Traveling in Delhi buses, trains like knocking on death's door
Traveling in Delhi buses, trains like knocking on death's door
By V. Anjaiah
JAKARTA (JP): We have seen the millions of Jakartans undertake
their mudik (mass exodus) to their hometowns in Java during the
Idul Fitri holiday each year. People stampede the bus and railway
stations for two weeks of every year.
But, have you ever been in a place where mudik is experienced
everyday throughout the year, including the freezing winter? If
not, go to New Delhi, the capital of the world's second most
populous nation.
Austere Delhites may be the best acrobats in the world. Twice
a day they hang from crowded buses or trains for two to four
hours. A bus that has a capacity of 45, will labor along with 100
to 120 people in it.
Living in an Asian city is neither a privilege nor a comfort.
Overcrowding, pollution, congestion, poverty, unemployment,
inadequate transportation and soaring crime, make most cities a
man-made hell.
From Beijing to Bombay, Jakarta to New Delhi, the tales of
modern life are similar. Thanks to tremendous growth and enormous
economic opportunities, millions of villagers throng to the
cities which have neither the space nor the facilities to cope
with the newcomers. This appalling situation has led to the
emergence of dangerous suburbs, normally far from the city
center. They create transportation problems, as millions must
commute everyday into the city to work.
New Delhi is a prime example. Its population has risen
unchecked from 7.4 million a decade ago to 10 million today.
Around 40 percent live in the city's outskirts.
Like in Jakarta, Delhi's motor vehicle numbers have trebled in
the past decade, climbing from 900,000 to 2.5 million. The worst
thing about Delhi is that only 26,000 public transport vehicles,
mostly buses, are available for the 10 million people. Moreover,
Delhi buses have gained notoriety as modern gallows.
"Traveling in Delhi is like knocking on the door of death.
There is no guarantee that I'll reach home safely from the
office," says Madhusudhan, a typist in a private firm.
The Times of India, the country's leading newspaper, recently
reported that about 2,000 Delhites die every year in over 9,000
accidents, a third of the accidents in urban areas in India. In
most cases the culprit is speed and the victims are pedestrians.
In spite of its notorious traffic jams, Jakarta may be the
safest place as far accident fatalities are concerned. Jakarta
recorded 492 deaths in 1,407 accidents in 1994.
In spite of the risk, for people to earn their bread they must
commute. Many Delhites feel death is trivial when compared to
fighting for a place to stand or hang on a bus, and finding the
physical and mental strength to carry out this task twice a day,
everyday.
"I face a stampede everyday while getting into the bus,
especially in the morning. It's no exaggeration to say that I
lose my personal belongings, like my watch, glasses, purse and
bag, and now I keep my watch and glasses in the office," said Ram
Krishan, a resident of Maidan Garhi, a village near the famous
Qutub Minar tower.
Commuters have little time to spend with their children and
other family members. Because most of them leave around 4 a.m.
and don't return until 9.00 p.m, their children never get to see
them.
"I have two children. I meet them only once a week,
on Sunday. Sometimes I feel I am missing them," said Sunita, a
university assistant who commutes to Delhi everyday from Rohtak,
a town in neighboring Haryana.
A trade union leader, who refused to give his name, said that
people used to work 12 to 14 hours a day. Thanks to the trade
unions, they now work eight hours a day, but people living in big
cities spend four to eight hours commuting.
"The time has come to consider commuting as a serious problem.
The employers must think of helping these people," he insisted.
Besides the thousands of beggars and throngs of street
vendors, the only people really benefiting from the long, hot and
crowded commutes are the pickpockets.
Unlike Jakarta, where pickpockets simply pluck your wallet
from your pocket, India's thieves cut away your whole pocket with
a razor or scissors.
As commuters wise-up, pickpockets are adopting more advanced
techniques. The Times of India once published an account of what
occurred in a New Delhi bus in 1990.
A smart but cruel pickpocket tried to steal a gold ring from a
lady commuter standing in a crowded bus, but didn't succeed.
Later he rubbed her finger with anesthetic, cut off her finger
and got off at the next stop. When the lady got off at her
destination, she saw some blood dripping at her feet and was
shocked to find that her finger had been stolen.
The pickpockets are the most organized in Bombay, the largest
city in India as well as its financial capital. According to the
Eenadu regional daily, there is a special school to train
pickpockets in the city of 13 million. They graduate by
demonstrating their new skill on an uncrowded bus or train.
It isn't hard to believe that chasing buses, risking robbery,
not seeing family members and the hours of traveling cause
stress. The stress caused by this far from solved problem is of
course not unique to New Delhi, but found throughout Asia.