Track II spirituality

Track II spirituality

Indian railways clearly has a new mantra to guarantee the safety of its passengers: ensure that God is in his heaven and all will be well with the world. And the remedy its wise ones have identified to tackle the never ending technological glitches that bedevil India's great unifying maze of tracks is so radically low-cost that rationalists are requested to withhold their protestations for a minute and consider labelling it a fantastic find in our quest for alternative technology: The all-purpose havan, the do-it-yourself little ceremony to solicit divine intervention. Why replace wornout tracks when a little ceremony can do the trick? Why mull over construction procedures when a few chants can prevent loco sheds from tumbling down?

But seriously. Maybe we would be better off counting our blessings, voicing gratitude that the authorities have finally at least acknowledged the great dangers rail travellers face. Their preferred course of action, however, is extremely worrisome. On Wednesday, the construction and engineering department of Northern Railways congregated at its Kashmere Gate head office in Delhi to seek the blessings of the great power up above to help it clamber out of its ``dark period''. A dark age punctuated not just with horrific rail mishaps -- the latest being the virtual repeat of the 1998 Khanna tragedy at Fatehgarh Sahib in Punjab recently -- but with strange collapses endangering its Tundla loco shed. When the Tundla loco shed -- which would relieve Delhi's tracks of a significant amount of traffic -- fell for the second time, it was decided that there must be a jinx on this extremely worthy venture, and that non-engineering solutions were called for. Hence the havan. Good lord, what exactly isgoing on here? Maybe in the maze of tracks they negotiate, Railways personnel have lost sight of the context. Maybe, we the millions who rely on their efforts to be ferried from one place to another in this vast country should collaborate and put up little signposts outside sundry Railways offices: Welcome to the 21st century.

To be sure, these are increasingly superstitious times. The age of reason that dawned a century ago has over the last couple of decades given way to an abiding belief in unreason -- or quasi-science. The inexorable march of technology has not quite delivered a comforting sense of well-being. And the reigning paradigm appears to be, what is the harm in invoking the supreme powers, however unknown they may be? What is the harm in conducting a little ceremony to chase out dark spirits? The motley gathering at Kashmere Gate on Wednesday may well ask, how could it bother anyone if they set aside a couple of hours to commune with God? This, then, is what bothers the millions who negotiate the Railways's vast network of tracks and the others who worry each time they do. Havans like these erode whatever confidence Indians have in the Railways' ability to provide safe travel. They call into question the Railways' sincerity in attending diligently to its tasks. In addition, they highlight once again thefailure to take tough measures to maintain and upgrade the rail network and services.