Being married to a railway man has meant being steeped in railway lore, its vast history and its heartbreaks, says Shail Raghuvanshi, whose husband works, talks and breathes railways. But then, she wouldn’t have it any other way. When I religiously and playfully took my rides in the toy train of Cubbon Park ages ago in Bangalore week after week and, enjoyed it thoroughly, I did not really understand the significance of railways as a medium of travel and transportation. Again, when my family headed north for our annual winter vacations, I loved every moment of our train journeys. Everything…
Author: oiop
Millions of Indians travel by train, more than by air. And they will all be grateful for a clean and safe commute. So why this obsession with speed? V. Gangadhar urges Indian Railways to slow down. I think the American do-gooder Ralph Nader had nothing else to do. And went on tinkering with everything which provided him with mechanical thrills. A private citizen, he took on the might of U.S. (United States) auto giants like Ford, Chrysler and General Motors, detected faults in their mechanism and stopped millions of them plying on the roads. They were taken back to the…
Serving the country was his motto (1974-2003) Udai Singh was born on 7 October 1974, in Allahabad. He had his early education in St Patrick School, Deolali, and Army Public School (APS), Delhi. He passed his higher secondary examination from APS, Dagshai. He was not keen on academics, but was good in sports and extracurricular activities. The Principal told his mother that her son had tremendous leadership qualities. He joined Taj Mansingh Hotel as a trainee after graduating with honours in political science from Deshbandhu College, Delhi. He did not like to work in the hotel industry and decided to…
What is folk theatre? What significance does it have in the Indian theatre lore? What role has it played? Kanak Rele dwells on this and starts a new series on the different Indian folk theatre traditions, starting with the Bhagavatmela of Melattur. Folk theatre is the theatre which originated and evolved among the common people. Its relationship with the common people is deep, multiple and multi-layered. It is a kind of entertainment which is not entertainment alone. It carries within it the entire folk culture with all its social and religious institutions. We find reflected in folk theatre the cults,…
Railways are an integral part of the Indian life. Whether it is a city’s suburban service, or long distance passenger trains, they have their own lore, history and context. But luxury trains have long been considered a preserve of foreign tourists and the Indian elite due to its prohibitive costs, with a cloud of myth, awe and wonder surrounding it. Some of this cloud is lifted here, as we attempt to not only give you a glimpse into these trains, but also the rich cultural and historical ethos that they are rooted in. If you travel on these trains, you…
Trains have played a memorable role in most peoples’ lives including of saints and freedom fighters. Om Prakash Narayan takes us on a gentle journey to acquaint us with the spiritual connection of the railways. There is a beautiful story of a prisoner returning home on a train. Will he be accepted by his family? It’s a big question in his mind for which a solution has already been agreed upon between him and his family. If he is to be accepted, the family would hang a yellow ribbon on their tree close to the track. If not, a red…
The biggest and arguably the best legacy the British left behind are the railways. Indian Railways today has one of the busiest and most extensive networks in the world. Rajendra Aklekar takes us back to that momentous day in 1853 when the first ever passenger train in Asia pulled out of the Bori Bunder station in Mumbai. While describing the wonder of it, he also dwells on some quaint railway anecdotes and practices that have survived till today. As British railway historian Ian J. Kerr often puts it – No railroads, no India. The railways arrived in India in the…
Both Narendra Modi and Arvind Kejriwal got huge mandates for their vision for India. Their ideologies may differ, but they need not be at cross purposes with each other, says B. Ramesh Babu. It would also be best for them to resolve their internal party confl icts and focus on governance and development, where the beneficiary will be the country, he adds. The unprecedented electoral victory of the Narendra Modi led BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, and the spectacular triumph of Arvind Kejriwal led AAP (Aam Aadmi Pary) in the 2015 Delhi Assembly elections represent…
What is India without her railways? And what is India without her cinema? And the twain do meet often. Railways have sometimes been central to the plot, sometimes a supporting actor and sometimes just an extra in Indian cinema, but some role it does play, and often. Akul Tripathi writes about this pair and the relationship they share, which has so fascinated Indians for more than a century now. They are two quite seemingly unrelated things – movies and trains. Perhaps the only thing that could possibly be seen as common ground between the two is that they revolutionised the…
So, how many times have you ranted against that ‘slow’ railway counter clerk and looked daggers at her? Please spare a thought for us, pleads Nivedita Louis, a railway counter clerk of seventeen years vintage. Her tongue-in-cheek account about life on the ‘other’ side will make you laugh. It will also make you think. This is my 17th year at the Railway counters…yes, you read it right…s-e-v-e-n-t-e-e-n-th year and I am really astounded at my survival. Most part of my service has gone in answering enquiries. The toughest job in the planet next to being the American President, without Lewinsky,…