The fundamental truth of death is… that it is uncertain. In these times, parents are often found to be living alone in their homes while children reside outside and away from their parents for want of higher education, pursuing relevant professional calling or on business, many a time, even outside the country.

In order to perform the last rituals of the deceased, parents, children,relatives are desperate to reach on time for attending funeral/cremation. This need to be with the family in such times is mandatory.

When such an unfortunate moment arrives, time is the limiting factor. One cannot prolong to preserve the dead body for an indefinite period of time, waiting for family members or friends to arrive.

Those relatives, well wishers or friends who are unable to attend the funeral, chose to visit subsequently, to be a part of the condolence meets.

At such times, the mode of transport results in arrival on time or late arrival. Presence of mode of transport and availability of seats in the selected mode of travel are mutually exclusive. Many a time, bus seats are not available as road travel is a cost efficient, quick and convenient mode of travel nowadays. Flight seats if present are always costly on the penultimate day.

Download the UT App here for regular updates from UdaipurTimes

In India, the most connected route is the train service, with every major or minor city have multiple docking railway stations, either in the city of nearby to the main city. However, the reservation as well as Tatkaal seats go away in a hurry as soon as windows open and of course, not every one gets there share.

Even so, the Indian Railways and private and public airlines could very well look into the above mentioned aspects and probably keep a couple of seats reserved on every sector, too allow last minute bookings for meeting such exigencies.

These seats can also be released on last moment basis to accommodate waiting lists or RAC.  Unused seats for ladies and senior citizens or defence and student quota can also be made available for such exigencies. How such exigencies will be verified is a question that needs mulling.

Another factor that the railways and airline companies can consider is to provide a quota for students travelling to appear for examinations or interviews.

The other logistics and work flow of such an arrangement can be worked out smoothly, and this sort of a facility will really add value to the service the transportation sector is already providing.