A Train to Sangam - The Murphy’s Law on Rails

 

   A WDM4, preserved in the National Rail Museum

It was the May of 1991. Rajiv Gandhi had been assassinated in Sriperambudur during a public rally. The country was in grief and turmoil over the death of a vastly popular leader. It was so in-your-face impact of the LTTE terror that it was numbing. The other kind of terror, that we see today, had not yet raised its head. 

But this is the story of a Railway Engine (Locomotive) and the Murphy’s Law. Rajiv Gandhi’s ashes were to be carried in a special train across North India before they were immersed in the Sangam at Allahabad. I was posted as the Divisional Mechanical Engineer (Diesel) in a Locomotive Shed at Mughalsarai. This shed was home to about sixty WDM4 locomotives, one of the finest in the world, when they were built by the ElectroMotive Division (EMD) of the GM/USA. In their heydays they had the honour of hauling the only Rajdhani Express of the time - the New Delhi – Howrah Rajdhani Express. Seventy-two of them were imported when India still had to begin indigenous manufacture of Diesel Locos in a new factory at Varanasi. The WDM4s heralded the transition from Steam Traction to Diesel.

The locomotives were aging and weren’t very reliable by the time I was put in charge of them. When called upon to provide a WDM4 for the special train, I was worried that the locomotive might fail enroute and cause massive embarrassment to the Railways. The train, in its journey, was to stop at many stations, where thousands of mourners would be waiting for the last glimpse of of their popular leader, his ashes. Sonia Gandhi and her two children were traveling in the train along with the urn carrying the ashes of Rajiv Gandhi. It couldn’t get any more special than that. Any failure of the locomotive could delay the train by several hours until a relieving loco was found. The milling crowds could have created a mayhem at all the stations and the administration would have found a scapegoat in me and roasted me alive.

So, I offered my Operating colleague in Lucknow an extra locomotive that would lead or trail the special train a station ahead or behind. The spare locomotive could be quickly brought in to continue the journey in case the train’s original locomotive failed. He was reluctant and told me that he was not responsible if the locomotive failed and that I would be answerable anyway. I told him that it was not a matter of who was accountable but to ensure that the Urn-Special train journeyed though the land unimpeded. I asked him if he was sure he could quickly provide a substitute locomotive in case the main locomotive failed. If he couldn’t do it in a matter of minutes it was he, whose neck would be on the block. He understood the delicate nature of the operations.

An extra locomotive was sent along. And surely, as Mr. Murphy had laid down, the train engine failed enroute. My Operating colleague lost no time in bringing in the spare and seamlessly, without loss of time, attached it to the train. The train journey continued as though nothing had happened.

Nobody knew this story, until today!

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1991/05/29/train-bears-gandhis-ashes-to-holy-site/62a886b2-63dd-495c-aafd-6ef165b3989b/

Delhiites Are So Busy Cursing the Smog They Have Forgotten the Joys of Winter.

Delhiites must think that they are God’s gift to Indians. They enjoy the best civic amenities in the country. Delhi has the best roads, pavements, parks, malls and schools. A Delhiwallah enjoys the  benefit of the best universities and colleges, and the best hospitals, both government and private. Delhiites have uninterrupted power, clean water, roads that are swept every night and drains that flow like smooth single malts in their collective oesophagus. An average citizen of Delhi thinks he has arrived in life what with rubbing shoulders with the mighty and the powerful.

 

Yet, the annual gripe and grouch on pollution by Delhiwallahs visits the whole nation with unfailing regularity. Come November and the city is agog with plaintiffs crying white death, “Oh, the air is filthy, smokey and we can’t breathe. Damn the farmers of Punjab, Haryana and UP.” Juxtaposed pictures of Delhi in June and November are flashed across newspapers and in social media to prove how the nation has failed its capital. Oh, how thankless and how uncouth the unwashed Indians elsewhere are! It is for them that the privileged elite can’t even have an easy breath while strolling in the lush green Lodhi Garden and Nehru Park and the Europe-like vistas of Chanakyapuri and Connaught Place. That the rest of India pays for the carpet grass and blossoms of these parks and yet can’t ever imagine a fraction of that in its towns and mofassils is not even a wispy thought in their minds.

