Delhi Metro through foreign eyes: global system lacking global etiquettes

Like 1.5 million other people in Delhi, I ride on the Metro every day. To get to work, I spend almost 45 minutes on the rail, including switching train lines, before reaching my destination.

The first couple of times I rode the Metro, I thought two things: people are staring at me and why do women not use the Metro. It took me days to realize there were 'women only' compartments at the front of each train. Since starting to use these reserved compartments, I enjoy watching men enter and look around to see only women. They quickly make their way down the train to the general compartments looking as though they mistakenly walked into the wrong washroom.

I am not sure why I didn't originally migrate towards the pink signs when I began riding the Metro. Perhaps it is because I have never seen 'women only' compartments or sections in my home country of Canada. Most times when I walk through security or ride the bus, I do so in a co-ed environment.

Although I never had a problem at the back with the men, I feel safer with other women around, especially when the train is so full there is not enough room to move. I have seen people trying to jump into trains that were full, while Metro security try to pull them out so the door can close.

Not to say the women that ride the Metro are not a little aggressive when they rush for seats. When two girls go for an open seat, neither backs down which usually results in them both semi-sitting on each other in one spot.

Even though the women's compartments are usually busy, less women ride the Metro. One day, the line for men to go through security was so long it extended outside the station and on to the stairs. There was no line for the women's security check. I was able to walk straight in.

There is no Metro in Winnipeg, my home in central Canada. The city of about 680,000 people has been trying for years to build a rapid-transit system, but does not have the funds. In order to raise the money (and pay for the transit system), the cost of riding the city bus is 2.45 CAD (Rs.125) for a regular fare anywhere in the city. Even with inflation, this is much more expensive than the Metro here, which only costs me 16 Rs for my ride across the city.

I am jealous of the Metro system in Delhi and wish we had a progressive alternative to the bus and taxi systems in Winnipeg. I have ridden on other Metro systems in Vancouver and Toronto, Canada's largest cities, and feel that the Delhi Metro can compete on a global scale.

The Metro also offers a fixed rate for everyone, including foreigners. When taking taxis and auto-rickshaws in Delhi, foreigners usually get quoted a much higher price than locals. It can get frustrating when you get overcharged for transportation just because you are not from here. The Delhi Metro does not discriminate in this matter. No matter their religion, sex or race, everyone pays the same price.

Tanya Tonning, who is from Norway, is starting her tour of Asia from Delhi and has been using the Metro to get to markets for shopping. She says it was an easy system to understand and was better than walking the streets of Delhi.

"It was very clean. I didn't expect it to be that clean when you look around outside," Tonning said.

She stays at a backpacking hostel in Saket where most clients are foreigners wanting to see the sights of Delhi. The hostel encourages its visitors to use the Metro to get around the city and provides them with a map of how to reach the nearest station.

Foreigners beware that some etiquette existing in other countries does not exist on the Delhi Metro. There is almost no waiting for people to deboard the train before rushing in, sometimes resulting in getting a shoulder push. Even when seats are reserved for women in the general compartments, I usually see just men sitting there. People hold on to their seats and rarely offer them to people who may need it more. When someone asks someone for a seat, they simply squish over and give them a portion of the seat. Then when someone on the bench gets off, you can spread back out.

On my first day ever on the Metro, two people on different trains gave up their seats for me. Maybe they saw in my face it was my first time and I was a little nervous, because the luxury of getting offered a seat has never happened again.

(Alyssa McDonald is a Canadian journalist interning with IANS. She can be contacted at lys.med@gmail.com) (IANS)

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Tourists resorts in HP record fresh snowfall, services hit

The state administration claimed that it had rescued 40 snowbound people after introducing emergency chopper flights from Bhuntar to two helipads of Lahaul Spiti this afternoon.

Meanwhile, rain or snow spell was likely to continue and Met department has forecast fresh western disturbance was likely to advance by January 14.

