Choo Choo

Dear Parallel Tracks,

Sometime last week my looking balls came across this article in the International Herald Tribune, which I found incredibly interesting. If I was a real journalist I would have done some more digging and perhaps found a few other sources, but since I am a little short of the Anderson Cooper world this one article will have to suffice. So here goes...

I always knew that railroads played a vital part to a country's dynamic. Seriously...I had to write a paper on the railway boom in British North America and the Dominion of Canada in the second half of the 19th century. Not that its a big deal or anything but I totally killed that paper. Boo ya. Moving on...railroads in themselves are fascinating feats of engineering and pivotal in sewing a country together. These seemingly infinite metal tracks do not merely serve as a means of transportation but also as physical vectors for the nation's inhabitants. This last point is exemplified in the article, "Riding the Train of Dreams Across India".

In India, the Pushpak Express is the starting line for young hopefuls eyeing something great. Often it is young men who board the train in hopes of achieving big dreams in the 'City of Gold'. As one journeys from the bleak countryside into the urban domain, the shift in affluence is apparent. The scenic farmland and dirt roads slowly disappear giving way to traffic-filled streets, large buildings, and bright lights. It can be overwhelming and its easy to see why there is such an epidemic of the so-called Mumbai Fever. However, migrants' lofty hopes of lucrative job offers are often dashed as the thousands of country folks become part of the city's great anonymous. One older migrants recalled that, "Dreams don't go away in Mumbai, they just get smaller."

According to this article, one of the greatest migrations in world history is happening in India. If current migration trends continue as predicted, every minute about 31 villagers will show up in Mumbai for the next 43 years. This South Asian migration combined with the exodus currently going on in China has, "helped push the world over a historic threshold this year: the planet, for first time, is more urban than rural." And to think that the majority of these people began their quest for the good life by boarding a train for about six dollars.