A train of troubling thought

The train came to a sudden stop at Fatuha station. “Everybody get off the train!” an authoritative voice commanded. The BJP’S ‘Rail Roko’ campaign had begun in support of getting Bihar special status. All trains entering or exiting Bihar were being stopped for the rest of the day.
Shadaan could feel the blood drain from her face. A Kolkata resident she was on her way to Patna to attend the wedding of her first cousin. The wife of a rich businessman, Shadaan wished she had taken the plane. She was only 20 km from her destination when the train stopped. Talking to Arab News she said, “It was so stressful, I had to walk several kilometers with luggage. Everyone was competing with each other to catch an auto or bus. I ultimately was able to share a Tempo with another family, the driver charged them Rs 200 per head, and it had taken her 7 hours to do the 20 km.
Sanjar and his uncle were also going to Patna from Bhonathpur, a mining town on the edge of a jungle. The passengers were swapping stories about killing cobras and scorpions when their train was halted at Maqdoompur about 30 km from the capital city of Patna.
“Get off the train now or you can stay on till the strike is over,” the train official told the passengers. It was mayhem. There were families with small children; some of them swore they would not vote for the BJP the party that had organized the train strike.
Unperturbed Sanjar pulled out his iphone which his uncle had got him from the USA and made a call.
“Don’t worry uncle, a Bolero will be here in half an hour and will take us home, it will cost only Rs 1500. To Arab News Sanjar said, “When you live in Bihar you have to have good rapport with the powerful and the goondas or you can’t live here. In Bihar we call it the jugaar (contact) system.”
For Noor, an NRI, the train strike was very ill timed. His daughter was getting married in two days and his guests were stranded in different parts of Bihar. He had lived and worked in peaceful Saudi Arabia so the experience was a little stressful but he proudly maintained that India was incredible but most politicians were not.
No one that Arab news spoke to appreciated the call by BJP to stop trains. Perhaps in Bihar they should concentrate on stopping corruption, intolerance and crime.