas at the entrance to the station as railway authorities do not allow public to sleep on platforms through the night.
There were several men and boys who did not have any luggage and were fast asleep on the floor. Some had managed to lay their hands on old newspapers which had been spread on the floor like bedsheets but most were sleeping on the bare floor. There were some who seemed to labourers again with no personal belongings. There were some with a small bag as their only possession and these bags were used as pillows.
There were two member families with two pieces of luggage each being used as a pillow for comfort as well as safety. There were some whose bags were large and were left by their side while owners slept. I could safely assume that the contents of the bags were worthless.
There were larger families who spent the night in the railway station with large number of luggage. In such groups, the members take turns to sleep with those keeping awake keeping an eye on the luggage. There were several children in such groups who were sleeping in gay abandon. I should say that most people asleep on the floor were oblivious to the loud announcement, the grating noises emanating from the overloaded trolleys being pulled by the porters and the irritating noise of crowd streaming through the aisles left by sleeping masses.There were several boys in early teens sleeping all alone without any belonging. I wondered where their parents and siblings would be or were they orphans with no where to go and truly belonging to Indian Railways ? A sad sobering thought on vagaries of human life in our country early in the morning.
Most of us pampered and can not even sit quietly for five minutes without ceiling fan stirring the air. The vast multitude of people in the railway station were fast asleep even after sun rise with no ceiling fans.
The common man might be poor but is very resilient compared to folks like me.
Railway station sin large metros like Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai etc represent microcosm of India. The wealthy passengers in transit stream into the station for early morning trains from lodges and hotels in the city. Some of the not so well off manage to stay in guest houses and railway retiring rooms. The vast majority tend to spend the night in the open areas at the entrance to the station as railway authorities do not allow public to sleep on platforms through the night.
There were several men and boys who did not have any luggage and were fast asleep on the floor. Some had managed to lay their hands on old newspapers which had been spread on the floor like bedsheets but most were sleeping on the bare floor. There were some who seemed to labourers again with no personal belongings. There were some with a small bag as their only possession and these bags were used as pillows.
There were two member families with two pieces of luggage each being used as a pillow for comfort as well as safety. There were some whose bags were large and were left by their side while owners slept. I could safely assume that the contents of the bags were worthless.
There were larger families who spent the night in the railway station with large number of luggage. In such groups, the members take turns to sleep with those keeping awake keeping an eye on the luggage. There were several children in such groups who were sleeping in gay abandon. I should say that most people asleep on the floor were oblivious to the loud announcement, the grating noises emanating from the overloaded trolleys being pulled by the porters and the irritating noise of crowd streaming through the aisles left by sleeping masses.There were several boys in early teens sleeping all alone without any belonging. I wondered where their parents and siblings would be or were they orphans with no where to go and truly belonging to Indian Railways ? A sad sobering thought on vagaries of human life in our country early in the morning.
Most of us pampered and can not even sit quietly for five minutes without ceiling fan stirring the air. The vast multitude of people in the railway station were fast asleep even after sun rise with no ceiling fans.
The common man might be poor but is very resilient compared to folks like me.
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