World-famous tourist resort Manali experienced 15 cm fresh snowfall, Shimla 8.4 cm and Kalpa in Kinnuar 5.6 cm respectively. Nearby tourist resorts of Kufri, Narkanda, Chail and Mashobar also received 10 to 15 cm of fresh snowfall.

Rain also lashed parts of the state as Gohar in Mandi registered 8 mm rain, Seobagh in Kullu 6 mm, Bhuntar and Karsog of Mandi had 4 mm each and Jogindernagar 2 mm, respectively.

According to Secretary, General Administration Ajay Bhandari as many as 40 people were rescued in snowbound Lahaul Spiti district today as three sorties were conducted from Bhuntar to Stingeri and Bhuntar to Udaipur this afternoon.

Intense cold and snowy weather took a toll as three lives were lost in the state during the last 24 hours and two people were reportedly buried under a house that collapsed after heavy snow while one person died of cold in Chamba district, ADM Chamba Sunil Kumar confirmed. With this, the toll went up to six while dozen of others either got snow injuries or were frostbitten.

Vehicular traffic remained disrupted in this capital town as hundreds of small vehicles were trapped under the snow carpet and transport buses were not plying in snowbound areas.

The night temperature showed slight improvement as Keylong in Lahaul Spiti was minus 10.4 degrees Celsius which was minus 15 degrees yesterday, Kalpa in Kinnuar minus 5.6 degrees against minus nine degrees yesterday, Manali minus 2 degrees from minus 6.6 degrees yesterday, Shimla minus 1.8 degrees and Solan minus 1.4 degrees, respectively.

Una was low at two degrees, Palampur 2.5 degrees, Dharmshala 2.7 degrees, Sundernagar 3.6 degrees and Bhuntar 3.5 degrees, Mandi four degrees and Nahan 6.4 degrees, respectively.

The Met office has forecast fresh Western Disturbance (WD) as an upper air system would affect the western Himalayan region and adjoining plains from January 14 onwards. However, it has predicted dry weather in plains and high reaches and rain or snow in parts of middle hills in the next 24 hours. (UNI)

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Train to real India: On road to entrepreneurship

Jagriti, an NGO, brought together an odd assortment of 'yatris' (travellers with a mission) in a train that criss-crossed the country, exposing them to institutions that have developed unique solutions to India's challenges, in an effort to awaken the spirit of entrepreneurship among them.

Odd because they included both rural and urban, rich and not-so-rich, Indians and foreigners, culturally refined and the street styled, chapati eating and rasam loving, men and women - bound by the common ability to be affected by the socio-economic condition of the country and a dream of bringing in change.

In the fourth year of the Jagriti Yatra, the train passed through Tamil Nadu's Madurai, Andhra Pradesh's Visakhapatnam, Rajasthan's Tilonia, among other places, before culminating in Mumbai.

"The idea is to promote entrepreneurship-led development. Every person who takes part in the yatra goes back a different person," Jagriti co-founder Swapnil Dixit told IANS.

The programme focusses on 20-25 age group of "middle India". "It's the segment between the rich and poor -- where your per day income is Rs.40-120. We want to convert these job seekers into job creators," Dixit said.

An Indian Railways train was booked for the Dec 24-Jan 8 journey with specially equipped bathrooms and private caterers.

Around 15,000 people registered, of whom 450 were selected on the basis of a questionnaire. There were 35 foreign nationals from countries as diverse as Israel, Britain, South Africa and Argentina. "We include foreigners as they give an outsider's perspective to things," Dixit said.

But as theatre director Lewis Hallam famously put it, 'a journey is not undertaken without money', the yatra cost Rs.34,000 per person. And for those who couldn't afford it, it was just Rs.4,000 as the sponsors took care of the rest.

At a stopover for the yatris in Delhi, there was electrifying energy in the packed Kamani auditorium. The hall resonated with words like "amazing", "awe-inspiring", "incredible", "challenging" as participants sat down to review the journey.

"When you put 450 smart, bright people in a crazy train, amazing things happen. You have real high-level conversations about philosophy, education, history and everything," said Shay Eyal, owner of a start-up firm in Israel, shouting to make himself heard in the noise.

