On my way back to Chennai after the last Christmas holidays, I boarded
the train for Kolkata at Jamalpur, a sleepy railway junction on eastern
railway in Bihar, that once use to hub of railway activities when steam
and coal driven iron horses use to crisscross the country.
Jamalpur
still is an important place on the map of eastern railways because it
boasts of one of the earliest railway locomotive workshop in the
country established way back in 1862. It has also a railway engineering
collage that produces top class mechanical engineers for the Indian
railways.
The
eastern side of Jamalpur has row of independent houses for the officers
working in the railway workshop and other important railway
establishment in Jamalpur. During the British rule, the East colony
looked almost like a little England and was an exclusive white zone.
The church and the cemetery there tell the story to even to those who
are not looking for one.
Any discussion among the passengers
boarding the train from Jamalpur invariably takes to the talks on the
heydays of the Raj and some old-timers my recall the activities in the
east-colony with great enthusiasm, now a thing of a past.
Mr
Sinha, a police inspector and two young people working at the railway
workshop in Jamalpur was my companion in the train journey to Kolkata.
While Sinha was traveling to Sahibganj, a three hours journey to join
his duty, spending his weekend in Jamalpur, the others were traveling
with their families to attend a wedding at Kolkata.
Sinha, a
potbelly, thick mustached man had fudged his date of birth and was
still serving the Bihar police even getting close to 70. His retirement
was due in two months and he was lamenting about it. He wished to die
in office at the ripe age enjoying all the facilities that men in
police uniform enjoy in that backward state that sits at the bottom of
developmental index in the country.
A great fan of the Raj,
Sinha had the first hand experience of the ‘White Sahibs.’ He kept
every one captivated with stories about the life in the east colony of
Jamalpur.
Sinha’s
uncle worked as a domestic help at the bungalow of one Henry saab, an
officer at the railway workshop. As a young boy Sinha used to frequent
Henry Saab’s house and had fond memories of those days.
The
conversation actually started with the sorry state of Jamalpur
workshop. The guys working there said why can’t the railway minister
pump in some funds and make Jamalpur once again the railway hub. Every
thing is there that one can ask for as far as infrastructure is
concerned as it requires just some funds. India had three railway
ministers Ramvilas Paswan, Nitish Kumar and now Lalu Yadav, all in
quick succession from Bihar but none have given any thought to develop
Jamalpur. The other guy replied him saying all the railway ministers
who took interest in the rehabilitation of Jamalpur have lost their
ministry and it’s a jinxed case.
Sinha, immediately jumped
into the conversation and took us to the flashback of the Raj. It was
different days, English people were ruling country. Every thing was in
order. Jamalpur was a bubbling with activities. More than 25,000 people
use to work at the workshop. There use to be three shifts and the
coolie train use to chug out of the workshop and transport the workers
to quite far of places. Many people in the surrounding areas were
depended on the Jamalpur workshop, Sinha said.
Sinha, upping
his narration took us to have a peep into the life and times of Hennery
Sab. My uncle worked at the bungalow of Hennery Sab. I used to go with
him to that house sometimes, Sinha said nostalgically.
What a
house it used to be, a big lawn full of flowers and Hennery Saab and
his Memsab use to sit under the garden umbrella. They had two Alsatians
dogs, a horse, a cat, a parrot and some other birds, hens and a green
jeep in the bungalow.
I had seen Memsaab riding horse at the
east end road and saab use to play golf in the golf course Sinha
relished telling that as if he had an exclusive copyright over it.
Both
Hennery Saab and memsahib were found of hunting, they had a few double
barrels and rifles with them. I use to help my uncle clean the guns.
There were three rifles, two DBL (double barrel) and one sleek pistol
that I think belonged to memsaab. Once I accompanied them to a hunting
expedition in the Bhimband Lake that’s in Kharagpur jungles of Monghyr
district.
Such expeditions were usually in winters when the
lake was full with ducks, cranes and other migratory birds. A lot many
birds flew over the lake and others rested in waters, their chirping
filled the atmosphere and it was an unforgettable sight, Sinha said.
An
advance party would normally go and pitch up tents near the lake. There
use to be chairs, table, garden umbrella and folding beds use to be put
up there. There were separate tents for servants. The coal stuff ovens
were carried there for cooking and make shift toilets was erected.
Hennery
Saab, memsaab with their friends use to come in the jeep and stayed
overnight in the tents and the shooting session use to begin since the
morning. Hennery memsaab was a sharp shooter and her rifle shots were
remarkable Sinha said. There use to be competition and invariable she
uses to beat every one as she could shoot a duck in a cluster of birds.
Henry Saab use to go after the wild boar in jungles and all
this fun filled activities lasted for the entire day. While the Sab and
memsaab use to return before the sunset, the other staff left the place
only by next day.
As Sinha was narrating this hunting
expedition, every one sitting in the moving train listened to him
patiently. To me it was the reels from the movie ‘A Passage to India’
by David Lean.
When Sinha said, goodnight folks have a
pleasant journey to Kolkata, I realized the three hours of journey had
already flew past. Although the train had stopped at many stations it
for first time I could figure the slowing down sound of the moving
train.
--
Syed Ali Mujtaba is a working journalist based in Chennai, India. He can be contacted at
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Add as favourites (0) | Quote this article on your site | Views: 246
Be first to comment this article
Only registered users can write comments. Please login or register.
