The budget takes a bit longer to sink in than I’d expected, so the next in my series of blog bumping, SEO enhancing, tittle tattle is a tale of the unexpected.
It’s statistically unlikely that anything really nasty might befall us, so I’ve avoided giving any air time to people who only do what they do for the air time. But at the same time it’s a racing certainty that we might encounter something odd along the way on a daily, if not hourly, basis.
Here are some of the unexpected things that can happen on Indian Railways
We aren’t scheduled to pass through Lucknow, but I’m inclined to rip up the entire plan just to make contact with this guy.
- Monkey Man – Indian railway employs ‘monkey-man’ to protect passengers
To the best of my knowledge none of our lady entrants will be expectant, but we should perhaps keep an eye on anyone who might be
- Train stopped to pick up new born baby – newborn baby girl survived an ignoble birth after slipping down the toilet bowl of a moving train
- http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN2857281320080228
Even small trains usually weigh at least 30 tons, ours will almost all weigh 10 times that, so man power probably won’t be an option, but be warned.
- Train passengers get out and push – ‘In so many years of service in the railways, I have never come across such a bizarre incident.’
- http://www.metro.co.uk/weird/49308-train-passengers-get-out-and-push
We can always recruit this guy if we get stuck
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/7379559.stm
Now don’t you wish you could do this next time they decide to whack another 10% on your season ticket ?
- Angry Rail Passengers Torch Train - An angry mob in northern India has torched a train and a station to protest against a new rail schedule
Of course don’t expect trains to stop for you when they aren’t scheduled to do so, especially if it’s a super fast express. Please don’t try to do this at home.
Holy Cow! Note that there is a general bovine right of way across most of India, this isn’t a rare occurrence.
There probably isn’t a railway in the world that hasn’t had to dismiss a driver for falling asleep on the job. But perhaps only in India will the driver choose to back up the two stations he missed in order to let everyone get to where they were intending. Now that’s what I call service!.
- Driver “dozes off” on Indian train – the driver stopped only after some of the panic-stricken passengers managed to wake him up.
- http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/8080656.stm
You will be expected to have a valid ticket before boarding the GCIRC express.
- Indian trains recruit boxers and wrestlers – Boxers and wrestlers are being recruited to intimidate ticketless travelers into paying up or getting off.
- http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/india/6538362/Indian-trains-recruit-boxers-and-wrestlers-in-fight-against-ticketless-passengers.html
Our journey along the Arunachal line could involve some substantial wildlife. Fortunately for them, and us, there’s people who are on the case. This is a long clip but if you’ve got 5 it’s worth it.
I don’t think we can expect to meed David Niven, mores the pity. I’m sure he’d have been quite at home with the entire project.
If anyone knows what the bridge is about 1’40″ into that clip, please let me know.