Then there was Abdul Kaleem from Uttar Pradesh's Deoria who participated as he wanted "to work for a sustainable model of education" in his district.

The participants got to witness the development taking place in the far corners of the country through innovative development initiatives, and interacted with those at the forefront of change.

The gender ratio inside the train was 60 males to 40 females.

According to Quinton Fivelman, currently working in Britain, "the train is like a pressure cooker with many cultures coming together. When you live in a small place, there's certain intimacy you develop."

"Some people from south India hadn't even got their winter clothes because they had never been to cooler climates, so there was a lot of sharing," Fivelman told IANS.

The participants met Infosys' N.R. Narayan Murthy; S. Aravind, who founded one of the most productive eye care facilities in Madurai; R. Elango, credited with transforming Kuthambakkam Village in Chennai, among other role models.

But how much of this initiative leads to tangible results? "Around 120 of our ex-participants have become entrepreneurs," said Dixit.

Britain's Richard Russell had been working in an Odisha NGO for a year. Ask him about his train experience and he takes a moment's pause to put his thoughts in order.

"I've been able to learn about enterprise models and ways of approaching development problems. We went to a village transformed by solar power, another one redeveloped by social enterprise," Russell told IANS.

(Mohita Nagpal can be contacted at mohita.n@ians.in) (IANS)

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Pedal your way to discovering the real India

Pradeep Sharma and his two friends are engineers working for multi-national companies (MNCs) in Bangalore. But their quest for adventure and green concerns has driven them to launch cycle tours and encourage people to take to pedalling for fun.

Pradeep hails from Morena district of Madhya Pradesh, while his friends Pankaj Mangal and Gaurav Mehendiratta respectively are from Jaipur (Rajasthan) and Delhi. The three are aged 28 and studied together in an engineering college in Ahmedabad.

They use films, music, songs, poetry, painting, photography, creative writing, books and rides to popularise bicycle tours and have also started a store in Bangalore - Art of Bicycle Trips.

The novel idea came to them during a cycle trip in July 2010. The trio went on a 120-km bicycle trip from Bangalore to a Cauvery fishing camp.

"After riding for around 60 km we sat under a statue of Mahatma Gandhi and started discussing our trip. We thought that for some bicycle is a utility and for others a revelation of human potential, but for us it was more of a new experience," Sharma recalled.

"Through that experience, the idea of a bicycle movement and Art of Bicycle Trips emerged," Sharma told IANS from Bangalore.

"India's beauty actually lies in its rural areas. And bicycle is the best medium to get connected with its nature and people, directly. So we offer a simple and unique way to experience the real India. Bicycling opens up a whole new world of adventure, freedom and mysticism on every spin," Sharma said.

The firm designs unique bicycle trips from day-long tours of within a city to safaris to other states including Karnataka, Kerala, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Tamil Nadu and Himachal Pradesh.

One day-long safari has been named after the 1970s Bollywood hit "Sholay" and is called Sholay Adventure. Under it, riders can tour the region where the blockbuster was shot.

"We have 15 bicycles specially designed for different tours. So far 70 to 80 groups (comprising 5-6 people) have taken our service, mostly foreigners. Among them only 10-15 groups were Indian but we hope the number will increase in future," Mehendiratta told IANS.

The ambitious trio plans to open branches in Bhopal and Indore in Madhya Pradesh. While Mangal looks after the strategy and planning, Sharma manages the finance and operations and Mehendiratta looks after overseas marketing. Sharma and Mehendiratta hold B.Tech degrees, while Mangal has also done his MBA.

"In foreign countries there are many organisations promoting bicycle tours. And some foreign tour operators offer such tours in India too, but no Indian organisation is involved in such activities," said Sharma.

"We would like to spread out across the country and make it a true movement," he said.

The packages range from three-hour tours to day-long tours and three-day corporate safaris. The rate is 20 dollars for a three-hour tour, and can go up to USD 2,000 - depending on the tour. Food and lodging are in the package.

