Part I: Internal travel (Transportation in India)

Member Name: emil

Product:	Transportation in India
Date:	16/07/01 (183 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: friendly and hospitable people

Disadvantages: Uncomfortable for those accustomed to a little luxury

I have traveled to several countries. Most of my travels have been to the far east mainly Hong Kong, Taiwan, and S. Korea. I have been to the United States on a couple of occasions and to the UK once. I can assure you that there is a huge difference between the life you have there and what we have in India. There is so much I have observed that I cannot possibly cover it in a single op. (sshhh – why don’t I earn more dooyoo miles by splitting this into multiple ops?) The emphasis in this series will be on bringing out the contrast between here and the UK.

In this part, I will enlighten you on our transport systems within the country. I will not harp too much on statistical information but will try to highlight the human experience. As I know Bombay better than any other place, there will be a Bombay bias in my ops.

Rail Travel
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India has probably the world’s largest railway network. This is the most popular form of transport. About 75% of the railway lines are broad gauge (5’6”) and most of the rest are meter gauge (I won’t tell you the width). The number of people traveling is unimaginable. The peak of long distance travel is the summer vacation season, which extends from mid-April to early June. The main classes of travel are 1st class, 1st class A/C(that means air-conditioned in case you don’t use this abbreviation there), 2nd class, 2nd class A/C and A/C chair car. The first and second classes come with 2 or 3 tier sleeper for overnight journey trains.

The fares are very low by UK standards. 1st A/C, the most expensive, costs about 30 pounds for a 1000 Km distance, while 2nd A/C, the next most expensive is around 15 pounds per 1000 Km. The 2nd class would cost less than 4 pounds per 1000 Km. Shocked? Don’t be. This is in line with the salary levels here. By the way a 1st class non air-conditioned will cost you less than a 2nd class air-conditioned. You can book your tic
ket upto 60 days before your date of travel. In practice, you had better be there in the queue from early morning exactly 60 days before your travel date. Within 20 to 30 minutes of the opening of the window, the tickets will be all sold out for the popular classes like 2nd class A/c and non air-conditioned. If you are not among the lucky few, there are always the official travel agents and the illegal touts who can somehow get you the tickets; for a consideration off course. This situation is perennial, not just in the holiday season.

From the point of view of comfort, UK residents will find it very hard to travel in a non air-conditioned train here. On the other hand, to see the real India, the non A/C class provides a better opportunity for both, the view of the country side as well as the variety of people you will rub shoulders with. Any one that thinks of India or Indians as one homogeneous entity is completely ignorant about the vastness of this country and the diversity of its people. I can’t even begin to count the number of languages in use in various parts of my country. But that’s for another later op.

During the journey, apart from the railway catering service itself, there is a variety of stuff being peddled by hawkers who get in to and out of the trains along the way. Besides food, snacks and soft drinks you will also see newspapers, magazines, combs and brushes, sewing needles, etc. There are compartments for people holding reserved tickets and there are compartments for people who buy a ticket on the spot. There is no seat reservation for the latter.

Then we have the local train travel. This is restricted to a few cities like Bombay, Calcutta and Madras. Here you have a first class and a second class – no air-conditioning. There are also compartments reserved for ladies. Bombay is an island city which is North-South oriented. Most offices are at the south end of the city while most people live north of t
heir place of work. Every morning there is a great big rush of people traveling from north to south and every evening the other way. The wooden seats are designed to carry 3 people in sufficient discomfort to be thankful when they get to their destination. However, in actual fact, there will be four people instead of 3 seated on each of these seats. The rest of the compartment will be a sea of humanity crushed together. No space is spared. The English language provides an apt description when you talk of a can of sardines but you guys generally use the term as a hyperbole. In Bombay it is very real. In fact people hang out of the doors (which do not close here), people hang on to window bars from the outside and some people even get atop the train. Once in a way we read about cases of a passenger sitting on the roof getting electrocuted. In all this crush of humanity it is often said that if you die, you will remain standing until the jostling starts at the next station. Position and timing is everything. If you are in the right place at the right time, you will be swept in or out of the train by a mass of humanity.

For local train travel you can buy a monthly or quarterly pass, buy a one way or return ticket or a book of coupons, which you validate at coupon validating machines. Most people buy a quarterly pass as it works out very economical and requires you to stand in a queue only once in 3 months.

Road Travel
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First of all, like you in the UK, we drive on the left side of the road. At least that is what we are supposed to do. City traffic in Bombay is complete chaos. Minor things like rules do not intimidate us. We sort of make them up as we go along. As elsewhere in the world, the green light indicates go while the red one indicates stop. The amber one however is somewhat ambiguous. For most drivers here it indicates :”Drive like hell and get across the intersection before the other traffic starts.” One thing th
at impressed me in London was that cars would stop at an intersection even if the light was green unless they knew they had the space to cross the intersection. Here it isn’t like that. If we manage to squeeze into an intersection while the light is still green we consider that quite OK. Thus often an intersection is blocked by traffic pointing across your path when you have the green light.

The horn is probably the most frequently used part of the car. Once during a business trip to India, an English associate of my company was traveling with my colleague in New Delhi by Taxi. He was pretty worried about whether he would reach his destination in one piece. The friendly Sikh driver assured him not to worry. All that was needed he said was, “Good horn, good brakes and good luck.” I must add that this did nothing to reduce the tension in the mind of our guest. (I'd love kenjohn to read this part)

Besides our taxis, we have little 3 wheelers fitted with 150 CC engines called autorickshaws. These little monsters are the most notorious for breaking traffic rules. With a single wheel in front they have a very small turn radius and constantly try to beat the record for the sharpest turn to cut lanes. Unfortunately their center of gravity is usually higher than their driver’s intelligence and they often end up on their side.

Bombay is a city that receives heavy rains during the 4 monsoon months June to September. During this time the roads develop huge potholes. A typical Bombay road would not be too different from the lunar surface. This is further reason for drivers to often drive on the right side of the road seeking the path of least resistance. If NASA wanted to fake those pictures of the moonscape, Bombay would be the place, except that there would be people everywhere. Most major roads are being converted to concrete so things are hopefully going to get better. On the other hand some years ago I read a survey th
at said Bombay had about 440 cars per km of road, which was more than twice that of the city with the second highest density. In the years since then, the cars have certainly increased as more people have been able to buy cars, thanks to the availability of easy and cheap loans. Cars are expensive by our salary standards. The cheapest cars, which are the no frills, tiny 800 CC Maruti Suzukis, cost over 3000 ponds, which is typically more than a year’s pretax salary. A car like the Ford Icon or Hyundai Accent or Suzuki Swift(called the Esteem here) costs around 9000 pounds while a Honda City or Mitsubishi Lancer would be over 12000 pounds.

Ok this op is too long already so I’d better stop here. I won't say anything about air travel because the contrast is not significant enough to make it interesting.
If after reading this op you wonder why we continue to stay in this hellhole, I would like to assure you that being part 1, this is only part of the whole story. Many of the problems I have presented here can become bearable. For example, if you are an occasional traveler by local train you can’t bear the crush but if you do it day after day, you become immune to it. There is a lot of camaraderie, jokes, witty verbal jousting and exchange of information. The crowding does cause tempers to flare sometimes but friction is dissipated with a few choice pieces of wit and wisdom from a third party. Women gain a lot by exchanging ideas about their regional cuisine, kitchen tips and the like. In that crush of humanity there are no strangers. Everybody is a friend. There is lots to love in my country as you will see in the later parts of this series.

Summary: