![]() ![]() On entering Andhra Pradesh, the issue of bifurcation of the state was an obvious topic of discussion. It has brought us electricity and water.” Maqbool Sheikh, 40, from Malda added, “The Trinamool Congress has done good work. “Kejriwal aur Modi ka yahan bol balah nahi hai (Kejriwal and Modi don’t have much influence here),” said 27-year-old Hemant Kheriya from New Jalpaiguri. While the Left appeared much weaker than Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress, the Aam Aadmi Party’s Arvind Kejriwal and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi were merely faces they had seen on TV screens. Many, across faiths and regions praised her work her antics didn’t bother them. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was the most popular politician. In West Bengal, people seemed more willing to discuss politics. They appeared more willing to have a discussion surrounding politics. From Alipur, New Jalpaiguri and Malda, more men jumped on to the train. ![]() They appeared to back Badruddin Ajmal’s All India United Democratic Front.Īs the train travelled over bridges across the Brahmaputra, West Bengal came in sight. Many Muslims complained Gogoi had failed to stop clashes between the Bodo and Muslim communities. It seemed among the national parties, the Congress remained the most popular in the all the ‘Seven Sister’ states, barring Assam, where anti-incumbency weighed on three-time Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, and this could be a spoiler for the party in the state. The person who pays money gets the ticket. Renben, a 24-year-old Dimapur resident who studies engineering in Kerala, said, “Votes are bought. If there is an emergency at home, how will I return to help?” “If there was a government, I would not be taking this four-day train journey in search of work. “What government?” asked Roopak Datta, 26, who worked as a supervisor at a construction site in Thiruvananthapuram. For some, as the Northeast had very few seats in the Lok Sabha, the region was usually ignored. ![]() The attitude was categorised by indifference because of the region has been torn apart because of civil strife. Even before they knew each other’s name, they could guess where the other stood in the hierarchy.Īs the train made its way from Assam, through Nagaland and into West Bengal, it became clear that unlike Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, people in the Northeast weren’t easily excited about politics. The carpenter was higher in their hierarchy than the mason the electrician was higher than both the carpenter and the mason, and so on. Their lack of education, poverty and the hope of a better future united them. Those who boarded the train were similar. And, at around midnight, when the train gave its final whistle at a surprisingly clean Dibrugarh station, it seemed it was announcing the departure of an entire generation from one India to another, where they would live separated from their families by a few thousand kilometres. Once a week, Saturday to be precise, the Vivek Express loads and then unloads young men and women from one end of the country to another. That’s how they lived for four days, as the Vivek Express (India’s longest train journey in terms of distance) crawled the 4,200 km between Dibrugarh and Kanyakumari. On the floor outside the stinking toilets that weren’t cleaned for three days, on the space between the two lower berths and when there was no place left on the ground, they pulled out pieces of cloth and slung these like hammocks, into which they slid for the rest of their journeys. “As Kurt Vonnegut said, ‘Bizarre travel plans are dancing lessons from God’, and it was in search of a new dance that I purchased a one-way ticket on the longest train in India,” he wrote on his blog.Ī quick chat with the TTE helped him confirm that he was the only passenger in the train who was travelling from the beginning till the end.Īmidst beautiful sunsets, everlasting snacks, lots of tea, numerous people to speak with and a lot more, Ed documented the entire journey in pictures and videos.People were everywhere. While not many passengers choose this train for the entire route, there was one tourist last month who was in there to experience the journey, not for the destination.Ĭanadian tourist, Ed Hanley started his journey on January 30 at 10:45 pm and stayed with the train till the very end. This train connects the north-eastern state of Assam to the southernmost city in the country – a distance of 4,273 km covered in 83 hours (if there is no delay). India’s longest train journey lasts three days and four nights on-board train number 15906, the Dibrugarh-Kanyakumari Vivek Express. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |