adieu janta express. ..an obituary...
I have always been a fan of relatively slower trains than ultra fast ones. trains stopping and chugging along at smaller stations is a treat to my eyes. serving thousands of not so priveleged passengers is a lot different from trains connecting two metro cities thousands of kilometres apart with just a couple of intermediate stops. I have myself been brought up at a smaller station of sahibganj and had it not been for these slower trains I could never have been connected to bigger cities. once I got stuck at a small station of athmalgola. dozens of trains zipped past me and me along with three dozen passengers were mute spectators. ohh, let me describe the...
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station. ..its a small station with hardly any facilities and passengers were poor labours. I asked them...bhaiya kolkata ki train hai? and he replied with a smile...sahab ji, ek hi to train hai hum gareebo k liye..janta...aa hi rahi hogi...roz ki baat hai, usi se aana jaana hai...maano bhagwaan ka wardaan hai ye train and another train zipped past. the words caused goose bumps, for unknown reasons...small kids, porters, labours and workers...all waiting for their saviour. ..it was 7 hrs late but passengers seemed content as they expected it. it would still drop them to their home towns. it connects a region where road transport is almost nil...hence dependency increases further...ring of bell denoted d arrival and soon followed a hoot and janta crawled in...had quite a few passengers...tired faces but relaxed...they would be home soon...d region has been seeing janta daily since around a century...alas, what happens to the small kids now who were pushing one pebble with another...and shouting....maa...dekho janta isspress aa rahi hai...