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Journalism of Courage
8216;8216;The only mosque in this area is two km across the border. We say our prayers when the maulvi in Pakistan gives the azaan,8217;8217; Hussain smiles and begins praying.
This is the routine that has been part of the lives of hundreds of families on the Barmer border for years. But now, hopes of restoration of the Munabao-Khokrapar rail have given rise to a simple desire among these Muslim families.
8216;8216;The train will perhaps change our lives. We8217;ll be able to cross the border and say our daily prayers at the mosque,8217;8217; says Hussain.
Barmer isn8217;t Baramullah. It has always been a quiet, trouble-free spot. Here words like terrorism, peace and trade do not punctuate the street talk about the rail link. Rather, the words that flow about are prayers, relatives and sometimes paan and laddoo.
Kishan Singh Sodha was six-months-old when his family fled Gadra City in Pakistan in 1965. His family, like many others, settled down two km inside the Indian border and named their settlement Gadra Road. 8216;8216;The Gadra City laddoos were very famous. I plan to trade in them once the border reopens,8217;8217; he says.
The serious trader, however, believes that the rail can be the desert8217;s link to prosperity. 8216;8216;Business links between Rajasthan and Sindh can promote trade in cement, gum, non-edible oil, textile, betel leaves. Local handicrafts will also get a bigger market. Traders in Sindh can find buyers of dates, fruits and leather goods in Rajasthan,8217;8217; says Ghanshyam Ojha, president of the regional association of traders.
For Devi Singh Sodha, 82, who was part of the staff that ran the last train to Khokrapar, the revival will be a dream come true.
8216;8216;Prior to 1965, India and Pakistan would take turns sending their trains across the border. On September 3, 1965, the train that had gone to Khokrapar was ours. At the station, when driver Hanuman Singh and guard Raghunath Singh heard that the Pakistanis would not allow the train to return, they broke the signal and drove the train back to India. It was a filmi stunt that paid off,8217;8217; says Singh, hoping that the inaugural run will restore the good old days of the pre-war era.
Sitting in his Jaipur office, General Manager of Northwestern Railway S P Bhattacharya is making efforts to ensure that Singh8217;s dream becomes a reality soon. 8216;8216;There is some work to be done. The track on our side is broken for nearly 1500 metres. We need to repair it. We can do it in 10 days flat,8217;8217; he says.
With just a BSF base and a couple of huts abutting the last station on the Indian side, Munabao looks like a ghost town. 8216;8216;Imagine! Another nine months and all this will change,8217;8217; says BSF Company Commander Dinesh Kumar.
8216;8216;I can look into the immediate future. And this is what I see: lots of happy passengers, dozens of shops, the loud chatter of traders and hundreds of security men. After a gap of 30 years, Munabao is about to spring back to life,8217;8217; he chuckles.
