HAPPY JOURNEY!

       Frankly speaking I could not spot the train ....but this really happens in India. This saturday happened to be Guru Poornima or full moon night dedicated to the Gurus or teachers. On such occasions people gather at holy places to worship and pay homage to the Gurus....It is considered to be very pious to take bath in a river or any running stream. Besides others Hardwar,Benaras,  Prayag, Mathura and Pushkar near Ajmer are the major holy places in the North where the people  congregate to worship and wash in the holy rivers like the Ganges,and Yamuna....
       Besides washing off the accumulated sins these occasions also serve to provide a picnic like outing to the families...Such occasions also provide an opportunity to the business minded to make an extra buck..They put up make shift stalls and a thriving market comes up overnight.
       The trains provide the cheapest means of conveyance and 90% of people do not purchase the tickets even....They just clamber up the trains as you can see in the above picture..
        In my childhood I also have travelled in such a train once. We were going to Delhi to meet some relatives,with tickets of course, when we were caught in such a jam...The bogeys were very suffocating and full of sweaty fumes...I think now in retrospect that travelling on the roof of train must be very enjoyable where you get fresh and cool  air never mind the dangers of slipping off from a running train with grievous results. But alas the elders will not allow!
         Why the Indian Rail does not provide  open coaches....It will be a tremendous hit, specially with children and hitch hikers.....Let us petition the railways to go in for such a project...)))>

---daman
26/07/2010