PROLOGUE
Prologue to the book ROMANCE OF THE RAILWAYS written by Shri S.Parthasarathy, IRA=
S, and
expected to be released in January 2008
The le=
tter
‘C’ has been very important in my life. I am a self-confessed a=
ddict
of Carnatic music, Cryptic crosswords and Compu=
ters.
The sport that I watch most is Cricket. My most favour=
ite
food is Curd-rice and favourite snack is salted
Cashew-nut. I graduated from CEG (College of Engineering, Guindy).
Among the railways that I worked, my fondest memories are for CR (Central
Railway). I was born, brought up and settled down in (before being briefly =
fed
up with) Chennai.
My first two books were on Carnatic music and m=
ost of
my free time is spent in pursuing the three Cs mentioned earlier. So when H=
arsh
and Mayank (Harsh Kumar, ED, Railway Board and =
Mayank Tewari, Director, =
National
Rail Museum) asked me to write about Indian Railways I was hesitant since t=
here
was no C in IR. Of course it is a familiar subject and I had also taught the
history and organization of Indian Railways to the officers during my stint=
in
Railway Staff College. I thought I would try for a few days and if the topic
interested me sufficiently I would write the book.
Just a day surfing the Net was sufficient to get me interested and three da=
ys
saw me getting addicted. It was then that I realized that Career continues =
to
be another important C in my life. You may take a rail=
wayman
out of the system by retiring him, but you can never take the railways out =
of a
railwayman.
From the windows of a train on Indian Railways one is served a varied platt=
er
of changing topography to changing crops, vegetation, people and their ways=
of
life. It is like the lilting but ever-changing rhythm of a Ragamalika,
a type of composition in Carnatic music in whic=
h the
tune changes for every stanza.
Gandhiji was told that the only way to know Ind=
ia was
to travel on Indian Railways in Third (now second) class. Well, I have trav=
eled
on IR extensively from Kanyakumari in the South=
to Rishikesh in the north and Dwara=
ka
in the west to Lekhapani in the east. There is
something cozy about being on a train and looking out at the world. And when
you travel by a train, you see a tiny slice of the lives of people who are
waiting in the stations or near the track or at a level-crossing gate. Only a tiny slice, but enough to wonder about them. Ma=
ny
also complain about not being able to sleep in trains. Not me. The swaying
movement of the train is the soothing rocking of the cradle when I go to sl=
eep
in train. And I can spend hours watching the countryside from the windows o=
f a
train or watching the whirl of activity on the platform of a railway station
(what Paul Theroux calls that perennially ravishing show)
No revolutions in technology have as visibly affected the human condition as
those in transport. Moving goods and people, they have opened up continents,
transformed living standards, introduced new cultures and spread fashions a=
nd
folks around the world. It was the railways and steamships that first allow=
ed
speedy and widespread dissemination of news and ideas over long distances. =
The
railways have especially been the huge openers of communications in the 19th
century. It is said that 19th century belonged to the Railways: 20th centur=
y to
the Automobiles and the 21st century to Telecommunications and computers. B=
ut
in India, Railways were, are and will continue to be an important and integ=
ral
part of our lives. We Indians have taken the train to our hearts. For us
long-distance railway journeys are just another part of our lives’ ri=
ch
tapestry.
In the 19th and 20th centuries, railways propelled industry, education, med=
ia
– indeed every aspect of daily life from the three basic needs –
food, clothing and housing to other aspects like time, entertainment etc. W=
hile
the life of the people evolved due to railways, the railways themselves evo=
lved
systems and procedures in their various activities. Technology also evolved
changing the functioning of the railways. You can read about the various
aspects of these evolutions with particular reference to India in Chapter 1=
-
Evolution.
In many of my journeys, I found some interesting tidbits about the railways.
When I was in Assam, one of my officers told me how American and Canadian l=
ocos
worked there during World War II. When I was in Howrah, someone asked
me,’ Do you know that Gandhiji’s fi=
rst
travel by third class was from here?’ When I was in Clapham
in London, I was told by a British Rail employee with pride that a train pa=
sses
through that junction every 20 seconds. Even before seeing Kharagpur,
I knew it has the longest platform in the world. When I went to U.K., I mad=
e it
a point to visit Fenchurch Street, Marylebone, Liverpool Street and King's
Cross railway stations as I knew them from my childhood from the game of
Monopoly. So I thought I should collect all these interesting facts about
railways which are inspiring, funny, sad, bizarre or even macabre. You can =
read
about these facts in Chapter 2 - Fascinating Facts.
