TRAINS & NIGHTMARES

BY NOLAN PINTO

It was almost 8 years since I last stepped into a train to travel anywhere and I would not have done it if not for them being damn cost effective especially for short journeys. The cost of a train ticket on the push pull from Bangalore to Mysore at 6 in the evening and then again from Mysore to Bangalore at 6 in the morning is peanuts considering the way the volvo bus tickets cost today and also if one had to drive all the way to and fro.

But what always stopped me from taking one of these trains at these hours was the cattle class treatment. Whenever I traveled, and thought of taking a train journey, I would always stop myself just because of this. But a few weeks ago, I decided after 8 long years to once more give it a try and once I stepped in, I immediately regretted it.

It was in the evening and more than 90% of the passengers were heading home. Many were drunk and sweaty and the stench in the bogey was just unbelievable. To add to the misery were the dull lights and the continuous buzz of many top fans on. But what I hated the most was the ever growing number of passengers entering just literally squeezing me. It was like if you decide to move your finger, you would for sure touch somebody somewhere on their body. My thoughts immediately went to how Jews were transported in train cars stuffed tightly together on their way to be gassed by the Nazis!!

The most common mode of transport can also be very deadly!

Sad though, for the women who had to manage like us men in the stuffed compartment. Men would deliberately push against them and with the train moving continuously, they could always say they did not do it on purpose and conveniently blame the train. To add to that misery for them, many would just keep on staring and one does know what they mean when they stare in that way, they literally rape these hapless women with their eyes.

Why on earth can’t the railways just add more bogeys for these rush hours in the morning and evening? What’s the big difficulty in that? And why can’t they just have at least 2 separate bogeys for women? At least in that if they all stand together crammed up, at least they will be safe from those prying eyes and also unnecessary touch.

Adding more bogeys the solution?

Many years ago while in my final year degree, while returning to Mysore with my classmates most of who were girls, we happened to see something that left us all disgusted. A bunch of young boys, a little older to us brought in a woman and initially made her stand near the toilet. Then it began. One by one, they all took turns to force her into the toilet, finish their work with her for a good 10-15 minutes and get out. This went on for almost half the journey till Mandya and we just could not do anything about it. Even the adults on the train were helpless against this bunch of rowdies. This matter has digressed from the cattle class treatment to security in trains but it happened in the same rush hour train at 6 in the evening.

What I am trying to say here is this: Have extra bogeys during the rush hour and keep at least 2 of them exclusively for women and have some RPF personnel for the safety of passengers even on short journeys moving from one bogey to another continuously. But really, after 8 years, I thought things would have changed but sadly I was wrong.