Krishan Kant

1974 to 1978 I studied in Sri Ramakrishna Misson Vidyalaya, Coimbatore. Reason to go there : City colleges fees: Rs 1000 to 3000. Hotel fees : 200 per month. In SRMV: (25 kms from city) College fees: 300 Hotel fees : 75 per month. Reason to travel by train: I could not afford even that Hostel fees. I found a Govt Harijan hostel in city which was free. But bus fare was 60 paise one way. Monthly Rs. 30. That also sounded too costly. A passenger train used to run in that route and its student quarterly pass was Rs. 7. Reason to talk about this platform: Train In: Dep : 5:50 am. Arrival: 6:25 am. Out: Departure: 6:10 pm. Arrival 6:45 pm. College started at 9:00 am. Ended any time. Time to kill: 6:30 am to 9:00 am. Any time to 6:00 pm. Average daily 6 hrs. What I did: Sat in this Railway platform and studied Maths Physics Chemistry How did I get BARC job: My 1000 days and 6000 man hours intense focus on Avagadros, Ohms and Pythagoras Those days my mother was only earning member of family. Rs. 3 a day. So I had to do all sacrifice to get a degree without denting her arithmetics much. She gave her 4 bangles to pay my college fees. What I wish to say is: “Fortunately I was poor”. Be it college or Career or business “Patience, Focus, Frugality and Discipline “ Gives slow but sustainable success. I took my wife to show how a railway platform made a Scientist. Pic :2015.

On the night of May 20, 2025, a little girl in a faded pink frock fell asleep on her mother’s lap at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus. Her parents, simple people from Solapur, had come to Mumbai for her father’s treatment. They were exhausted. Just for a moment, the mother closed her eyes. When she opened them, her daughter was gone. Six months. Six months of walking from police station to police station. Six months of showing the same crumpled photograph to strangers on trains, in slums, in orphanages. Six months of the father not sleeping, the mother not eating, both of them growing hollow-eyed, whispering the same name into the dark: “Aarohi… Aarohi…” In Varanasi, a thousand kilometres away, a tiny girl with no memory of her real name was learning to call herself “Kashi.” She had been found crying near the railway tracks in June, barefoot and terrified. The orphanage gave her food, a bed, and a new name. She smiled easily, because children always do, but sometimes at night she clutched the edge of her blanket and asked for “Aai” — Marathi for mother — and no one understood. Back in Mumbai, the police refused to close the file. They printed posters with Aarohi’s face, stuck them on every platform from Lokmanya Tilak Terminus to Bhusawal to Varanasi Cantt. They ran newspaper ads, knocked on doors, begged journalists for help. Six months is a long time for hope to stay alive, but some officers carried her photograph in their shirt pockets like it was their own child. Then, on November 13, a local reporter in Varanasi saw the poster. Something clicked. He had seen a girl who spoke Marathi words in her sleep. He made a phone call. The next morning, a Mumbai Police inspector sat in front of a laptop in Varanasi and opened a video call. On the screen appeared a little girl in a pink frock — the same colour she was wearing the day she vanished. The mother, standing behind the officer in Mumbai, saw her daughter and collapsed without a sound. The father just kept repeating, “That’s my Aarohi… that’s my baby…” They flew her back on Children’s Day — November 14. When the plane landed, the entire Mumbai Crime Branch was waiting. They had bought her balloons and a new frock, sky blue this time. But the moment the little girl stepped out and saw the sea of khaki uniforms, she did something no one expected. She ran. Not away — toward them. Tiny legs pumping, arms outstretched, she threw herself at the nearest officer and laughed — the purest, clearest laugh that had been missing from the world for half a year. The officer, a tough man who had seen everything, felt his eyes burn. He lifted her high, and she wrapped her arms around his neck like he was family. Her parents were crying too hard to walk. So the policemen carried their daughter to them. The mother touched her face again and again, as if checking she was real. The father fell to his knees and pressed his forehead to his child’s tiny feet, sobbing words no one could understand except God. And the little girl? She just kept smiling, looking from her parents to the officers and back again, completely unaware that she had turned an entire police station into a sobbing, laughing, praying family. Six months of darkness ended in one hug. Aarohi is home now. The kidnapper is still out there, but that is tomorrow’s fight. Today, a mother is singing lullabies again. Today, a father is smiling in his sleep. And somewhere in Mumbai, there are policemen who will never forget the weight of a four-year-old girl in their arms — the weight of an entire life returned. Sometimes the uniform doesn’t just catch thieves. Sometimes it carries lost children all the way back to their mothers’ hearts.

