|
Metro Plus
Journey through history
"Faster than fairies, faster than witches
Bridges and houses, hedges and ditches,
And all along in the wink of an eye
Painted stations whistle by... "
`From a Railway Carriage'
I BECAME at once nostalgic and was reminded of these immortal lines of R.L. Stevenson, committed to memory in my school days, as I viewed this enthralling documentary "The Great Indian Railway" on the National Geographic Channel. The film on our national asset was telecast to celebrate Republic Day. Hailed as the legacy of the British, the railways constitute the country's lifeline. The film was made at a time when the steam era came to an end and power-driven engines became popular, ensuring not only speedy travel but a pollution-free environment as well.
The short film had a lilting background score with a wonderful script in English delivered in a rich voice by John Shrapnel. There could not have been a better way of celebrating Republic Day than to regale viewers with the story of success of the Indian Railways. There was a touch of reality about the documentary as the passengers aboard the trains on some arterial routes spoke faulty English. They halted every now and then, taking time to find appropriate words. One of them boldly pointed out that the food served on board was unpalatable and hence, one had to learn to manage with snacks and fruits. The cultural diversity was clearly visible as the passengers hailed from different states, speaking various tongues. One passenger said that he preferred train travel to all other forms because of the breath-taking scenery.
Interesting excerpts from the Black Beauty Contest were shown. On the basis of decorations, functions and operating capacity, the steam engines were awarded trophies. The General Manager of the Railways was shown going on his rounds, pulling up a worker and reprimanding him for dereliction of duty.
The 14-carriage, Palace on Wheels, with its passengers treated like royalty, was a sharp contrast to the Bombay local trains, where herded together like cattle, over five million commuters travel to and from their work spots. There is a service practically every two minutes and, on an average, 2,000 passengers get killed in accidents annually. One sees children from the slums, unconcernedly playing on the tracks and sometimes getting involved in mishaps.
The highest and oldest mountain railway - the Darjeeling Himalayan route — showed up the beautiful country that is India and Edmund Burkes lovely words flashed across: "To love a country, the country must be beautiful". The rhythm of the movement, the silvery trail of smoke... have been immortalised on the silver screen. Who can forget the bewitching Sharmila Tagore, nestled cosily by a window seat on the hill train, reacting bashfully to the superhero Rajesh Khanna singing the all-time hit "Mere Sapnon Ki Rani", which was filmed here. He keeps pace in an open jeep on the roadway along the rail route in the film "Aradhana." The documentary also showed steam engines, which had outlived their usefulness, being auctioned as scrap.
As the story unfolded and came to an end after nearly 100 minutes or so we learnt that 7,000 stations existed and 1.6 million people were employed by the Railways.
Its network, extending over 14,000 miles, earned it the distinction of being the largest in the world.
THARA MOHAN RAO
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Metro Plus
|
