Just came back from a trip to Kolkata and the Sunderbans. In the station was a huge line of labourers waiting for more than 12 hours, sleeping and eating in the station. When asked I came to know they are waiting for trains to go to bangalore, hyderabad etc to do labour work as the wage rate in west bengal is almost half that of these states. People in lakhs are moving out in search of a living. As soon as a train arrives there is a mad rush to get into the general compartment and the police screams and pushes them. They looked no more than cows, buffaloes or the poultry chicken. I was fortunate to go for a great ride on a private bpat across the river in the Sunderbans, the home of the Bengal Tiger. Chatting to an NGO came to know that 2 islands there had got submerged due to the effects of global warming. Something I had heard of only in theory but here was reality. The boatman worked very hard and was very skilled but earned only 3000 rupees a month and had to support a wife and two kids. He said no one studies beyond 10th due to lack of money. The island in which they lived though visited by foreigners and Indian tourista and having posh cottages had no doctor to treat the people. Someone from the city came twice a month and checked the waiting 100-150 people and gave medicines until he came again. if someone was serious they had to be taken on boat to the city and many died on the way including women during childbirth. It was a sad story. Money is so important in todays world that humans have no value.
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