‘ENTITLED TO AT LEAST THE BARE NECESSITIES OF LIFE’

In July 1916, MK Gandhi wrote a pamphlet in Gujarati on the state of travel in third class compartments. An English translation, ‘Third Class in Indian Railways’ was published the following year. In it, Gandhi begins by describing a train journey that he undertook, and expands on the sorry state of passengers. He ends it with a suggestion that likely caused a great deal of consternation among the monied classes. An excerpt from the pamphlet:

On the way, passengers got for tea tannin water with filthy sugar and a whitish looking liquid miscalled milk which gave this water a muddy appearance. I can vouch for the appearance, but I cite the testimony of the passengers as to the taste. Not during the whole of the journey was the compartment once swept or cleaned. The result was that every time you walked on the floor or rather cut your way through the passengers seated on the floor, you waded through dirt. The closet was also not cleaned during the journey and there was no water in the water tank. Refreshments sold to the passengers were dirty looking, handed by dirtier hands, coming out of filthy receptacles and weighed in equally unattractive scales. (…) Is it any wonder that plague has become endemic in India? (…) Surely a third class passenger is entitled at least to the bare necessities of life (…) Among the many suggestions that can be made for dealing with the evil here described, I would respectfully include this: let the people in high places, the Viceroy, the Commander-in-Chief, the Rajas, Maharajas, the Imperial Councillors and others, who generally travel in superior classes, without previous warning, go through the experiences now and then of third class travelling. We would then soon see a remarkable change in the conditions of third class travelling and the uncomplaining millions will get some return for the fares they pay under the expectation of being carried from place to place with ordinary creature comforts.