Madness in Old Delhi
If I hadn't taken the snaps, you wouldn't be able to picture this.
Imagine a train carrying at least a thousand people pulling into a station. The train turns around in half an hour so another thousand are waiting to board.
On the platform are carts full of baggage and goods, interspersed by porters with heavy and bulky loads carried Indian style on their heads. The platform itself looks like an earthquake has just visited; covered in rubble, steel cables and stone chippings, parts of the surface are literally undulating a couple of feet above the rest.
It took me 25 minutes - I timed it - to get from 50 or so yards from the train to the top of the stairs. I was pushed, shoved and jostled; at one point station officers (the only time they ever appeared) got concerned about the stampede and forced people off the stairs, resulting in me travelling backwards.
It's all very well to laud India's economic development, but in the 11 years since I last visited things have got worse. The population has increased by the size of Europe - 300 million. It's not sustainable. It doesn't work.