Good food, clean coaches and lush green mountains glowing outside - it feels like a world-class journey. And it’s in India. The Ernakulam–Bengaluru Vande Bharat is the perfect example of what Modi-era railways have become.

WDP-4D dedicated to the hero of Battle of Dograi, Major Asaram Tyagi! This is one of the coolest initiative of Indian Railways to dedicate the locos to the bravehearts. @adgpi @RailMinIndia

Swift...Systematic...Safe... Udhna station rush fully cleared..... Holistic planning & seamless coordination has ensured smooth dispersal of rush at Udhna before 16:00 hrs. A clear demonstration of well coordinated operations by Western Railway. #WesternRailway #PassengerJoy #CrowdManagement #FestiveRush #SafeJourney #PassengerFirst #TravelHomeForDiwaliWithWR

The amazing story behind #Charbagh.

New #tatkal rules aimed at curbing bots and bulk bookings #Aadhaar #IRCTC

Two Freight Trains Racing Towards Destination 💪🏻🔥 A food grain freight train on Indian Railways Track (Left) racing with a coal loaded freight (right) towards Pt Deen Dayal Upadhayay Junction. @RailMinIndia @dfccil_india @AshwiniVaishnaw #IndianRailways

This remains one of the finest advertisements I've ever seen!

@kukreja_abhinav The more logical explanation is that the compliance/enforcement officials visit the villages only during morning hours or till lunch. Thus, the villagers wait for them to leave and consider is safer to burn stubble after 3PM.

Apparently a Nasa satellite called Aqua does a pass by over Punjab and Haryana around 1:30 -2:00 PM daily. Farmers have figured this out. Majority of parali is now burned in the late afternoon, after this pass by has already happened - as confirmed by a 🇰🇷 satellite

HC Verma. India’s most famous physics teacher — whose book “Concepts of Physics” has shaped scientific thinking for millions of students — is my guest in the latest episode of The Slow Interview, Season 4. His views MUST be heard by parents as well as students. I promise you they will be life-changing, whatever you do in life. Full episode here: youtu.be/ftI1RknLils?si… And watch all recent and old episodes here: youtube.com/playlist?list=… @TheSlowMovement @GaonConnection @GaonConnectionE

India needs a national bullet train system. In my latest High Capacity piece, I discuss how we should think big about rail infrastructure, climate, and economic development with some data and lessons from China's high-speed rail system. Read here: high-capacity.com/p/india-needs-…

Integrity & professionalism of IND elect process has remained superb despite heated & polarized elect campaign. None of defeated candidates, not even those who lost with mini margin, doubted elect result. This to all who felt descending tone towards IND democracy was appropriate

My favorite behavioral experiment covered in The WEIRDest People in the World: “You are riding in a car driven by a close friend. He hits a pedestrian. You know that he was going at least 35 mph in an area of the city where the maximum allowed speed is 20 mph. There are no witnesses, except for you. His lawyer says that if you testify under oath that he was driving only 20 mph, it may save him from serious legal consequences. Do you think: (a) that your friend has a definite right to expect you to testify (as his close friend), and that you would testify that he was going 20 mph OR (b)  that your friend has little or no right to expect you to testify and that you would not falsely testify that he was only going 20 mph?" ... Below is an explanation by the author the book, Joseph Henrich, and a graphical depiction of the responses found in the underlying study. “If you picked response (b), you’re probably pretty WEIRD, like people in Canada, Switzerland, and the United States, where more than 90 percent of participants prefer not to testify and don’t think their friend has any right to expect such a thing. This is the universalistic or nonrelational response. By contrast, in Nepal, Venezuela, and South Korea, most people said they’d willingly lie under oath to help a close friend. This is the particularistic or relational response, which captures people’s loyalty to their family and friends.” ... “There’s nothing special about the content of the Passenger’s Dilemma. In places where people would help their friends by testifying, they also report a willingness to (1) give their friends insider company information, (2) lie about a friend’s medical exam to lower his insurance rates, and (3) exaggerate the quality of the cuisine at a friend’s restaurant in a published review. In these places, the “right” answer is to help your friend. People aren’t trying to distinguish themselves as relentlessly honest individuals governed by impartial principles. Instead, they are deeply loyal to their friends and want to cement enduring relationships, even if this involves illegal actions. In these places, being nepotistic is often the morally correct thing to do. By contrast, in WEIRD societies, many people think badly of those who weight family and friends over impartial principles and anonymous criteria like qualifications, merit, or effort.”

