TRAIN STORY It was 5.45 in the early morning. My cousin and I were waiting for our aunt at the Allepey Railway Station. She was 82 years old and a Chronic Parkinson’s disease patient. Suddenly, an announcement was heard from the loudspeaker that the train was about to arrive within a few minutes onto the opposite platform. With only a few minutes left, the only option was to rush through the over bridge. In addition to that, the train which we were waiting for had had stop at the Aleppey station for just 2 minutes. This concerned us because to find out the coach where our aunt was (NB: Even the station master didn’t know where the coaches would stop at) and also to get her out of the same required a minimum amount of time. With these heavy thoughts, we reached the next platform while the train had almost come. With a quick run, we could match with the pace of B2 coach, which was what she had told us where she would be. At last, we spotted out our aunt amongst the crowd. Now the question was how to get her out of the train within 2 minutes. The steps were too high for her to get down and she had her hands tightly clung onto the yellow bar at the door step. Horn blew and the wheels started moving slowly. Me and my cousin decided to lift her on our hands and somehow, we placed her safely onto the platform. Next task was to her get out of the station to get into the car. For this, we searched for a wheelchair. With the information from station master that it’s kept on platform no:1, I rushed to get one. There were three dusty wheel chairs and I picked the best one among them. But, its front wheels weren’t moving properly. Now to get it onto the 2nd platform,, I had to carry the 25 kg iron wheel chair on my shoulders and climb the staircase. From there, we had to come back to 1st platform along with our aunt where the car was waiting. I was wandering through the platform thinking about ways to get her somehow into the car. It was then that I saw the level-cross and we managed to push the wheelchair till the level-cross. While crossing the rails, the front wheel of wheelchair got stuck in between. Our heartbeats rose, the people who were waiting for the train were watching in alarm. We prayed for no trains to come there at that moment. Atlast, we lifted the wheelchair and got her onto the 1st platform. With a lot of struggles, we managed to get her into the car. I thought of sharing this incident with you all as it touched my mind and raised questions about the comforts Railway was offering. About a million people are using train as a means of transport daily and we aren’t bothered about how the disabled people manage to travel amidst the rush. We should consider their comforts or atleast provide them with chances to travel in train independently. This is actually a small criticizing about Indian Railway for their non- friendly services towards the disabled. Certain suggestions which I’ve put forward is: • Train steps should be such that the elderly and the disabled are able to get in and out of train properly • Adequate train stop time at stations • A perfect wheel chair • Ramp
Posted on: Thu, 08 Aug 2013 13:24:50 +0000