No matter whether you travel in a sleeper class or general compartment of Indian Railways, the experience can be horrific if you are unlucky. But what if you are unlucky every day or your experience of travelling is horrible on Daily basis. 74001 Dli-re Dmu runs between Delhi and Rewari and this train doesn’t have windows, it doesn’t have toilets and passengers who travel by it are always in fear of getting hit by stones. Vivek Arora who commutes daily by this train once got hit by a stone on his head and then he decided to do something about it. He made a video of what the passengers have to face and want authorities to take note of it. The Logical Indian wants to appeal to its community members to share this story, so it reaches to authorities and steps are taken to ensure passengers’ safety and convenience.
He narrated his experience:
Ever since I was a kid I had this strong fascination for trains. It has been a decade that I have been commuting from Rewari to Delhi for work by train. Being a Photographer and filmmaker, my works requires me to commute every day to and fro from Rewari, Haryana.Since 2016 I have been commuting from this 74001 Dli-re Dmu, which runs between Delhi (DLI) and Rewari (RE) mostly on my way back home and the condition of this train has gone worse by time. I tried everything to draw authorities attention towards this wreck but for no respite. I had to go through some really bad experiences like ‘stone pelting’ on the train which happens quite a lot, I too got hit once on my head and bled badly, I was aware of it that people got injured due to this in the past but had never thought this could happen with me. In November 2016, I was travelling back home and someone pelted a big stone at the train and I got hit; it hit me so hard that I thought my left ear had stopped working and I could not hear from it, I bled quite badly that day, for some days. After that, I was quite a little hesitant to even travel by train.
The experience got on my ‘head’ literally. It could have been fatal, apparently, it is entertainment for those who reside near the tracks around Delhi Cantt area, they like doing it because there is no one to stop them and to tell them that this is wrong.Without any windows, freezing cold wind on our face is an experience a commuter has to face every winter season because there are no glasses on the windows and you end up getting sick.
There are no toilets on the train which is like taking a basic requirement away. I once had to wait for 2 hours to use a toilet which felt like punishment. I board the train from Delhi cantt and it takes 2 hours to reach Rewari from there, I don’t face such situations much but that was an unlucky day, I found out that all the washrooms in that train were sealed. It made my journey a punishment, the train doesn’t stop more than 10 seconds at stations in between and that is not enough time. It was a torture, I kept my patience till I reached Rewari and honestly It was tough to even move, I somehow reached the washroom at Rewari station. My bladder was about to burst that day. It was a sickening experience.
So I finally thought of doing something and decided to use my skill to make a video out of it. I thought If I faced these problems other people too must be facing all this. As expected, I found out that everyone who commutes in this train is definitely sick of this travelling experience but no one really says anything about it. Maybe they were too tired at end of the day to do anything or they had accepted the situation the way it is, but I wanted to try atleast once,
I was kind of skeptical initially thinking whether people would even want to talk about it? But as soon as I started people joined in and were eager to talk… and they talked their heart out as If they were waiting for this happen. I got an unconditional support from everyone around. I guess It was my love for trains and goes without saying “those experiences” which got me on my toes to make this video.
It is just a common man’s attempt to create a small difference.
Story by- Vivek Arora
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