Wet Wednesday Blues

The Mangalore-Mumbai Matsyagandha Express derailed this morning near Raigad. As of writing, 18 have been rreported dead and over 100 injured. The numbers are likely to go up. Accidents on Konkan Railway during the monsoons are inevitable given the terrain that the railway runs through. How much netting can be put anyway on land that is more hill than plateau? A wandering cow can easily set loose a boulder that can cause an entire train carrying over 1000 people to just tilt and fall off a bridge. It's that easy.

Mum and Aunty E discuss how many school kids would have probably been in the train - likely because vacations are over and families would be returning home, some a little late because of non-availability of tickets. Families destroyed at a single instant. For many, life will never be the same again.

Mother vows to travel to M'lore only by air or road from now on. Am trying to convince her this is only a seasonal hazard.

It's going to be a glued-to-the-news-channels-day at home. Laloo and his quirky comments notwithstanding.