An Indecisive Indian

Vande or not to Vande?…   Shakespeare and Ghālib pow wow  Part II In the first part ( http://anindecisiveindian.blogspot.com/2023/08/if-vande-be-food-of-bhakti-ride-on.html ), I reproduced verbatim a part of the enlightening dialogue that ensued between my great-uncle Shakespeare and the youngest uncle Gh ā lib on various curious news items concerning Vande Bharat express; they talked, inter alia, of the lady with the Vande ticket who got robbed as also the man who got on the train merely to relieve himself. Their descant had also included Yoga  on Bhopal-New Delhi  Vande, a man in Kerala shutting himself inside Vande washroom for hours and, the coup de grâce of this barrage of news about this guy who boarded the Tirupati Vande Bharat ticketless and could not resist the urge to smoke in the toilet, activating the alarm and aerosol sprinklers. So I continue my reproduction from where I had left of:   Shakespeare: Hey Gaulib, what true words I had Portia say in Julius Caesar, “...

This recent news article by Twesh Mishra in The Economic Times detailing the government's intent to introduce a Productivity Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for the Indian Railways' (IR’s) rolling stocks has garnered significant attention, in which the key markers are: The specifics of the PLI scheme will be developed in collaboration with a  consultant to be appointed through a bidding process to be initiated this month   The consultant shall submit a report for attracting manufacturing firms, foreign and Indian, to help IR lessen import burden mainly for LHB and Vande Bharat trains by devising strategies for localizing and boosting domestic production of imported components, which should also drive down the manufacturing and maintenance cost.   The report shall also gauge the export potential of Vande Bharat trains.   ( https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/transportation/railways/railways-plans-pli-scheme-for-train-parts/articleshow/102752283.cms?from=m

  T he Vande Bharat trains are in the news all the time. And why not, when a train gets adopted by the Prime Minister as a mascot of development, almost like a juju to influence the inspirational India to give a big thumbs up for election 2024? But the news is a bouquet of the good, the bad, the ugly, the comical and the bizarre. Sample these:   We heard that the p assengers of  Bhopal-New Delhi Vande Bharat Express performed yoga  to mark the 9th International Yoga Day. Do recall the strange incident in Kerala when a man shut himself inside Vande Bharat Express washroom for hours and had to be brought out by force or another one about a man who got on the train merely to relieve himself but had to travel a long distance as the train had meanwhile started, locking him in. Add to that the woes of the lady, who, the media would have us believe, was robbed because she had a ticket to ride the Secunderabad Vande Bharat. The coup de grâce of this barrage of news was the one about thi

  Redevelopment of railway stations.  Will things change this time? J im Morrison of The Doors once ingeniously said, “Whoever controls the media, controls the mind” but today I am somewhat inclined to differ with my legendary hero of the 27 Club . Minds have been so habituated with bhakti (worship) that even balanced kambhakts (less of a worshipper) are patronized or taunted by the irredeemable bhakts ; kambhakts as distinct from the pretentious brigade which finds fault with anything the government does, and there are, for sure, many things that this government did get right. Nevertheless, Mr. Mojo Risin' , it is more like the minds are so favorably mutated that they also control the media. I say this because I was on a panel twice on NewsX in the background of the PM launching revamp of 508 railway stations across India at an estimated cost of ₹24,470 crore , including Mumbai CSTM at ₹1,813 crore, Surat at ₹980 crore and Egmore at ₹842 crore. I merely wanted to say that t