Art of Bicycle Trips run a website www.artofbicycletrip.com. They also have a page on a social networking site.

(Shahnawaz Akhtar can be contacted at shahnawaz.a@ians.in) (IANS)

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Tourism can boost Kashmir's economic development: Omar

Addressing a meeting of the tourism officials here, Abdullah noted that the Vaishno Devi pilgrimage crossed 10 million mark in a calendar year Wednesday, and asked the tourism and other departments to divert the pilgrims to other places of tourist interest across the state.

According to officials, the Vaishno Devi pilgrimage alone annually generates Rs.2,000 crore for the state while the tourists visiting the valley contribute Rs.1,000 crore. This year, nearly two million tourists, including Amarnath pilgrims, visited Kashmir region.

"It's important that we focus our attention on tourism in a big way and offer a very hospitable environment to the visitors," Abdullah said.

"There is also need to divert pilgrim tourists visiting Mata Vaishno Devi in large numbers to other parts to help generating economic activities holistically," he said, adding that the steps initiated in this direction require a further boost.

Abdullah said the government has focused attention on creating befitting infrastructure at tourist places in consonance with ecology and environment requirements to maintain the balance between the two. (IANS)

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Andaman all set to host Island Tourism Festival 2012

A and N Governor Lt. Gen (Retd.) Bhopinder Singh will inaugurate the festival.

This year the added feature of ITF will be that, coinciding with the Island Tourism Festival, a five-day CARNIC fest from January 7th to 11th is also being organised. It will also be inaugurated by the Lt. Governor, Mr Satish Mathur, Secretary of Andaman?s Information Publicity and Tourism Department told reporters today.

Mr Mathur said Island Tourism Festival was also being taken to all the three districts.

During ITF, cultural programmes have been arranged in Diglipur, Long Island in North and Middle Andaman, Neil Island, Havelock Island, Wandoor, Wimberleygunj, Bathubasti in South Andaman, Amphitheatre at Anarkali Basti and Netaji Stadium in Port Blair Municipal Area and Car Nicobar in Nicobar District.

Another feature of this year?s Island Tourism Festival is the participation of mainland state tourism corporations. States like Madhya Pradesh, Goa, Delhi, Karnataka and Meghalaya are participating, the secretary added.

Mr Mathur added that like every year, the ITF Exhibition will have stalls with exhibits of different departments.

A special event ?Euphoria? Rock Band, a nationally reputed band of Dr Palash Sen, will perform at Netaji Stadium on January 12 and entry to this show will be tree for all Islanders, Mathur said.

Artists from Sikkim, Meghalaya, Arunachal, Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Odhisha, West Bengal will perform. Apart from this, 'Song and Drama Division of Kolkata' will also send their artists.

To promote local talents, as many as 40 local Orchestra, Cultural Associations are also being invited to perform their skills in various parts of these Islands. There will be Hasya Kavi Sammelan during ITF and also fireworks for the inaugural and closing functions, the Secretary added. (UNI)

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Srinagar-Jammu highway opened to one-way traffic

Border Roads Organisation's chief engineer Brigadier T.P.S. Rawat, who is supervising the road opening operations, said: "Traffic will move on the road from Jammu to Srinagar. No vehicles will be allowed to travel in the opposite direction."

He said all the stranded vehicles on the highway were allowed to move towards Srinagar Monday morning. "Stranded vehicles carrying passengers and essential supplies to the valley have been allowed to move on priority basis on the highway," Rawat told IANS.

"I have been personally supervising the road clearance operations from Patnitop to Banihal tunnel. Our boys had a tough time cutting through the 15-foot-high avalanche that struck the road yesterday (Sunday) at Panthal," he said.

"Tonnes of snow was removed from the road by snow clearing machines despite the bone-chilling cold and strong winds in the Banihal sector of the road," he said.

The Srinagar-Jammu national highway is the lifeline of Kashmir Valley, as all essential supplies are moved along it, and continued blockade of this crucial road often results in unscrupulous traders resorting to profiteering and black-marketing. (IANS)

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