 

Show me a photo of Delhi in June and November of 1950s and I will show you the same contrast. Visibility impairment by fog is not a proof of pollution. Well, there is some smoke that creates a smog. The smog continues much after all the paraali is burnt and disposed of and the now lacklustre Diwali is long gone. The pollution is as bad, or worse in December and January. Surely There is no smoke coming from Punjab and Haryana then. It is from Delhiites’ own cars, buses and two-wheelers.

 

Yet, firecrackers are banned in Diwali. They are banned not only in Delhi, but in entire India just because someone in Delhi approaches the law and lawmakers and the Green Tribunals that Diwali is oh-so-polluting, and merriment of children in Patna, Bhopal, Lucknow and Mumbai; in Jaunpur, Hubli, Nanded and Midnapore is clamped down. This is an annual ritual and the whole country of one hundred and forty crores is deprived of festival fun of a few hours in a year so that smoke of firecrackers doesn’t blow in the winds from Indore, Nagpur, Coimbatore, Kochi and Jaisalmer straight to Delhi. I have never heard of someone from a smaller city or a village ever seeking a ban on Diwali festivities.

 

The whole nation must collectively lament that Delhi has polluted air in the winters. We owe it to them. The entire media chokes and coughs like there is no other event they have to cover. Elections take a backseat, so do Mizoram, Kashmir and Naxal terror. Isn’t smog over Delhi the biggest apocalypse that has descended on the humanity?

 

So, friends and countrymen! Let’s celebrate the biggest festival of India - the Smoggy Winter of Delhi.

                                                         —ooo—

गीता का कर्मयोग - कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते … के आगे

श्रीमद्भग्वद्गीता के कुछ सर्वाधिक उद्धृत श्लोक हैं:

कर्र्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते माफलेषु कदाचन ….. जिसका आशय है कि कर्म में ही तुम्हारा अधिकार है, फल में नहीं …..

और

यदा-यदा हि धर्मस्य ग्लानिर्भवति भारत …. जिसमें भगवान कहते हैं कि वे धर्म की रक्षा लिये अवतार लेते हैं ….

पर मेरी दृष्टि में गीता का सर्वश्रेष्ठ श्लोक है:

न मे पार्थास्ति कर्त्तव्यं त्रिषु लोकेषु किंचन।

नानवाप्तमवाप्तव्यं वर्त एव च कर्मणि ।।३-२२।।

भावार्थ: हे पृथापुत्र! तीनों लोकों में मेरे लिए कोई भी कर्म नियत नहीं है, न मुझे किसी वस्तु का अभाव है और न आवश्यकता ही है | तो भी मैं नियत्कर्म करने में तत्पर रहता हूँ |

(There is no duty for me to do in all the three worlds, O Parth, nor do I have anything to gain or attain. Yet, I am engaged in prescribed duties.)

गीता के तृतीय अध्याय का यह बाईसवॉं श्लोक समर्थ एवम् सार्थक जीवन की वास्तविक कुंजी है। इस श्लोक में भगवान कहते हैं कि ना ही मुझे कुछ करने की बाध्यता है, ना ही ऐसा कुछ प्राप्त करना है जो मुझे ना मिला हो, परन्तु मुझे कर्त्तव्य करते रहना है। कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते….वाले श्लोक में यह तो निर्दिष्ट है कि फल मिले या न मिले, मुझे उसकी आशा नहीं करनी है और कर्म करते जाना है। पर कहीं न कहीं फल मिलने की सम्भावना है भले ही उसपर अधिकार ना हो।

न मे पार्थास्ति कर्त्तव्यं… वाले श्लोक में एक और भी ऊँचे स्तर की निस्पृहता और निष्कामता परिलक्षित होती है। व्यक्ति का कोई कर्त्तव्य निर्धारित या शेष नहीं है, ना ही फल मिलना है या किसी फल की कामना बची है, परंतु इस स्थिति में भी कर्म करना है। लालसा से ऐसी मुक्ति, चाहत से परे कर्म करने की ऐसी कर्त्तव्यशीलता क्या सामान्य मानव के समझ में समा सकती है? 

