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During the four decades I stayed at KGP, I must have made at least four hundred trips from IIT Campus to Gole Bazaar via the short-cut Railway Maidan, first on push bike, then on scooter and later on car.
The one invariant sight I never missed was this:
While stepping into the Railway Town from the Maidan, there was a telephone line on which were perched about a dozen Indian Crows. Right below the line there was a culvert on which were sitting and gabbing half a dozen Railway Pensioners with their walking sticks and protective head and chest-gear.
I can easily decipher what the crows were crowing because I read my Mark Twain...they are past masters at commenting:
http://gpsastry.blogspot.com/2008/06/best-prose-piece-i-ever-readmark-twain.html
And they were commenting on the inanities uttered by the old wags seated below; and punctuating their comments by deftly aimed droppings.
Now that I myself am a Pensioner, I know what the old buddies were indulging in.
First they reminisce about the Good Old Days. They would start by agreeing unanimously that corruption was unheard of in the Indian Railways while they were at its helm. This would be illustrated by everyone citing an instance or two when they were offered sumptuous bribes for postings, berths and bills but they not only resisted the temptation but complained to the ACB. The gent from the RPF would keep silent.
Then they would also agree that life was far better and more disciplined and trains were running on time when the British were ruling us. And a couple would pine for their British bosses and would emphatically say that if they had their way, they would invite the British back home on a red carpet.
Then they would pass a comment on that passing young girl of the Railway School dressed in jeans and tops. They would agree that during their golden days, all girls were modest and were wearing saris from the age when they enter high school. And were demure and not brash and were hardly talking to boys or teachers. (But they would all lock their radars till the young thing goes out of sight.)
Then one of them complains of cold and everyone starts talking about their individual ailments to their hearts' content. Sugar levels, BP readings, Chest X-rays, ECGs, housemaid's knees, and general disinclination to work a la Jerome K. And they would all recall how efficient and courteous was the Railway Hospital when Dr Kohili was heading it; and NOW...
And then they exchange the latest news of their grandkids born last year in the US.
And boast how wonderfully each of their kids are doing in their jobs in the US despite being denied admission in the IIT...they were all convinced that the IIT System is faulty...it doesn't recognize true merit.
And once the topic boils down to IIT KGP, they get all incensed about the lack of a quota for the Railway Children despite the Indian Railways going out of its way to open the Hijli Station exclusively for the construction of IIT in the early 1950s...but for the Railways, IIT KGP would never have come up...
...Posted by Ishani
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During the four decades I stayed at KGP, I must have made at least four hundred trips from IIT Campus to Gole Bazaar via the short-cut Railway Maidan, first on push bike, then on scooter and later on car.
The one invariant sight I never missed was this:
While stepping into the Railway Town from the Maidan, there was a telephone line on which were perched about a dozen Indian Crows. Right below the line there was a culvert on which were sitting and gabbing half a dozen Railway Pensioners with their walking sticks and protective head and chest-gear.
I can easily decipher what the crows were crowing because I read my Mark Twain...they are past masters at commenting:
http://gpsastry.blogspot.com/2008/06/best-prose-piece-i-ever-readmark-twain.html
And they were commenting on the inanities uttered by the old wags seated below; and punctuating their comments by deftly aimed droppings.
Now that I myself am a Pensioner, I know what the old buddies were indulging in.
First they reminisce about the Good Old Days. They would start by agreeing unanimously that corruption was unheard of in the Indian Railways while they were at its helm. This would be illustrated by everyone citing an instance or two when they were offered sumptuous bribes for postings, berths and bills but they not only resisted the temptation but complained to the ACB. The gent from the RPF would keep silent.
Then they would also agree that life was far better and more disciplined and trains were running on time when the British were ruling us. And a couple would pine for their British bosses and would emphatically say that if they had their way, they would invite the British back home on a red carpet.
Then they would pass a comment on that passing young girl of the Railway School dressed in jeans and tops. They would agree that during their golden days, all girls were modest and were wearing saris from the age when they enter high school. And were demure and not brash and were hardly talking to boys or teachers. (But they would all lock their radars till the young thing goes out of sight.)
Then one of them complains of cold and everyone starts talking about their individual ailments to their hearts' content. Sugar levels, BP readings, Chest X-rays, ECGs, housemaid's knees, and general disinclination to work a la Jerome K. And they would all recall how efficient and courteous was the Railway Hospital when Dr Kohili was heading it; and NOW...
And then they exchange the latest news of their grandkids born last year in the US.
And boast how wonderfully each of their kids are doing in their jobs in the US despite being denied admission in the IIT...they were all convinced that the IIT System is faulty...it doesn't recognize true merit.
And once the topic boils down to IIT KGP, they get all incensed about the lack of a quota for the Railway Children despite the Indian Railways going out of its way to open the Hijli Station exclusively for the construction of IIT in the early 1950s...but for the Railways, IIT KGP would never have come up...
...Posted by Ishani
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