An Indecisive Indian

Wheels have been in the news recently because the wheels for Train 18/Vande Bharat express, under manufacture at Integral Coach Factory, Chennai, had been ordered on a company in Ukraine and the first lot itself was stuck in the war zone.   I reproduce only two of the news items here:   Hindustan times https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/stuck-in-ukraine-wheels-of-vande-bharat-trains-to-be-airlifted-to-india-101650819797776.html   Live Mint https://www.livemint.com/news/india/amid-russia-ukraine-war-india-to-airlift-wheels-of-vande-bharat-trains-11650816620501.html   The matter has been resolved for the time being with wheels for one rake arriving in Chennai and there is no setback in the timeline for the first rake, which in any case, was not going to be out before June 22. The questions raised, however, need to be addressed and the essence of these questions is simple:   Why does India need to import wheels? Why is India not Atmanirbhar even in a basic

Indian main-line mail express trains operate at 130 km/h top speed on defined Rajdhani routes and between 100 to 120 km/h on other main routes. This is the status for nearly half a century. The sections cleared for operation above 130 km/h speed are nothing to write home about, as they exist simply for demonstration purpose in fads to upgrade to 140, then 150 and subsequently 160 km/h. Why is our progress so abject?   We sometimes compare our passenger operations with the US, claiming that they also do not have High-Speed Rail. True. But then they have the world’s best network of highways which the Americans prefer to drive on instead of riding trains and an intensely competitive air travel option. Well, even what they have compares pretty favourably with what we have.  As has happened in the past too, as I was preparing to write on the subject, I got this write-up from my American friend, Prakash Tendulkar, who is not only very knowledgeable about railroads but also takes a keen i

  Ghālib : It all began with Valdimir Putin telling Volodymyr Zelenskyy about his greatness and the futility of Ukraine in trying to defy him,   Ik khel hai   aurañg-e-sulaimāñ mire nazdīk ik     baat     hai      ejāz-e-masīhā      mire    aage Hotā hai   nihāñ   gard meñ sahrā mire hote ghistā hai jabīñ ḳhaak pe dariyā mire aage ( aurañg-e-sulaimāñ: throne of Solomon or an illusion nazdīk: near, ejāz-e-masīhā : marvel, miracle, honour of the messiah, nihāñ: hidden, concealed, gard: dust, sahrā: desert, jabīñ: forehead, ḳhaak: dust, earth, dariyā: river. T he throne of mighty Solomon's is something trifling like a game for me, the messiah's miracles are merely common happenings before me. Deserts themselves disappear in a cloud of sand in my presence and rivers rub their foreheads on the shore in front of me. )   One can understand what this menacing bully is made of. Look at the way he walks and looking at him I must modify one of my evergreen shers :