Memoirs !

 I have a faculty endowed  by God ,perhaps boasting,  is power given for observation & sometimes it surprises me immensely ,how I have glaring image of particular event ,so old ,but poignantly embedded in my memory foot-prints, trifle , obliterated in the sand of time , but remembered so vividly !

Railway Train

This is the story of 1955-56 , my father was posted at Jhajharpur of the  Kosy catchment area & as I was sahib's son , given a tricycle to roam in circle compound only with the instruction to remain aloof from the fellow boys of same age to maintain elitism !

                       Perhaps ,this was the reason , I developed the pastime of observation & enjoyed it sitting on the seat of my tricycle, but for my gleeful cycling  rendezvous , I preferred the long platform of railway station . It had an old building by present standard , provided a long smooth pathway for cycling .

                   As I was frequent visitor of the railway platform , I developed a bonhomie with every rail staff ,starting from Burra babu ,the dour station master ,Chhota Babu ,humorous goods clerk & class four staffs who were performing small errands to keep the railway station clean & working . They looked after the appurtenances & paraphernalia such as alerting the waiting passengers of coming trains , weighing machines for goods , fire buckets & many other tit-bits .                 

old railway station

 

My other very quizzical marvel was small overhead water tank & a small red colored water nozzle standing like elephant trunk swinged on a hinge to the boiler tank of  standing steam rail engine & gushing water to their boiler . It was a common lingo used by one & all 'इंजीन अभी पानी पी रहा है ,सुस्ता के आगे चलेगा I '

Small overhead tank & water nozzle

But I enjoyed most ,the coming of train on the platform . I , sitting on my tricycle keeping on the edge of platform at a vantage place watching the long track in the horizon ,1st appeared the rail engine like a dot red ,blue or black  in the horizon , gradually taking the shape of a colossus giant ,bellowing jig-jag smoke in the sky ,some times thick black , some times opaque , making a shrill ear piercing whistle with a rhythmic sound shattering the platform . Jostling of waiting passengers for a vantage seat was a treat to  joyous watch as stoppage was only of few minutes .

railway track in the horizon

 

 

This was quaint but mundane affair of daily routine of railway station & repetition of it was boring some time ,but shunting of railway bogies with engine , long haul of goods train , their chugging & belching callisthenics performed in their movement, spawned romanticism . How many stories , how many dramas, how many detective stories,true & fictious are weaved around it in every language of the world is countless .

the coming railway train

One evening I was just sitting on verandah , I saw a procession of bullock cart carrying mainly rural women folk of different age group alighted from bullock cart , all relaxed seemed to be visiting village festival  in the long & picturesque circle compound  . From their gossip I came to know their purpose of coming & it was viewing of railway station & railway train ! I was thinking ,to watch a railway station is so mundane affair & these women trudged miles ,singing rural songs sitting on bullock cart, with expectations, just for seeing a railway train ! How funny!

rural women folk on bullock cart

In the whole night their gossips was in low tone , jingling of bells tied round the neck of bullocks , rasping  slang of bullock cart drivers for taming the bullocks ,glowing of fire for cooking the food , bawling of small child was weaving a real rural setup & campfire, otherwise in a disciplined circle compound .

                               In the morning ,all the women visitors in circle compound took a dip in big pond , paid obeisance & worshiped in Shiva temple ,attired themselves in perhaps in their best fineries, did their best  rural make up , got readied for visiting the railway station . A rural festival indeed !

                             I  also insisted to go to railway station in the morning to see the 'tamasha' otherwise I was supposed to go to railway station in the evening. On the platform hoard of women were marveling on every paraphernalia & appurtenances related to railway station & train . Their naivete had unbounded itself , in the mean time alert signal  of train coming was given . 

Hoard of women folk waited with bated breath of its coming . The tremors caused, the shattering sound of engine, jumping of young & not so young women from the edge of platform to middle of platform , as if train will jump on the platform, their  artless swooning sound , engine drivers in their blue dress blackened by sweat & grime looked as heroes, all made it really hilarious  & their naturalness & innocence is unforgettable for me after elapsing so many decades .