क्या ऐसी निस्पृहता संभव है? क्या संसार से इतना ऊपर भी उठा जा सकता है कि व्यक्ति अपना कर्त्तव्य तब भी करें जब यह तय है कि उसे कुछ नहीं मिलना और ना ही कुछ चाहिये, ना पारिश्रमिक, ना राज-पाट और ना ही कोई आसक्ति या यश? तुलसीदास जी की पंक्तियाँ हैं - हानि-लाभ, जीवन-मरण, यश-अपयश विधि हाथ … अर्थात् यह जीवन और इस जीवन के सारे लाग-लपेट ईश्वर के हाथों में है। पर तुलसीदास जी संभवत: सामान्य जनों को ही संबोधित कर रहे थे - ये पुरस्कार या दण्ड उपलब्ध हैं अवश्य, चाहे विधाता के ही द्वारा उनका वितरण किया जाये और आपको यथोचित मिलेंगे। पर सर्वथा आकांक्षाविहीन, परंतु कर्त्तव्यरत मनुष्य क्या हो सकता है? श्रीकृष्ण ने तो अपनी निस्पृहता का कारण भी इसके बाद के दो श्लोकों में बताया है:

यदि ह्यहं न वर्तेयं जातु कर्मण्यतन्द्रितः |
मम वर्त्मानुवर्तन्ते मनुष्याः पार्थ सर्वशः || ३-२३ ||

भावार्थ: क्योंकि यदि मैं नियत कर्मों को सावधानीपूर्वक न करूँ तो हे पार्थ! यह निश्चित है कि सारे मनुष्य मेरे पथ का ही अनुगमन करेंगे, अर्थात् कर्महीनता को प्राप्त होंगे। 

उत्सीदेयुरिमे लोका न कुर्यां कर्म चेदहम् |
सङ्करस्य च कर्ता स्यामुपहन्यामिमाः प्रजाः ||३- २४ ||

भावार्थ: यदि मैं नियतकर्म न करूँ तो ये सारे लोग भ्रष्ट हो जाएँ।  तब मैं वर्णसंकर (अवांछित जन समुदाय) को उत्पन्न करने का कारण हो जाऊँगा और इस तरह सम्पूर्ण प्राणियों के विनाश का कारण बनूँगा। 

सामान्यजन प्राय: अपने अग्रजों, माता-पिता, गुरुओं, अग्रगामियों, प्रतिष्ठितजनों, लीडरों, और मैनेजरों को देखकर ही प्रेरित होते हैं। हर व्यक्ति न तो शास्त्रों का अध्ययन कर सकता है ना ही उनकी समुचित व्याख्या कर सकता है। वह तो जीवन में सम्मुख उदाहरणों से ही दिशा प्राप्त करता है। यदि उसके बड़े और वरिष्ठजन सत्कर्म करते दीखते हैं तो वह भी वैसा ही करेगा। यदि वह देखता है कि जो अनुकरणीय पुरुष हैं वही या तो आलस्यग्रस्त हैं, निष्क्रिय हैं, अवांछनीय कर्मों वा दुर्गुणों में रत हैं, तो वह और उसके जैसे समस्त आमजन वैसे व्यवहार का ही अनुसरण करेंगे। फिर समाज का पतन तय है।

                                            —-ooo—-

The Scenic Railway of Sri Lanka

One of the most beautiful railway lines in the world is the one on the West coast of Sri Lanka. The line skims the sea coast and is sandwiched between a busy road and the rolling waves of the blue sea waters.  It is not a celebrated railway (Broad Guage) in the touristy sense as the Swiss Railways (Standard Guage) or even our own Nilgiri Mountain Railway (Metre Guage), Kalka-Shimla (Narrow Guage 2 feet six inches),  or Darjeeling Hill Railway (Narrow Guage - two feet). It is however a major commuting mode for the Sri Lankans. Trains run crowded. Fares are low and affordable. The service is fast enough for the distances they cover.

