had the distinct opportunity of traveling with my brother via the Rajadhani Express from hyderabad to bangalore. an overnight journey that is supposed to be a pleasant relaxing experience at a price that is comparable to flying. but here’s what we got. check out the photos in full view.
in one of my previous travels by this train, i have seen rats in the coaches, sometimes jumping on to sleeping people. it’s quite pitiful where railways is headed.
i’d say why bother. i know flying takes a ton of overhead time/money, but this is downright filthy experience.
Rajadhani Express Experience
I dont know where I read this, but Indian Railways were contemplating disposable sheets for some of the upmarket trains…
Wondering where it stands though.
Sathya
they need to start with disposing (or MAJORLY upgrading) everything that’s considered ‘body’ in the coaches. then may be a mousetrap in each coach. and then maniacal cleaning process every 3 hours in the coach (primarily of food particles)
Sadly, there’s a certain attitude, found among us desis and southasians, that only gora ‘sahebs’ deserve good stuff, and the rest desis can make do with filthy stuff. Like an Indian restaurant in NJ – desi customer finds a rat scurrying around, tells the desi owner. His reply was a classic – ‘ good that you found it before any goras found it’ !!!?
Or like the certified car dealer, south asian, who tried to peddle an non-detailed, scuffed up car to me: ‘come on man, we just need something to get around, and it will be dirty in a day anyway’. That ‘we’ was the deal killer for me.
Or when an airport was granted international status in south, the janitor/sweeper was heard complaining that now he has to keep the toilets clean, for the sahebs will be visiting.
So, did you complain? Has anyone given you the ‘this is not america, this is India, this is how things are here’ line yet?
i simply made the attendant clean up as much as possible., and pointed out the state of affairs to the ticket inspector.
we are totally tolerant of substandard stuff, we need to actively set the bar high on what’s acceptable and what’s not. if we take it as-is., naturally, you’ll get substandard stuff.
it’s not uncommon to see a big banner on stores that proclaims “export quality” merchandise. go figure.