Tracking mood on Brahmaputra Mail: Where wage loss is the real bogeyman

Job scarcity, price hikes, and a first class bias - the voices echo down the Brahmaputra Mail's corridors. Dhruvaksh Saha buys a ticket to reality

Even as the Brahmaputra Mail gently rumbles into Kamakhya Junction, perched on the banks of the mighty Brahmaputra, the sun plays a whimsical game of peekaboo amid the swirling clouds above Guwahati.

The station, recently thrust into the limelight, finds itself among the chosen few, selected by the rail ministry alongside 1,274 others for a grand makeover under the Amrit Bharat Station Scheme. Adorning its walls are vibrant splashes of traditional artwork, yet the platform benches sit shrouded in dust, with litter strewn carelessly along the edges.

Within the confines of the train, a microcosm of the nation unfolds. From