I had gone there in 2018 on an official visit to understand their expectations from ICF for Diesel Multiple Unit trains we were exporting. I therefore got the privilege to footplate from Colombo to Galle and had a clear view of the sea.

We subsequently supplied six trains to them. They were liked by them so much that ICF got a repeat order for three more trains. The drivers of Sri Lankan Railways became resistant to driving Chinese trains and wanted their duties assigned only on Indian trains.

Sri Lanka is a beautiful country - very clean and scenic. Sri Lankans are proud of their country and value their culture and heritage. Indians need to learn from them. 

Enjoy the two-minute video clip here. Click on the link

  

https://youtu.be/DeWhDT2SXSs?si=ns_tDKZmTI0nP7sG

A video of the Diesel Multiple Unit Trains supplied by India to Sri Lanka can be seen here. Click on the link

 

https://youtu.be/9iPRgP9h2M8?si=6GrzY9i0EwUQRuLk

A Medal for the Masses

 (Be my guest, Dear Reader, if you feel offended)

 

The medal tally in the 2024 Olympics, as I write this, is China (28 Gold, 25 Silver, 17 Bronze) USA (27G, 35S, 33B) and Australia (18G, 14S, 11B). Citizens of these countries wouldn’t even know the names of all the Gold Medal winners of their countries let alone Silver and Bronze winners. Yet, we have our entire nation rise in unison in protest and anger over a missed Gold Medal. We would have been happy if even a default Silver was awarded gratis to Vinesh Phogat. The nation would have been consoled.

 

There are conspiracy theories on how Indian athletes, and particularly Vinesh Phogat, are deliberately being kept down. The fact is that with merely four bronzes on the board India doesn’t even figure in the consciousness of the world of sports let alone being a worthy enough opponent to hatch conspiracies against. Everyone must take the blame - the coach of Vinesh Phogat, the team manager, her dietician, the team physician, the government of India and even the Prime Minister himself, personally. Everyone, except the athlete herself.

 

Phogat is not new to Olympics and International Sports. And yes, she knew the rules and their unbending nature. Yet she lost due to an excess of a mere hundred grams, the equivalent of half a glass of water. The media is agog with stories of how she tried and tried yet didn’t succeed. Hence a nation of one hundred and forty crore should be grateful to her for having tried, understand her anguish, and sympathise with her. Well, she didn’t try hard enough. And count me out of the sympathy brigade.

 

It was irresponsible to stake her eligibility on a single night of jumping, rope-skipping, starvation and sauna to come within the stipulated weight bracket, when she should have targeted being a full kg or more below the limit in all her training sessions during the run up to the Olympics, well before the finals.

 

The other Indian woman wrestler, Antim, who had displaced Vinesh Phogat in the 53kg category, lost in the very first round in less than two minutes to an average competitor. The latter proved her mediocrity by promptly losing in the very next round.

 

Then there are curses and brickbats for the government for not doing enough for sports. Athletes in India, even University and State level certificate holders, get permanent jobs in the government. Railways, Armed Forces, Paramilitary and Police forces, the PSUs, and some private companies too appoint thousands every year and pay them full salary for no official work. There must be several lakh sportspersons on the roll of government departments at any time. They are free all the time to go and practice. In the Railways, I know for sure, most of them give up the sports, the reason they were recruited, and don’t even go for practice even though they get full time exemption from work. A government job is their ultimate objective. And, when they do practice, it is nowhere near world, or even national standards. When questioned, they rise up in unison and condemn the administration. Government departments and sports federations spend lakhs and lakhs on each promising sportsperson, who is a potential medal winner even at the national level. They are given free equipment, costumes, and are sponsored for specialised training in India and abroad. Foreign coaches are often brought in to train them at home too. Vinesh Phogat was a major beneficiary of the government’s patronage.

