Eternally late

8 pm , 5th June , 2011 .

Howrah railway station .

The platform was overcrowded . Thousands of passengers from Kolkata and nearby have gathered to catch Howrah – Mumbai Mail . The train has not yet been parked at the platform , it shall soon arrive . Sourabh , my nephew has come with his luggage to catch the train to reach Nagpur for some important family event .

Clock struck 8.15 pm , departure time , but the train was no where in sight ! Gradually time ticked away , 1, 2 , 3 hrs , train was not in sight . There was no announcements , the officials said that they do not know about the status of train . Whole night people were stranded in the platform without any proper information about the train . Saurabh , finally got tired , he had a wink of sleep for few minutes . at about 4 am , he was not able to keep himself awake .

At 4.30 am , he opened his eyes , his baggage was no where to be seen . These were stolen . His all belongings , ticket , money and all important documents were all gone . Finally the train arrived in the platform at 4.30 am , and left at 5.30 am without Saurabh , as he did not have ticket and money .

The train was late by over 9 hrs . This was not an isolated event , this is happening day after day , months after months daily since last 8 months . All the trains leaving Howrah station and which pass through so called Naxalite infested areas at night are delayed by over 8 hrs so that the trains pass through these supposedly dangerous terrain only during day time .

We are in a democratic country , where the law of land prevails , an elected government exists . But there is no answer to this situation . The authorities do not declare that the train timings have been changed and the trains will always leave after 8 hrs of the scheduled time of departure .

My daughter aged 11 years asked me , “ Papa , who are naxalites ? How do they look like ? Are they terrible creatures ? ” “ No my dear , they are humans like you and me !” I answered . “ Then who are they papa” , the innocent child asked . “ They are educated but jobless , homeless , poor tribal who create law and order problem .” “ Why is it so , papa ? ” again the simple question .
I looked at the ever inquisitive child .

How can I tell her about land mafia , mining mafias , corruption , government apathy , swiss bank accounts of our beloved leaders whom we have voted to power !