Monday, October 26, 2009
Foreigners and their Dogs only allowed
It was one incident in a train in South Africa that changed the life of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi and later changed the course of India’s destiny. He was thrown out of a train as he had boarded a compartment which was reserved for whites only. This was despite the fact he had a valid ticket.
After over a half a century of Independence, India is now planning to go back to the dark ages of racism. Not that we never had it all this while. There is discrimination if you are a person from UP in Maharashtra. There is discrimination if you don’t speak the state language. There is Article 370 that discriminates Jammu and Kashmir from the rest of India. We have a problem when the world does not recognize Kashmir as an integral part of India, and we have no problem when we discriminate the state from the rest of India.
The Ministry of Railways is now planning to have exclusive coaches for foreigners. These coaches will be designed to have more leg space, ergonomically designed seats and toilets, wider sleeping berths and aesthetic interiors. It looks like Indians don’t deserve all this. We claim to be amongst the only economies that weathered the storm of the recent global financial crisis, then why this discrimination on the pretext of attracting foreign investment (read foreigners). Why can’t it be just a class of travel like airlines where you pay for a certain class of travel? If you can’t afford then as Shashi Tharoor our honorable Minister of State and External Affairs says travel ‘cattle class’. The plan also intends to have well dressed young girls and boys as attendants to make the foreign tourists’ journey more pleasant. Today if you go to any railway station to find an enquiry counter you need another enquiry counter, and here for the tourists you have youngsters who will be at the beckon call like in the times of the Raj.
The list of plans goes on to having call-bell facilities in toilets to assist elderly and sick passengers. Visit any toilet in any of the railway stations you would curse nature for calling in the wrong places. Even animals would not defecate in these toilets. There are plans to develop tour packages connecting tourist places with trains and luxurious buses keeping foreign tourists. Today in India to get a taxi from Bombay Airport, it’s an ordeal, so imagine what it would be at railway stations where you are easy prey to touts and taxi drivers who literally take you for a drive.
The irony is all this planned by the Ministry of Railways which is headed by Mamata Banerjee. The same Minister who threw Tata’s out of Singur in Bengal, which made the worlds cheapest and the smallest car the ‘Nano’. I guess it was because Tata’s in an Indian company and not a foreign company.
The small and nano brains of our politicians are going to drive India to the dogs, after that any amount of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhis thrown out of the new train planned will not save India. What can only save it are all these politicians thrown under the train.
After over a half a century of Independence, India is now planning to go back to the dark ages of racism. Not that we never had it all this while. There is discrimination if you are a person from UP in Maharashtra. There is discrimination if you don’t speak the state language. There is Article 370 that discriminates Jammu and Kashmir from the rest of India. We have a problem when the world does not recognize Kashmir as an integral part of India, and we have no problem when we discriminate the state from the rest of India.
The Ministry of Railways is now planning to have exclusive coaches for foreigners. These coaches will be designed to have more leg space, ergonomically designed seats and toilets, wider sleeping berths and aesthetic interiors. It looks like Indians don’t deserve all this. We claim to be amongst the only economies that weathered the storm of the recent global financial crisis, then why this discrimination on the pretext of attracting foreign investment (read foreigners). Why can’t it be just a class of travel like airlines where you pay for a certain class of travel? If you can’t afford then as Shashi Tharoor our honorable Minister of State and External Affairs says travel ‘cattle class’. The plan also intends to have well dressed young girls and boys as attendants to make the foreign tourists’ journey more pleasant. Today if you go to any railway station to find an enquiry counter you need another enquiry counter, and here for the tourists you have youngsters who will be at the beckon call like in the times of the Raj.
The list of plans goes on to having call-bell facilities in toilets to assist elderly and sick passengers. Visit any toilet in any of the railway stations you would curse nature for calling in the wrong places. Even animals would not defecate in these toilets. There are plans to develop tour packages connecting tourist places with trains and luxurious buses keeping foreign tourists. Today in India to get a taxi from Bombay Airport, it’s an ordeal, so imagine what it would be at railway stations where you are easy prey to touts and taxi drivers who literally take you for a drive.
The irony is all this planned by the Ministry of Railways which is headed by Mamata Banerjee. The same Minister who threw Tata’s out of Singur in Bengal, which made the worlds cheapest and the smallest car the ‘Nano’. I guess it was because Tata’s in an Indian company and not a foreign company.
The small and nano brains of our politicians are going to drive India to the dogs, after that any amount of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhis thrown out of the new train planned will not save India. What can only save it are all these politicians thrown under the train.
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