January 29, 2009

Railwayconomics

When I woke up in the morning, I saw the old lady making a veiled attempt to open the 'hanging door' of the 3-tier-a/c-compartment. I guessed she wanted to use the rest room. She tried once again. But the stubborn door wouldn't give way. It remained hanging; and it remained stuck! She soon gave up, and slowly walked to the other end of the compartment.

The Netravati Express, in which I was traveling, was chugging towards Goa. I looked at my watch: time 6:30 AM. "Hmmm... time to freshen up" I thought. Half-awake, I climbed down from my berth, unpacked my toiletry bag, picked my toothbrush and paste, and headed towards the hanging door.

"Before I slept, this door was in perfect condition!" With that thought and curiosity I started investigating the door. There it was.... - the top hinge of the door was broken! In the night, probably, someone - eager to relieve himself/herself - might have had attempted pushing the door hard, and in that process might have broken the hinge. I nodded at myself.

"Anyways... let me get to the wash basin" I partly lifted the door and turned it over its healthy hinge. The door opened up for me, and I was out to treat my teeth with the fresh froth of the tooth paste.

By the time I returned, my father was up. He too had observed the door, which was now open, but precariously tilting, and threatening to fall on any passerby's head. He went searching for the attendant. After a few minutes he was back with the attendant. The attendant had some tools with him. Soon he was at it - fixing the broken door. I saw my father striking a healthy conversation with him...

When my father returned, I gave him a look of curiosity. I was interested to know what conversed.

My father read my mind and said "Low quality hinges!! That's why it came out. He says this has been happening since the Railways started its reform under Lalu. In the name of reform, procurement is being carried out from external vendors, which supply low quality materials - Something, as per him, which never used to happen in the past. He thinks Lalu and his coteries are taking a huge cut (read bribe) from these reforms"

"A different perspective of the famed Railwayconomics" I thought...

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hmmm ... so ... all is not well with the Lalu reforms

padhick said...

Says that attender :-)

thalathil dineshan said...

Or maybe that hinge was bought/fitted 4 years back..

padhick said...

May be not. Had that been the case the attender would not have cribbed...

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