I was going to my maternal hometown - Sagar in Madhya Pradesh, when I met this superbly optimistic and calm natured stranger as my compartment mate in a train. Because of my intense love for Indian Railways I prefer to travel by trains only and this time I was trying this newly started Daily Super fast Express named Jabalpur Gondwana Express. To avail uttermost comfort and hospitality, I mostly go for AC First class.
So I entered in my compartment and found this noble man already sitting at his respective berth and reading some book. He helped me to settle down and resumed his reading soon after that. Being a talkative person and with this annoying trait of mine which sometimes makes it very hard for me to sit quietly, especially in the presence of another human being. So as per my nature I was looking for some common ground on which I can start talking to him.
And from no-where I just said this stupid thing to him “Indian Railway System is the only Good thing which Britishers left in India” and as expected I involved myself in another never ending debate.
In revert, he was ready with his list of good things which we got as a side product during British Rule. He started by saying that we are being called as the biggest democratic system in the world only because of Britishers. According to him, we have the privilege of using one common language (i.e. English) in a country like India where 1652 languages are recognized as only individual Mother Tongues (as per 1961 census). And how can we forget that we are still following their Education System and Railway System. They also introduced a proper sanitation system in India and so on...
But all the above mentioned thing didn’t lure me except for one that was Railway System. Surprisingly for the first time I was more interested in listening instead of proving my point. Soon after, we started talking about Indian Railways and the different types of trains currently running in India.
From this gentleman only, I came to know about Luxury trains in India such as Palace on Wheels, Royal Rajasthan on Wheels, The Indian Maharaja, Deccan Odyssey, Pride of The South, Splendour of The South, Toy Trains of India and Fairy Queen. I was astounded to hear about the royal treatment which one receives in these Luxury Trains. He also told me one his journey experience on THE DECCAN ODYSSEY which has been modelled on the Palace on Wheels to boost tourism on the Konkan route. Its route starts from Mumbai and covers Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg, Goa, Belgaum, Kolhapur, Pune, Nashik, Aurangabad, Ajanta-Ellora, and then heads back to Mumbai.
So I entered in my compartment and found this noble man already sitting at his respective berth and reading some book. He helped me to settle down and resumed his reading soon after that. Being a talkative person and with this annoying trait of mine which sometimes makes it very hard for me to sit quietly, especially in the presence of another human being. So as per my nature I was looking for some common ground on which I can start talking to him.
And from no-where I just said this stupid thing to him “Indian Railway System is the only Good thing which Britishers left in India” and as expected I involved myself in another never ending debate.
In revert, he was ready with his list of good things which we got as a side product during British Rule. He started by saying that we are being called as the biggest democratic system in the world only because of Britishers. According to him, we have the privilege of using one common language (i.e. English) in a country like India where 1652 languages are recognized as only individual Mother Tongues (as per 1961 census). And how can we forget that we are still following their Education System and Railway System. They also introduced a proper sanitation system in India and so on...
But all the above mentioned thing didn’t lure me except for one that was Railway System. Surprisingly for the first time I was more interested in listening instead of proving my point. Soon after, we started talking about Indian Railways and the different types of trains currently running in India.
From this gentleman only, I came to know about Luxury trains in India such as Palace on Wheels, Royal Rajasthan on Wheels, The Indian Maharaja, Deccan Odyssey, Pride of The South, Splendour of The South, Toy Trains of India and Fairy Queen. I was astounded to hear about the royal treatment which one receives in these Luxury Trains. He also told me one his journey experience on THE DECCAN ODYSSEY which has been modelled on the Palace on Wheels to boost tourism on the Konkan route. Its route starts from Mumbai and covers Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg, Goa, Belgaum, Kolhapur, Pune, Nashik, Aurangabad, Ajanta-Ellora, and then heads back to Mumbai.
Yes I agree with you that Britishers put the foundation of Indian Railways but did we have tried to improvise it or try to take it to another level?
ReplyDeleteThe condition of Railways in India is getting worse with every passing day.