The Clamour Of Bullet And The Need Of The Moment

It goes completely without saying that after a ride of 70 odd years of independence, India strives hard to call it a “fairy” tale draped under the sapphire of phenomenal progress or rather a miserable and grotesque slime of poverty coupled with the blues of unemployment which can certainly push the very thought of calling this ride a rather “bumpy” one.  Ever since the inception of a “MODIfied' India, right from the year of unprecedented upheavals, the testimony of a spectacular mandate, 2014 was a hallmark of a rather refined and ballooning embellishment of the evergreen Gujarat Model paving way to a project or more precisely a vision of speed towards New India, christened “BULLET TRAINS”.

With a clear-cut aim to pull up the deteriorating graph of a colossal Indian railway network, the project can certainly be thought of improving the lifestyle of more than 20 million people per day who can have at least something to boast for. Given the very pathetic and cumbersome nexus from Kashmir to Kanyakumari, the network has the unsophisticated machinery, the filthy state of compartments, stinking washrooms, and of course the great Indian “jumla” of trains running “late-lateef”. The quality of foods being offered, the cleanliness narrating the plight of “Swachh Bharat”, the bleak reality of one train or the other having accident every day are one of those perils of modern-day railways which stand unequivocal and defines the very need for the inception of the high-speed bullet trains in an attempt to resonate the fast-paced, ever dynamic modern world with the locomoting nature of Indian infrastructure.

Besides having a “fast” speed to reduce the time lag of many people in India and a “furious” journey towards an invincible and impeccable India, the trains also ensure the safety of passengers. Overcrowding is one of those issues in India which is too big to be called just a problem. It has become a part of our life and the bullet trains aim to do away with this. Aimed to cause minimal hazards to the environment the trains are also equipped with a strong technology-oriented digital network.

But so far in this rosy dream of speeding India, it is a matter of alarming concern that whether or not the ever resplendent fantasy chucks out a huge chunk of Indian population who does hardly afford to buy a third class general ticket. The cost of production and the sky-high prices to experience the dream of 21^st century really draws a very thin line of retrospection of whether the existing trains in India where the common Indian man comes in huge numbers needs a technical check and an overall improvement or is it so necessary for the Indian government to invest heavily in this cushioned mansion of fast India where the comfort is drawn not from the identity of being an Indian rather through the opulent pockets of Richie heavyweights. One more thing that runs a noteworthy line underneath this concept is the fact that this cannot be done overnight. It needs many endeavours to be implemented, many efforts to be constructed and many years, of course, to be programmed.

Overall the very analysis of India running on the Bullet Tracks does imply a lot more thing that it just seems. A country whose diversity and complexity comes under the way of every issue or the other, the government should be extremely cautious and vigilant over the gruesome repercussions that may find a place in the compartmentalised sections of Indian society that the move aims to sow the seeds of discord and consolidates the shameful socio-economic inequality. Keeping in mind all the channels of this network, the dream can never be to too far to achieve, the very dream of a swift breezing India, the dream nailed on the iron of welfare and hanged on the wall of speed…