Sea of commuters waiting for the suburban train on the platform of a station in Mumbai. — ©2023 The New York Times Company
THEY cram themselves every day by the millions onto India’s overtaxed trains, chasing a shred of economic opportunity across the vastness of the world’s most populous nation.
Tickets costing about US$5 – nearly a day’s wage – are all they can afford. For that, they stand shoulder to shoulder over long stretches in the middle of so-called general category coaches, far removed from the air-conditioned cars that lie beyond the pantry where workers prepare the rice, roti and chai for the journey.
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