The story of an Indian behemoth!

One could not wish for a worse and more gruesome death than being burnt to cinders in a railway compartment. This unfortunately has been the fate of some of my fellow countrymen over the last few months, in a series of train mishaps. Particularly horrendous is the panic and confusion that ensues post a train in motion catching fire and hapless passengers running helter and skelter to escape pursuing flames, suffocating smoke and raising heat in the steel bogie. Post Godhra in 2002, the Indian Railways has had numerous instances of trains catching fire resulting in deaths to countless passengers. What invariably follow’s is news chats, breast beating, finger pointing and distribution of funds to the effected by the Honorable Railway Minister. Herein lie two pertinent questions: 1. Has the cause of the fire been ascertained, the fault fixed and the responsible nailed? 2. From what fund, is the tax payer’s money distributed? While I deeply sympathize with those that have suffered and do agree that they need succour, it is painful to see incompetence accepted , the guilty getting away, people dying and the tax payer made to pay, while the those guilty in this bumbling, bungling behemoth called the Indian Railways stumble onto the next calamity and the vicious cycle plays out again and again. That the railways are in bad shape and need urgent attention is there for all to see, except possibly those in the system. The passenger is at high risk and maybe it is worth their while to insurance themselves for a journey akin to air passengers. I clearly remember a picture in my school history book, of Akbar, the Mughal Emperor perched on an elephant and distributing alms to the poor. Times of not changed much, since then, except that the elephant is gone. Or has it really? The Indian railway’s which to me looks like an old infirm rouge elephant, needs serious urgent reforms, if it is to stop killing innocents by the bushels. It is an enduring joke that Laloo Yadav was feted as the supposedly greatest Rail Minister that we have had and this was lent credence by the IIM's inviting him for talk shows and various other random bodies singing praises to him. Well, Laloo's legacy if there was ever one has gone The poor Indian needs to stop dying simply because somebody who was incompetent was on watch!