 

Sorry, Vinesh Phogat! I have no sympathy for you and your entitled friends. I have only anger and frustration on the way you have thrown away the opportunity to win an Olympic Gold for your country, for a people who are desperate to find heroes to celebrate their mundane lives. You have let the nation down and you alone must answer for it.

                                 —-ooo—-

Puja Khedkars of Indian Railways

There are Pooja Khedkars in all departments and echelons of the government, not only the IAS. In Salem, Tamil Nadu, where I was the Divisional Railway Manager, I had an Additional DRM, who had a bloated sense of entitlement. One day he came to me and said that he had asked the Police Commissioner Salem if he could put a red beacon on his car. He claimed that the CP had agreed, though verbally. Salem is a small-middle sized town and the DRM, or the ADRM are important people. But they are not entitled to a red or blue light atop their cars. So, the police commissioner, out of courtesy, had said that he would ignore the violation if we did want to put red beacons on our cars.  

The ADRM thought that he had achieved something great. He suggested that both of us, the DRM and ADRM, should adorn our respective cars with red beacons. I told him that a childhood friend of mine was the Principal Secretary, Home of the State. The Police Commissioner was aware of the fact and that if I ever decided to put the red beacon, he would surely wink at that that. I told the ADRM that I wasn’t interested in such silly, ostentatious, and unauthorised show of power.  

The ADRM was disappointed. But he was so drunk with his status that he couldn’t do without the red beacon. So, he asked me if at least he could put the red light atop his car. I told him to go ahead if he was so enamoured of his status.  

The guy actually began to flaunt the red beacon on his car. So, Salem was a Railway Division, where the DRM traveled in a plain car and his assistant in a VIP car. Soon thereafter, however, the Government disallowed such beacons on all cars. 

बाल-हत्यारे का निबंध

खबर है कि पुणे के पोर्शाचालक, पुण्यात्मा, पियक्कड़, परमेश्वर-पोषित पुत्र ने मास्टर साहब को निबंध लिखकर जमा कर दिया है। मास्टर साहब ने इस बाल हत्यारे को दो मासूमों की हत्या करने की सजा तीन सौ शब्दों का निबंध सश्रम-कारावास के समकक्ष मानते हुए सुनाई थी।

पहले तो होनहार बालक के धनाढ्य पिता ने बाल-विद्यालय के मास्टर के विरुद्ध हाई-स्कूल के हेडमास्टर को अर्ज़ी लगाई कि कहीं आजकल के मल्टिपल-च्वायस प्रश्नपत्र के जमाने में कोई निबंध लिखता है भला, वह भी तीन सौ शब्दों का? यह तो बेचारे बालक के प्रति घोर अन्याय है। और तो और, मेरे पुत्र ने आम आदमी को कोई टेम्पू या मारुति से तो मारा नहीं है, पूरे ढाई-करोड़ी गाड़ी से निपटाया है। हाई स्कूल के हेडमास्टर साहब को ज्ञात होवे कि पोर्शा से कुचला व्यक्ति सीधा बैकुंठधाम को जाता है। ना गाय की पूँछ पकड़ने, ना वैतरणी पार करने का झंझट; सीधा मोक्ष का द्वार हैं पोर्शा के पहिये। मेरी महँगी गाड़ी “टोटल” हो गई तो क्या, दो जवान व्यक्ति सीधा स्वर्ग के नागरिक तो हो गये। अहो, यह पुण्य मेरे पुत्र को वाहन-चालक और मुझे वाहन का मालिक होने के कारण अनायास ही तो मिला है। धन्य है प्रभु की लीला! अत: हे, हाई-स्कूल के हेडमास्टर साहब! मेरे पुत्र पर आरोपित निबंध-लेखन की सजा माफ़ की जाए, या कम से कम स्टे तो लगा ही दिया जाए, या शब्दों की संख्या घटाकर पचास कर दी जाये।,

 

