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Among
WR M/men, creativity was the name of the game. There were "Charlie
Zinga", "Butler Fernandes", "Shivaji Maharaj",
"Specialwala Shingte", to name a few.
Although I know history behind most names, I am still puzzled by Charlie
Zinga. Zinga means some kind of fish in local East Indian dialect. Charlie was
comic in every sense. During his first driving test after training, he was asked
to correctly identify and replace a blown fuse in motorcoach of 1928 stock rake.
To make sure everything goes okay, Charlie carried a complete set of fuses in
the pockets of his buggy trouser and "fixed" the defect.
At another time, Charlie was working a train departing CCG at 12:00 hrs. The
Divisional EE who was a Sikh, came to his cab and asked about the departure
time. Charlie did not want to offend him by saying "Bara
Baje" or 12 noon. Instead, he said, it departs at "11 hrs, 59 minutes
and 60 seconds", Sir!
There were 4 M/men with last name Fernandes, Edward, Anthony, Nicholas and
Butler. It was rumored that "Butler" Fernandes' father worked as
butler, but the name stuck on this guy. On his last day before retirement, WR
arranged an EMU decorated with external lights for him to drive. But if you had
asked even a DI about the occasion, he would have said, "Butler Fernandes
is retiring today".
Shivaji Maharaj a.k.a. Ratnakar Gavankar is my cousin. He worked as A-grade
in Rajkot division before moving to Mumbai as M/man. Every now and then, he
would refer to Shivaji Maharaj, hence the name. After retirement,
he settled in Pune.
Burly in appearance, Specialwala Shingte was always mistaken as "Specialwala"
by street hawkers. (Specialwala is a term used for cops in CID Special Branch in
Mumbai). He rarely worked evening and night sets and preferred to work only
single sets during daytime. One day, he was working evening set, a passenger at
CCG told him that guard's blinker is on. Poor Shingte, having worked in daytime
singles all along, did not know how to turn off this blinker.
Three brothers worked as M/men at the same time, a rare feat in WR, Naren,
Prem and Ranjit Pardesi. Naren and Prem have retired now. Ranjit still works.
Like Prem, Ranjit joined Railway as a hockey player and represented WR in
National tourneys. At one time, his teammates were visiting Mumbai and he
offered them a ride. Aston Pereira was a DI at that time and he saw Ranjit's cab
full of Turbans.
When confronted the next day. Ranjit explained, "Sir, they were members
of OH crew". Aston was never known to be a civilized speaker. "You
ba_t_rd, we don't have Sardarjis working as OH crew in Mumbai", he
exploded. Aston died in NY few years back.
Railway strike (by M/men) during emergency opened some unexpected quarters.
M/men from WR and CR came to know each other during their stay in jail. For me,
it was another opportunity. One day, my close friend, M/man B.M. Khanna was
working a Virar train. I was waiting at Dadar only to be disappointed to see
Asstt. EE, Shri Varad Rajan in cab. I was about to leave when Khanna called me
and invited for a ride. As we started, AEE asked me who I was. I replied,
"M/man CR, sir". The next question was, "Mr. Khanna, do you know
him?". "Yes sir, we were in jail together during the
strike" was the convincing response.
Life for officers in Railway is not necessarily an easy one, especially in
Mumbai. They face a lot of political pressure and may have to compromise with
their principles against their will. Here is one episode.
My best friend, M/man B.M. Khanna, was a kind of dare devil person with a
large friend circle. One morning, he started his rake from Platform #1 at MCT.
What was the aspect of signal? Nobody knows for sure. When this
starter is not in Auto mode, the default for red aspect is always entry to
carshed rather than continuation to down local line.
Khanna stopped at the entrance of carshed.
An enquiry was conducted and Sr DEE at MCT decided to take severe action
(read it as dismissal) against Khanna. The union disagreed. Every day, there was
a picket at CCG with slogans, "Khanna in, Datta out" and rumors of
flash strike by M/men were flying in air.
I knew Sr DEE Shri Datta very well. A very good manager and fair person to
deal with, he is remembered for getting the maximum allotment of railway
quarters to M/men during his tenure. No other officer has beaten that record.
Well, politics does not care for anybody. Khanna was back on the road. (He
retired few years back and committed suicide because he could not bear pain from
throat cancer).
Bob Colabawala and Phiroze R, both Parsi, were good friends of mine. Bob, a
very nice person normally, was unpredictable at times. One night Phiroze was
working Virar train when my friend from Vasai met him at CCG. Phiroze offered
him a ride. Catch-22 was, Phiroze was working this rake up to Andheri and Bob
would continue to take it to Virar.
When Bob came in at ADH, Phiroze asked him if he would give a
ride for his friend to Vasai. Bob refused.
A couple of days later, I invited my friend for nice Ragda Pattis at Virar.
We came to Vasai station and I saw Bob entering in. He opened the door and while
entering in, I said that I have a friend with me.
As we settled in, Bob looked at my friend and recognized that he was one
whom he denied a ride earlier. He spoke in typical, spicy, Parsi Gujrati, "Bhen___,
why did not you tell me that you were Prakash's friend?"
During 1983 visit, I wanted to go to Surat to see my friends, buy some Ghari
and some biscuits from famous Dotivala Bakery. (I did not know Zubin Dotivala,
then). When I told my best friend, Sudhakar R. about it, he invited
me for a ride in Jammu Tawi next day. Rajdhani and Jammu Tawi were very
prestigious trains those days, manned by two A-grade drivers per trip.
I was staying at Kandivali so I asked him, if he could pick me up at KILE.
He said, no problem. That day, Jammu Tawi had arrived several hours late, coated
with black soot, and departed 3 hours late. In down direction, Soli
Bharucha was driving, he picked me up promptly at KILE. Both Soli and Sudhakar
were fine drivers.
We passed Mira Road at 110 kms, 10 kms over the track speed due to down
gradient from BVI. But the real drama took place after Vaitarana when we were in
AC zone. The master controller was at notch 28, the highest notch
and weak field tapping at four. The speedometer was stuck at 120 kms, it could
not go further.
By counting the mile stones per minute, we were comfortably riding at 130
kms/h. Hats off to Soli. He retired a few years back.
When my close friend, M/man Khanna got married in Vasai court, he and his
bride were picked up from Lower Parel by diverting a fast Virar train on slow
track. He drove the train with his bride on M/man's seat while M/man and DI sat
on guard's seat.
It may sound illegal to some but for railway folks, it was an event to
celebrate a colleague's marriage.
May be some will understand, others may not.
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