There is a special section in our newspaper which prints the events that happened on the same date 50 years back. It gives interesting insights into the life and events and reporting style of that era. Recently they had published a photograph in this column where it showed a picture of a bandh protest in Kolkatta in 1964 and the crowd that was waiting to get into the train at Howrah station. Until now , I had the impression that the evergrowing population of India is making life very difficult for the present generation and it would have been better if we were living in a peaceful, manageable population of 1960s and 1970s. But this picture changed my perception. Howrah station of 1964 doesn't look better than a church gate station (Mumbai) in 2014.
Especially, in the past 5-6 years, airports in India are worse than the railway stations and in fact , when you stand at the gate to board your shuttle bus, its more like a moffussil bus stand where the conductor screams his heart out calling our for passengers travelling to small towns. Literally,
at the airport, they call out for passengers travelling to different cities. It sounds funny . In fact, after my first trip abroad in the 80's I was treated like a queen in my friends circle, as I was the only one who had boarded an aircraft among them, now even a new born makes its first trip only by flight.
The discussion with my friend was about this population and commuting problems and after seeing the 60's image in the newspaper , I told her that the situation was worse then too. But then she had an interesting take on the whole problem and she said, maybe it will become better in the future because, now even people in villages and small towns are aware of the benefits of having a small family and restrict themselves to having just one child or two children and situation would only become better as the population would dwindle and more people are settled abroad. I don't know whether its a correct observation but if the situation remains the same, in the future, our children can never board a bus, train or for that matter, even a flight on time.
Especially, in the past 5-6 years, airports in India are worse than the railway stations and in fact , when you stand at the gate to board your shuttle bus, its more like a moffussil bus stand where the conductor screams his heart out calling our for passengers travelling to small towns. Literally,
The discussion with my friend was about this population and commuting problems and after seeing the 60's image in the newspaper , I told her that the situation was worse then too. But then she had an interesting take on the whole problem and she said, maybe it will become better in the future because, now even people in villages and small towns are aware of the benefits of having a small family and restrict themselves to having just one child or two children and situation would only become better as the population would dwindle and more people are settled abroad. I don't know whether its a correct observation but if the situation remains the same, in the future, our children can never board a bus, train or for that matter, even a flight on time.
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