Why should we bother about history? What does the history of railways offer=
to
you or me? We are told that those who do not study history are condemned to
repeat the mistakes of the past. This is too glib an explanation to accept.=
In
that case we ought to have accumulated so much knowledge that things like w=
ar,
poverty, injustice and immorality ought not to exist. By studying the railw=
ay
history I can understand how we got to where we are now. By studying the
railway history, I try to understand people who thought and acted different=
ly
than we do in our own time. By studying the railway history, I can make sen=
se
of a time radically different from our own time which helps me in placing o=
ur
own time in perspective. In short I study history to improve my knowledge a=
nd
myself. Chapter 3 - Good Old Days which is about the history of railways in=
the
world and in India has been written with these objectives. And since histor=
y is
about people, Chapter 4 - People is just a continuation of the previous cha=
pter
and talks about British pioneers, pioneers in India, famous people and raiways and some known and unknown persons of Indian
Railways.
After a rather heavy four chapters, it is time for a diversion. The next two
chapters are lighter stuff. Indian Railways has the second largest network =
in
the world and the film industry in India makes the highest number of films =
in
the world. Like Indian Railways, films transcend state borders and both ref=
lect
every single aspect of human life in the country. Therefore right from the
advent of the silent films and later talkies, there have been very few film=
s in
India, barring mythological, in which a train has not figured, even if for a
few seconds. Chapter 5 - Train songs is about the songs in many Hindi and a=
few
Tamil films where the railways play an important role.
Chapter 6 - This and That is about a variety of things ranging from art,
literature, poetry, western music, museums, stamps, quotations and humour - all focusing on railways. In both my previous
books, cryptic crosswords which is my passion wa=
s part
of them. But in this book, I have placed ‘Cryptic Crosswords and
Railways’ in the CD-ROM.
Epilogue is autobiographical. Whenever I travel by train I cannot help
reminiscing about all the memorable journeys I had made over the years. I l=
ike
the saying that the journey is more important than reaching the destination=
. I
see life in all journeys, especially when the journey is on a train. In this
chapter, I have recalled some interesting incidents from my own travels in
train. I have also written briefly about the persons who made this book and
CD-ROM possible.
When I researched the internet about books on railways, I found that there =
are
over 100000 books on railways. But all of them can be classified under the
following types.
Travelogues
History
Elaboration of any one aspect of railwa=
ys
Biographies and autobiographies
Coffee-table books with a lot of
photographs
Fiction
This book cannot be classified under any of them=
. So
you may well ask me what my book is about. Is it an introduction to Indian
railways? Is it a trivia book? Is it a fun book? Is it a personal memoir? I=
s it
a text book? Is it a travel book? Frankly I cannot say. But I can say it is
similar to my books on carnatic music which are=
for
laymen and which have a lot of anecdotes and information to get people
interested in the subject. All I can say is that this book is also for laym=
en
and seeks to convey my feelings of romance and nostalgia for the railways. =
Writing the book was easier than making the CD-ROM. This is since the CD-RO=
M is
not a mere graphic version of the book. Though the screens have been arrang=
ed
similar to the chapters of the book, the CD-ROM has much more to offer R=
11;
over 200 images, 25 songs and a few other audio files. It is interactive and
has puzzles, riddles, quiz and quite a bit of content which has not been
covered in the book.
I am proud to be a railwayman and railways are =
not
only a source of livelihood but are also a source of romance and nostalgia =
for
me. I have tried to convey some of those feelings to you in this book and t=
he
CD-ROM that accompanies it. I would be happy even if I succeed marginally. =
The
book and the CD-ROM are only third class when it comes to experiencing the
romance of the railways. Second class is visiting the National Rail Museum.
First class is, of course, travelling by train. Other modes of transport ta=
ke
you on a journey, but the railways move you and transport you.
S.
Chennai
Prologue to the book ROMANCE OF THE
RAILWAYS written by Shri S=
.Parthasarathy,
IRAS, and expected to be released in January 2008. It will be with an inter-active CD
and is likely to be priced around Rs. 150/- per copy.