I think most people have seen images of this sort of thing before. It might be interpreted as just the normal train overcrowding in third world countries. Of course, it looks absurdly dangerous, and something that would not normally be allowed. Actually, these are special trains carrying people to religious festivals at no charge. They fill up and the overflow crowd rides wherever they can on the exterior. This practice is not to be confused with train surfing which is performing daredevil stunts while train hopping. What seems to possibly offset some of the danger here is the way these people cooperate in a spirit of amplified joy.
I think this video is very well produced both technically and artistically. The high quality sound and video technique are as good as it gets. There are a lot of interesting little dramas going on with all those people in every view. The video gets right up close and personal to show what this train crowding practice is all about. There are about a half-dozen other videos done in Bangladesh by creator “blackthorne57”, and they are all equally well done and compelling to watch.
This video also visits the markets set up on the main line tracks of the railroad, which is another bizarre practice that seems to be asking for trouble. I have read that these markets are illegal, and the government keeps trying to crack down, but cannot eliminate them. Particularly intriguing is the art of piling inventory almost just touching the theoretical clearance diagram of the railroad equipment. One has to wonder about the possible tainting of the food products by sewage discharged from the trains. More on the markets shows up in the other videos as well.&n
Yes nothing like technology in primitive almost Stone Age societies …beating their clothes on rocks to clean them and breaking bricks to survive. Be thankful we have developed economies …and hot water!
Notice what you said. Export! Yes they are exporting those who have attained solid education and can no longer stomach the rest of their country that tends to seem to be backward, dirty savages.
Looking at India railway videos, even when passengers are all inside the cars - the people wandering around the tracks, seemingly without regard to their own safety with passing trains does not leave a good image of the country and its people.
Never having been to India, and with no desire to go there, I can only make judgements on what gets presented on TV and the other visual mediums on the internet. I am certain every thing shown, on all platforms, has some form of a slant on what is presented, however, returning to you statement about their biggest export being their educated people it makes one wonder why the educated are so anxious to depart to a foreign land and culture.
I don’t see anything for those upper class people of India to be offended about. Not everyone is a doctor or engineer. It is what it is. It is life in the third world. There is a lot of it out there. And for as poor as those countries tend to be, they are now progressing at an accelerating pace. Bangladesh is growing faster than the U.S. today. We could use a little of the 6-7% growth that those countries are experiencing as they take all our manufacturing jobs by underbidding us.
In any case, the people riding to the religious festivals on top of the trains seem to be experiencing great joy that permeates the group as a whole. You can feel it when the train goes by. People living that life of relative poverty are probably enjoying it to the fullest.
That general setting, I assume is in the very poor area of the cities. Those on-track markets are said to be a function of the slums. There are videos that take you on a tour of the slums. It certainly must be low income, but still, the spirits seem high. My feeling about the video is that it is very well made and captures incredibly interesting subject matter with the endless variety of human activities. The culture does not bother me. The train roof riding is just bizarre due to its social willingness to accept such extreme danger as part of the celebration. It almost defies comprehension. But that is how it is, and they take it in stride.
There was a railroad in Ecuador that became famous as a tourist destination. They allowed roof riding and it was very popular among the tourists. But the basic