An Indecisive Indian

Early last year, Indian Railways (IR) announced an ambitious plan to privatize 109 O-D (Origin-Destination) pairs of trains, forming roughly 5% of existing Mail/Express trains, over 12 clusters. The avowed objectives declared by the Ministry of Railways (MoR), inter alia, are:   Ø   Induction of modern technology – Quantum Jump Ø   Reduced maintenance intervention - 40,000 km/30 days Ø   Reduced transit time Ø   Enhanced safety Ø   World class travel experience to passengers Ø   Reduce demand supply deficit in the passenger transport sector Ø   And, bringing in private investment to the tune of Rs 30,000 crore in rail sector   The bidding process was started in July 2020. The model proposed a c oncession period of 35 years with the concessionaire (termed PTO or Passenger Train Operator). A PTO would be required to induct their own train, pay fixed haulage charges for path, stations, access to railway infrastructure and charges for electricity...

What I write today are the thoughts of an engineer, who has never been formally educated in any form of literature or art. My study, therefore, is largely for people who are in the same boat as mine. The number of such inerudite people like me is legion but it does not take away their genuine love for art or literature. After all, let alone readers, the number of even gifted artists or writers  who excel due to their inherent creativity is also very large.  Writing, and indeed reading, is down-to-earth at one plane, and as long as it excites, broadens your perception or even fires your imagination, the purpose of a meaningful and passionate engagement is served for both the writer and the reader; both would not miss the matter of their lack of  qualification. And free but professedly  ‘egghead’  use of Google, the king of kings among the resources of today, is not such a sacrilege. I have written this piece for a private group of poetry-lovers, which is blessed ...