हाई स्कूल के हेडमास्टर साहब यह मल्टिपल-च्वायस वाला आवेदन देखकर भ्रमित हो गये। वे ठहरे निबंध लेखन के ज़माने के पढ़े हुए। सो बोले, “कुछ नहीं, कोई रियायत नहीं मिलेगी। निबंध लिखना है तो लिखना है, वह भी पूरे तीन सौ शब्दों का। दस-पंद्रह शब्दों की कमी होगी तो मैं देख लूँगा, भूल-चूक लेनी-देनी।” निराश होकर पीड़ित, संतप्त पिता ने स्थानीय कॉलेज से एक अंग्रेजी के प्रोफ़ेसर को बुलाया, जिन्होंने समाजशास्त्र में भी ड्युअल डिग्री ले रखी थी। प्रोफ़ेसर साहब ने आनन-फ़ानन में कुल चालीस ड्राफ़्टों और एक हज़ार पन्नों के रफ़ वर्क के बाद मात्र तीन हफ़्ते में निबंध लिख डाला। फिर एचपी लेज़र प्रिंटर पर टाईम्स न्यू रोमन फॉंट के चौदह साईज़ में छापकर बाल-हत्यारे के पिता जी को सौंप दिया, और अपना सवा दो लाख का मेहनताना लेकर चल दिये।

 

पिता-पुत्र निबंध लेकर बाल-विद्यालय के मास्टर साहब के पास पहुँचे। मास्टर साहब प्रिंटआउट देखते ही भड़क गये। बोले निबंध हस्तलिखित होना चाहिये। पिताजी इस बार सस्ती-सी बीएमडब्ल्यू में गये थे, पोर्शा अब तक गैराज में जो थी। सस्ती गाड़ी की सवारी से स्वाभाविकत: उत्पन्न विनम्रता से बोले कि हस्तलिखित की तो बात नहीं हुई थी। मास्टर साहब ने बाहर खड़ी सस्ती बीएमडब्ल्यू पर नज़र डाली और कड़ककर बोले, “क़ानून सबके लिये बराबर होता है, निबंध तो हस्तलिखित ही देना पड़ेगा।” पिता-पुत्र पैर पटकते हुए बाहर निकले। होनहार बालक मन-ही-मन सोच रहा था कि पोर्शा को गैराज से निकलने तो दो, अगला नंबर इस स्कूटी-चालक मास्टर का ही लगाऊँगा। अभी अठारह का होने में चार-छह महीने बचे हैं, एक निबंध और सही।

 

ख़ैर, एक सप्ताह का समय बच रहा था। सो मासूम बाल-हत्यारे ने बॉर्नविटा, क्रैनबेरी जूस और ट्रिपल-चीज़-सलामी-पेपरोनी-पिज़्ज़ा के सहारे अपनी हैंडराईटिंग में निबंध लिख डाला। माताजी बेटे की यंत्रणा देख-देख परेशान होती रहीं और वैष्णोदेवी जाकर मत्था टेकने की मनता रख ली, पर देवी मॉं से अपेक्षित विलंब के लिये क्षमा भी माँग लिया; पोर्शा अभी गैराज में जो थी।

 

बाल-विद्यालय के मास्टर साहब हस्तलिखित निबंध देखकर अत्यंत प्रसन्न हुए और बोले, “जाओ बालक, अब तुम दण्डमुक्त हुए। अब जाओ, स्वच्छंद जीवन का आनंद लो। कोई तुम्हारा कुछ नहीं बिगाड़ सकता क्योंकि तुम बाल-विद्यालय के छात्र हो, और मैं यहाँ का मास्टर।”

 

दण्डमुक्त बालक ने भी मन-ही-मन स्कूटी-चालक मास्टर को क्षमाप्रदान की और सोचा, “तुम बच गये मास्टर। इस सेवा के बदले मैं शीघ्र ही तुम्हें एक बुलेट मोटरसाईकिल उपहार में दूँगा!”

 

बुलेट मोटरसाईकिल की कथा फिर कभी।