Title - Exodus comes to an end, railways cancels special train

BANGALORE: The flight from fear seems to be over. After a scary exodus for three days, only 80 railway tickets were sold on Saturday, prompting officials to cancel the special train to Guwahati.N Ramesh, senior deputy commercial manager, confirmed there won't be any trains leaving on Saturday night. "We need a minimum of 2,500 tickets booked to run a train but there aren't enough bookings. Only 80 tickets were booked," he said. At Yeshwantpur police station, 300 people had boarded a train to Assam, officials said.Unaware of this, Jayahta Das and Babu Kumarnath were part of the 20-member group that left from Mangalore on Friday night. They came to Bangalore to catch the train back home to Guwahati, but were surprised to see an empty platform 4 at the railway station. By afternoon, they had already pulled out plastic sheets for their afternoon nap. "We are told there would be a train at night but there is no one at the railway station. We went to the counter a couple of times, but they said announcements would be made soon," said Das.These men were working as security guards with Doberman Security Services and said that most of their colleagues had already left. "There were around 240 of us working in the company, now there are only four left in office. Our boss told us we would be safe but our families are pressuring us to return. Once these problems settle down, we will return," said Kumarnath. When told there was no special train, they decided to stay put at the station, hoping for better news.

In the afternoon, there were less than 200 people from the northeastern community waiting outside the railway station. Although the numbers swelled by evening, it was marginal.

The exodus may have seen a drop, but fear remains. In spite of the police crackdown on anti-social elements, many still believe rumours that there will be attacks after August 20.

Roopam, 19, a native of Guwahati, joined work as an electrician near Koramangala just a week ago, and didn't even get time to unpack his luggage. "There is money here and if I work in Assam, I will be earning much less. But it is better than living under fear. I have no one here to take care of me even if I fall ill, what will happen to me if I am attacked?"

Amid all this chaos, three young men got out of an autorickshaw at the railway station. Dragging their luggage, they went towards reception, and were taken aback to see there were few travelers. Realizing that the train could be cancelled, they picked up their luggage and walked towards the prepaid autorickshaw stand.