Most of us have grown up with Indian Railways as an important part of our life. As a child we all had special love for railgadi. When I recall those days the smell of burning coal still gets fresh in mind. I am in Delhi since my birth and my grandparents used to stay in Rajasthan. During our summer vacations we used to go to see them.
And that was my introduction with Rail Gadi. We used to catch train from old Delhi station. Preparation for journey used to be well in advance. I am sure that for many of us, train was the only option to go for distant places. As the journey day approached, it became difficult to control excitement. Papa used to be in queue for tickets and when he used to come back with tickets, he was a winner for us. I don’t remember the reservation system in those days.
Platform used to be full with people, vendors and porters. At last train would roll in and we would run for occupying the seats. I don’t remember that we ever missed the window seats, which used to be a craze amongst children. Slowly we found other seats were occupied by fellow passengers (city folks and villagers). But it used to be a different time. Within no time I had many uncles and aunties. Parents were really not bothered about their children as they were sure of their safety in hand of unknown known.
There used to be enough time for departure so my papa would take me for stroll. We used to cover entire length of train with a fear in my mind of forgetting about our bogie. My papa would take me till engine and show various sections from outside only. My God, that steam engine used to be the most BEAUTIFUL AND POWERFUL thing for me. Driver and khallasi (who used to push coal into furnace) were like heroes to me. I was surprised with their powers and capabilities to control such a huge machine.
Smell and heat of steam coming out of vent thrilled me. Big wheels and cylindrical black shape of front portion were of great interest to me. Can we forget the whistle of steam engine? It was the most attractive part of this black beauty. I used to wonder, how the same steam can have so many functions. Then we would walk back to our bogy. If the time allowed we will go to the guard van also. Before departure guard will be there and writing something in his books. For me, he was most handsome person in white dress and cap. His accessories were mind blowing. A lantern, whistle, torch, red and green flags. There used to be a steering wheel sort of thing in his cabin and to me it was used for controlling direction of train.
Back to our bogy, I would slowly push the uncle and then request him to move aside. Request was granted and now I used to be the proud owner of window seat. Just when train was to move, my papa asked me to push the train. Sitting inside I had the only option of holding train from window side and apply my power. It won’t budge, but my papa would ask me apply more power and that used to be the time when driver released the brakes and train moved on.
I was happy that I could move such a huge train and fellow passengers used to smile at me. I am grateful to my papa for giving me happiness thru these small activities. You could feel the change in sound of engine and its rhythm, when it used to gather speed. When I used to look out of window towards engine direction, I was stopped by papa or mummy in doing so. Reason they told that flying coal will fall in your eyes. I could never imagine about flying coal so disobeyed and suffered because of minute pieces of coal in my eyes.
There used to be all sort of luggage around in all possible shapes. Molded suitcases were not there and every one used to carry steel trunks, who had attaches were considered as luxury people. Then there used to be bed roll which was called as holdol. To pack bedding in this was a fun. Along with sheets, pillows and blankets, people used to pack other households in that and every one carried bulky bedrolls. People used to carry earthen pots for drinking water called surahi; packed water was not there at all. There used to be plastic bottles too, but water in these used to be warm and with plastic smell. Train used to stop every now and then at stations and that used to irritate as it used to take long to start again. Fresh load of people would get in and within no time, they were adjusted to in limited space.
