Foot plating is 70s was much easier than
today. The Driving Inspectors were "understanding" and tolerant to
some extent.
I am at liberty to share those experiences because the M/men who taught me
driving EMUs before I graduated from High school have long since reached "Doongerwadi".
If you do not know what it means, Viraf or Sarosh can explain this term.
These "Gurus" were really great when it came to the skills of driving.
They had mastered not only EP brakes but also Auto brakes. They were also known
as "one application" M/men who would apply EP once at a requisite
strength and would gradually release them as necessary before train came to
stand still. Never ever, they made second application of EP brakes.
Subsequently, I started working in Mumbai in 69. My office was located right
across Churchgate station. This gave me more exposure to M/men and in a couple
of years, I became the most well known "unauthorized" M/man of WR.
One Parsi DI who has retired and lives in Lonavala joked many times when he saw
me in the cab. He would point to the sign, "only 3 authorized persons
allowed" and say, "you are not counted because you are
unauthorized."
This one episode occurred in mid 70s. A friend of mine was working Borivali Bada
Fast; it started from Borivali and ran fast between Jogeshwari and Grant Road. I
do not know if it exists today, it probably may not be.
There was one consistent thing about this train. Every week, Monday through
Saturday, Shri Sitaram Samant, then Chief Commercial Superintendent, WR would
ride this train from Jogeshwari. A chain smoker, he rarely cared to identify a
M/man by name or face.
My friend invited me to ride with him on this train. From Borivali till
Jogeshwari home signal, I drove the train. My friend then took over. We were
surprised to see that Shri Samant was not on the platform as expected.
Ting – Ting! The bell rings, starter is green, no Samant in view and I start
the train. Just 15 feet from starter was (now closed) level crossing and
staircase partially hides the panoramic view of this crossing. Just few feet
before the crossing, appears Shri Samant, waving frantically to draw attention
of M/man to stop the rake.
I stopped with emergency brakes, M/man ( a real one) opened the door on guard's
side to let him in. There was no time to swap the jobs between me and M/man so I
continued driving. But (real) M/man was totally nervous. I knew his (Samant's) chain smoking habit and driving cabs had
no-smoking signs. I could sense Samant's uneasiness due to lack of
nicotine.
As we were negotiating points to move on UP Through tracks before Andheri, to cut the silence, I
said, "Sir, you may go ahead and smoke if you
wish". That really worked like a charm. He talked and found that I am his
"Jatwala" (same caste).
Unusual for Shri Samant, he came and sat on
M/man's seat. (Real M/man was standing anyway, like me, to show respect CCS or Chief
Commercial Superintendent). Real M/man was relieved. We had a nice chat all the
way till Churchgate.
At CCG, Shri Samant patted on my back, thanked for the ride and left.
M/man described the episode to DI. This Parsi DI exploded and cursed me
like mad in typical Parsi Gujrati. (Like Dhansak, Parsi Gujrati has a wonderful
flavor that needs to be experienced to enjoy). Anyway, the episode died quickly
or that's what we thought.
Did it really? Well, not so. Shri Samant's son had joined my employer and I was
his mentor at work. Upon completion of his probation, he threw a party and as a
mentor, I was invited, too.
When I reached his bunglow, senior Samant opened the door and frowned. He knew his
son was hosting a party for colleagues but he never expected a M/man in the
guest list. After ushering me to living room, he called his son in kitchen and
asked why he invited a M/man. To his surprise, his son brought him back to
living room and introduced me as his mentor in job.
I can never forget the puzzled look in Senior Samant's eyes. Needless to stay, I
never traveled by this train till Shri Samant retired.
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