Where is that great dosti and we should be one, bs? This is the real face of india, all the people who ere jumping over the moon, when india wanted to be our friends, this is a reality check and this is how the real india is!
Family misses train and caught in next nightmare
NEW DELHI: For Syeda Hasina, a Pakistani housewife, it seemed a miracle her family had missed the train.
Exhausted after a daylong journey from western India, Hasina and her husband, three small children and a mound of luggage, scrambled into the bustling Delhi station on Sunday night only to see the train to Pakistan chugging out.
But hours after explosions on the train, Hasina says their initial feelings of elation turned to despair as the family became caught in the tortuous visa rules. “Everyone is saying how lucky we were to have missed the train. But no one is telling us what we should do now,” says the petite mother, 32.
Hasina and her husband Syed Mohammed Siddique were in India to attend a cousin’s marriage in Jamnagar. When they got their visas, it was for Jamnagar only.
Now stranded in a Delhi railway station’s waiting room, Siddique’s face speaks of his frustration with the rigidity of government regulations. Their visas for Jamnagar mean the family cannot leave the station – but Indian railroad rules don’t permit them to stay in the railway station more than 24 hours.
After settling his wife and children in the waiting room, Siddique ventured out to find a hotel room in the maze of narrow lanes outside the station. Each hotel turned him away.
“They said I would have to report to the police and get a clearance. But legally I don’t have a visa for New Delhi, so I could be arrested if I move out of the railway station,” Siddique says. “Every now and then, railway officials come to check how many hours we’ve spent. They tell us, ‘you’ll have to clear out’, but where can we go?” asks Siddique.
http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007\02\20\story_20-2-2007_pg1_6