इस बार #GuestIntheNewsroom में आए प्रोफेसर एचसी वर्मा. उनकी लिखी Concepts of Physics विज्ञान के छात्रों विशेषकर IIT की तैयारी करने वालों के बीच बहुत चर्चित है. बातचीत में उन्होंने बताया कि अगर धरती घूमना बंद कर दे, चंद्रमा गायब हो जाए और ग्रेविटी न रहे तो क्या होगा? Full Interview: thelallantop.com/lallankhas/pos… @saurabhtop @hcvbharat #GITN

A new Sunrise for Agra. Agra Metro begins. #AgraMetro #UPMetro

@nidhinvalsanips @DelhiPolice Many Congratulations Sir!

Stepping into new realms of responsibility today, fueled by determination and vision. Each challenge is an opportunity to redefine what's possible. Let's rise to the occasion and make every moment count! #NewHorizons #CareerGrowth #newoffice @DelhiPolice

“The kindest person in the room is often the smartest.”

Today the Heads of Railways meet of #SCO countries in New Delhi was chaired by Mrs.Jaya Varma Sinha Member O&BD, Ministry of Railways . The Heads agreed to improve regional connectivity, facilitate trade and improve digitisation .

हमने इश्क़ किया बंद कमरों में फ़िजिक्स पढ़ते हुए, ऊंची छतों पर बैठकर तारे देखते हुए, रोटियां सेक रही मां के सामने बैठकर चपर-चपर खाते हुए हमने नहीं रखी बटुए में तस्वीरें, किताबों में गुलाब, अलमारियों में चिट्ठियां हमारे कस्बे में नहीं थे सिनेमाहॉल, पार्क और पब्लिक लाइब्रेरी हम तय करके नहीं मिले, हमने इश्क़ किया जिसमें सब कुछ अनिश्चित था, कहीं अचानक टकरा जाना सड़क पर और हफ़्तों तक न दिखना भी और उन लड़कियों से किया इश्क़ हमने जिन्हें तमीज़ नहीं थी प्यार की. जिनके सुसंस्कृत घरों की चहारदीवारी में नहीं सिखाई जाती थी प्यार की तहज़ीब हमने उनसे किया इश्क़ जिन्हें हमेशा जल्दी रहती थी किताबें बदलकर लौट जाने की, मुस्कुराकर चेहरा छिपाने की, मंदिर के कोनों में अपने हिस्से का चुंबन लेकर वापस दौड़ जाने की उनकी भाभियां उकसाती, समझाती रहती थीं उन्हें मगर वे साथ लाती थीं सदा गैस पर रखे हुए दूध का, छोटे भाई के साथ का या घर आई मौसी का ताज़ा बहाना जल्दी लौट जाने का हमने डरपोक, समझदार, सुशील, आज्ञाकारी लड़कियों से इश्क़ किया जो ट्रेन की आवाज़ सुनकर भी काट देती थीं फ़ोन, छूने पर कांप जाया करती थीं, देखने वालों के आने पर सजकर बैठ जाती थी छुइमुइयां बनकर कपड़ों के न उघड़ने का ख़्याल रखते हुए सारी रात सोने वाली, महीने के कुछ दिनों में अकारण चिड़चिड़ी हो जाने वाली, अंगूठी, कंगन, बालियों और गुस्सैल पिताओं से बहुत प्यार करने वाली सच्चरित्र लड़कियों से किया हमने प्यार जो किसी सोमवार, मंगलवार या शुक्रवार की सुबह अचानक विदा हो गईं सजी हुई कारों में बैठकर, उसी रात उन्होंने फूंका बहुत समर्पण, बेसब्री और उन्माद से अपना सहेजकर रखा हुआ कुंवारापन चुटकी भर लाल पाउडर और भरे हुए बटुए में अपनी तस्वीर लगवाने के लिए बिकीं करवाचौथ वाली सादी लड़कियों से ऐसा किया हमने इश्क़ कि चांद, तारों, आसमान को बकते रहे रातभर गालियां खोए सब उन घरों के संस्कार, गुलाबों में घोलकर पी शराब, मांओं से की बदतमीज़ी, होते रहे बर्बाद बेहिसाब। पंक्तियाँ - गौरव सौलंकी