I was trying to go to Dehradun from Delhi yesterday. My only folly was that I decided to use a bus instead of a car. I reached ISBT at around 8 o'clock in the night. To my horror I saw hundreds of people standing in a queue in front of ticket counter but there was no one distributing tickets. There are quite a few buses from Delhi to Dehradun. One by one I saw all of the empty buses coming from Dehradun getting hijacked by young muscular men who would forced their way in and grab a seat. Within seconds you will see people sitting on the roof and hanging from the door(it is quite scary to think that these people will travel for about 6-8hrs like this). I waited there till 1:30am when I gave up and decided to go back. While going back I just looked around and saw who all were left behind, they were young girls, ladies and old people. People who cannot force their way in. I am sure these people must have been harassed by the autowalla's for I was and had to pay an exorbitant amount to get back to my place. Sometimes I feel it is a crime to be a woman or a old man in this country for we Indian have to fight fight for everything (even for a small ride from Delhi to Dehradun or for that matter a ride from ISBT to Saket).
Now lets look at the whole problem objectively. What was the real reason for all this mess. I overheard couple of women complaining about the rowdy crowd. But was it really the problem, if you keep a one man meal in front of hundreds of starving people only the strongest or the stronger ones will get to eat. So was it an excess crowd that was causing the problem? When I decided to leave there were 20-25 people out there. Including the people who must have left before and the over crowding of the buses I think it is safe to assume that there were about 120-150 extra people. How many but ply 150 people? 4 may be 5 or may be 6.
For last 8-9 years I have been going from Delhi to Dehradun and whenever there is an extended weekend this problem is there. And we need only 6 more buses to solve this problem. Now I am not saying that government should buy 6 more buses and I am sure most of the politicians must have thought that way. What I am saying is that some of the buses can be diverted from routes which are not that popular during such days. For example I am sure the number of people coming from Dehradun to Delhi gets reduced just before such extended weekends. Few Buses can be diverted from this route.
Most of the time we have complex problems with very simple solutions. Simple queue system in front of ticket counter can solve the problems of women and senior citizens. But we don't look at the solutions, we look at the problem and surrender.
I think we need a young leader who can talk with the common person, walk with him and understand him. A person who is ready to look at his problems and try to find solutions for it. You might say that it can be Rahul Gandhi, Varun Gandhi or some Pilot or Mahajan but who are these people? what are their qualifications? Does you get the right to be a leader just because of your surname?
Friday, August 15, 2008
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