Overcrowded trains serve as metaphor for India in Western eyes – but they are a relic of colonialism and capitalism
By the end of the 19th century, railways were being used by millions across India. Keystone-France/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images
Ritika Prasad, University of North Carolina – Charlotte
A devastating rail crash that left almost 300 people dead has refocused international attention on the importance of railways in the lives of Indians.
Indeed, to many Western observers, images of men and women crammed into overcrowded cars serve as a metaphor for modern India.
Take, for example, a report by German newspaper Der Spiegel on India’s population surpassing China’s. Published just weeks before the accident in Odisha province on June 2, the now much-criticized cartoon depicted a shabby Indian train crammed with passengers rushing past a streamlined Chinese train with only two people in ...
