Yesterday, I went to the Amtrak station at Glenwood Springs, CO to change my train tickets. I was surprised to note that the woman working at the counter was the same person who had unloaded my suitcase from the train the day before. For someone from India, this was a culture-shock. It is inconceivable that someone in India who has a desk-job - say a ticketing agent; would also load and unload suitcases on the platform. There are other issues at play too.
In India, I am guessing that even at the smallest station, there would be many jobs: a station-master, a ticketing person, few people working as physical labourers to load and unload goods and mail, signal-people on either end of the station, and people to clean the station, in addition to a host of other unofficial people who depend on the train-station for their livelihood: food-vendors,newspaper and magazine sellers, coolies, boot-polish kids, beggars, auto-rickshaw drivers- and most of these would be men.
The station in India would also have hand-painted signs- so a local would get hired for the job, instead of a standard sized sign made in a factory somewhere like in all Amtrak stations.
It was charming to see a small black-board, where the same person mentioned above, would write the time of the expected arrival of trains. There are only passenger trains- eastbound and westbound; the eastbound train had departed on time at 12:10 pm, while the westbound train was running late by 3-4 hours. Having left Chicago a day ago, it was scheduled to arrive at 4:53pm.
In India, I am guessing that even at the smallest station, there would be many jobs: a station-master, a ticketing person, few people working as physical labourers to load and unload goods and mail, signal-people on either end of the station, and people to clean the station, in addition to a host of other unofficial people who depend on the train-station for their livelihood: food-vendors,newspaper and magazine sellers, coolies, boot-polish kids, beggars, auto-rickshaw drivers- and most of these would be men.
The station in India would also have hand-painted signs- so a local would get hired for the job, instead of a standard sized sign made in a factory somewhere like in all Amtrak stations.
It was charming to see a small black-board, where the same person mentioned above, would write the time of the expected arrival of trains. There are only passenger trains- eastbound and westbound; the eastbound train had departed on time at 12:10 pm, while the westbound train was running late by 3-4 hours. Having left Chicago a day ago, it was scheduled to arrive at 4:53pm.
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