WILL TWICE BORN B TWICE BORN?
Read a story with great interest in which Delhi Metro was asked to explore possibilities of providing hassle-free and exclusive seats to the spoilt section of society who is willing to pay more but will not like to shed its eliteness by travelling in the same compartment as we, the normal citizens do.
Who are these people? Politicians? Bureaucrats? Judges? Business honchos?
DMRC has listed its difficulties in providing VIP treatment. Perhaps in deference to the Apex Court, DMRC does not find the challenge impossible.
But will it end at just providing a luxe compartment? No. The next demand could be a Business/First Class Lounge with Full Service. Escorted entry and seating in the compartment.
The problem is that the mai-baap culture in which we are raised, distances us so fast from the common man that we start treating him as pariah! His problems are his!!
I firmly believe, if our systems have to improve, there should not be any preferential treatment meted out to ANYONE. Car beacons, for instance, were allowed only on emergency service providers, Police and a few Constitutional authorities. Today it has come to be seen as a marked of authority and status, making people clamouring for it. Some, who could, have appropriated these beacons irrespective of their nature of work! Uninterrupted supply of water and electricity to the rich and powerful has made them blind to the suffering of my 95% fellow citizens who do not get assured power supply. If the power and water cuts were equally applied, the rich and powerful would have worked tirelessly to improve the situation. Providing assured power supply to Nuclear Plants, Vital installations, agriculture and industry is understandable, but to residences - my foot.
Whenever and wherever the rich and powerful have pulled out of a system or field, that system or field has suffered from negligence and retardation. We all went to sarkari schools and sarkari hospitals in the 60s and 70s and travelled in the DTC buses. Once the rich and powerful rejected these systems and went for private schools, hospitals and personal cars and para modes of transport, these systems decayed because the rich and powerful also the decision makers did not know what ailed these systems. The immediate, first hand feedback was not available and discussed at the dinner table in the evening.
A friend in the UK has just informed that the London underground has no class divisions. The British Lords do not find it awkward to travel with the commoners. But our Lordships?
Therefore, the Apex Court, please don't perpetuate classes in our country that already suffers from feudal mindset.
Who are these people? Politicians? Bureaucrats? Judges? Business honchos?
DMRC has listed its difficulties in providing VIP treatment. Perhaps in deference to the Apex Court, DMRC does not find the challenge impossible.
But will it end at just providing a luxe compartment? No. The next demand could be a Business/First Class Lounge with Full Service. Escorted entry and seating in the compartment.
The problem is that the mai-baap culture in which we are raised, distances us so fast from the common man that we start treating him as pariah! His problems are his!!
I firmly believe, if our systems have to improve, there should not be any preferential treatment meted out to ANYONE. Car beacons, for instance, were allowed only on emergency service providers, Police and a few Constitutional authorities. Today it has come to be seen as a marked of authority and status, making people clamouring for it. Some, who could, have appropriated these beacons irrespective of their nature of work! Uninterrupted supply of water and electricity to the rich and powerful has made them blind to the suffering of my 95% fellow citizens who do not get assured power supply. If the power and water cuts were equally applied, the rich and powerful would have worked tirelessly to improve the situation. Providing assured power supply to Nuclear Plants, Vital installations, agriculture and industry is understandable, but to residences - my foot.
Whenever and wherever the rich and powerful have pulled out of a system or field, that system or field has suffered from negligence and retardation. We all went to sarkari schools and sarkari hospitals in the 60s and 70s and travelled in the DTC buses. Once the rich and powerful rejected these systems and went for private schools, hospitals and personal cars and para modes of transport, these systems decayed because the rich and powerful also the decision makers did not know what ailed these systems. The immediate, first hand feedback was not available and discussed at the dinner table in the evening.
A friend in the UK has just informed that the London underground has no class divisions. The British Lords do not find it awkward to travel with the commoners. But our Lordships?
Therefore, the Apex Court, please don't perpetuate classes in our country that already suffers from feudal mindset.
