Lost Journeys

The dowager8217;s rich past may be lost on the passengers, but not on its keepers. 8220;It was known for its speed, decor, food8230;,8217;8217; beams its captain, Akhlaq Ahmad, who8217;s been serving it for the past 12 years. Today, you have to scrounge around for traces of the old glory even in the two AC Ist class cabins and the lone coupe. The worn maroon carpet, loud jacquard upholstery, and a tacky lamp are a far cry from its opulent past. 8217;8217;

There is no comparison at all,8217;8217; says J S Chahal, a retired IFS officer, who first rode it in 1940. 8220;The cabins were roomy with six-inch-thick mattresses, silk curtains, pure white linen, cane chairs, an attached shower. It was a hotel on wheels.8217;8217;

In 8217;34, the fleet-footed beauty added another feather to its cap by introducing air-cooling. Bhagirath Yadav, the AC mechanic who8217;s been with the Frontier for the past 30 years, smiles as he tells you of battery-operated blowers fanning huge ice blocks tucked beneath the floor.

The train8217;s restaurant car was also a dishy affair. The tables, says Chahal, were covered with white damask. The cutlery was silver and dishes of the finest bone china. You are still digesting this when he adds: 8220;The food was a la carte and we were given separate menu cards for breakfast, lunch and dinner.8217;8217;

Today8217;s pantry with its layers of grime and assembly-line meals leaves a bad taste. Point it out to Akhlaq and he shrugs: 8220;Everything is given out on contract.8217;8217;

The smudged linoleum, the lack of class may have something to do with the galloping competition. 8220;The Shatabdis have stolen the passengers from these old trains,8217;8217; rues B S Meena, station superintendent at Chandigarh. The growing number of stops has also put brakes on the dowager8217;s legendary speed. The train, which used to spurn those who travelled less than 600 kms, now issues tickets even to people going half that distance 300 kms.

Politicians have replaced the British elite in AC Ist class. With or without ticket. A few months ago, a Punjab MP created quite a scene when he forcibly occupied a coupe reserved by a British couple, and had to be physically evicted by irate villagers at Beas.

But Sharad Sawant lets you know that the charming Raj Babbar, Vinod Khanna and B R Chopra, the other regulars, more than make up for such incidents. Dressed in casual khaki outfit, top button open, and chappals on the feet, he8217;s quite a change from his liveried counterparts of yore.

Today, space is at a premium. Which is why a 10-seater compartment for the physically-challenged comes as a welcome surprise. The train may8217;ve become slack about its looks but it8217;s definitely more large-hearted. It8217;s evident from the two General Class coaches chock-full of workers.

8220;The Shatabdis and Rajdhanis care only for the rich, what about the have-nots?8217;8217; asks Akhlaq.

Well, this grand old lady with a warm heart has room for everyone.

Her Highness Beckons
Deccan Queen

WHEN red electronic letters flash that the Dakkhan chi Rani will keep her date at 5.10 pm just like in the Bombay to Poona run 1930, a wistful smile plays across Miss Munju8217;s lips.

For that secret moment, in the chaos of Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus sshh don8217;t say VT platform number 9, she is once again a 14-year-old memsahib 8212; same time 1940s, same place 8212; clutching a hat made to flaunt on the Poona race-course and sinking into a plush seat 8212; buffalo hide 8212; spooning porridge and glancing elegantly from a second-class window panelled in Brazillian zebra wood with walnut mouldings, no less.

A turbaned bearer hovers by not making a sound, skillfully pouring tea for one of the early Indians then permitted to hop aboard the gora sahib8217;s Weekend Special. And that would be 35 paise for a cup of tea, thank-you please.

It8217;s easy to jolt Miss Munju back into 2003. The bearer in the Deccan Queen coach sports a ring on his right ear and he8217;s peddling tomato-soup-soup-garam. No thanks.

8216;8216;Oh you were not born in those days,8217;8217; Munju waves her hands around ecstatically. 8216;8216;I was young then, and the Deccan Queen was really something8230;only meant for sophisticated people, you know. The locals would salute the train8230;now it8217;s a junta express!8217;8217;

It is barely days after the Indian Railways proclaimed that 50 more trains would hurtle into their family tree this year, but India8217;s first superfast train is now a fading also-ran, panting to keep up not just with a slick expressway stealing her passengers but the ubiquitous8212;and boring8212;Shatabdi.

Concrete whizzes them home in three hours so

Deccan Queen raced on low-key trials in 15 days this January to try hurtling home with 1,417 on board in 2 hours 55 minutes.

But wait a minute, where is the scarlet and golden trim? The show-piece dining car finished in silver oak with a zebra wood side-board and glass-topped tables?

Well, the dining car has been secreted away for a month8217;s overhauling at Matunga and the pantry car is whipping up cookery records to take orders and serve in 50 minutes. They want passengers stuffed before Karjat so they don8217;t head for the famous batatawada off the platforms. Then who will pay for soup-garam?

Mumbai8217;s melting pot is headed home 3 hours and 25 minutes, away hanging on to a motley baggage of laptops to lauki waiting to be chopped in SC6 Ladies Special 8212; the Husbands Special tag of the 8217;60s no longer holds.

8216;8216;Last year we had a dance party for a friend8217;s birthday,8217;8217; says a writer for a Gulf publication. She has shuttled Mumbai to Pune daily for a decade and 8216;8216;every day is like a picnic. We follow all Maharashtrian traditions. Haldi kumkum, dandiya for Navratri. The train has not improved in the last 10 years, but at Rs 475 for a season ticket what can you expect?8217;8217; she asks matter-of-factly.

In the clinical blue and white C3 lit by tubelights a whiff of fish and chips is the only give-away to glory days. Follow your nose

toward 35 sweaty cooks tossing omelettes and onion pakoras. 8216;8216;Two days back

Deven Verma came and asked for a parcel of fish and chips, it has survived on the menu since the beginning,8217;8217; catering manager A Raghavan tries to beam in a cloud of agarbatti.

8216;8216;Even the passengers with reservations don8217;t turn up anymore,8217;8217; mumbles Ramesh Dhumal, who8217;s served milky coffee in paper cups the last 25 years. He remembers when breakfast was Rs 4.50. 8216;8216;Free banana in the mornings, and toffee in the evenings,8217;8217; he adds helpfully.

The Blue-Eyed Babe of the Indian Railways may be tucked into a million memories for birthdays, anniversaries and promotions celebrated on board. But that8217;s not so easy anymore. 8216;8216;Seats no longer face each other so we can8217;t play cards or chat. The compartments used to be majestic,8217;8217; remembers

N G Kher who8217;s travelled the Queen since the 1960s.

Somewhere a couple is deciding how to squeeze an extra bedroom in their building plan, while a framed tiger from Tamil Nadu 8212; what8217;s he doing here 8212; looms above them. Somebody8217;s playing Space Impact on Nokia and the Ladies Special is sulking, the camaraderie is not obvious.

Whizzing by barren fields and thatched homes, no children in khaki shorts scramble by, train spotting. The kid on a haystack does not break into a grin and a mighty wave.

Even the heart of the Deccan is no longer in awe.

Riding with Royalty
Flying Ranee

Maybe the Queen of the West Coast still makes heads turn? The Illustrated London News of 1853 sure is high on hope. 8216;8216;The opening of the Great Indian Peninsular Railway will be remembered by the people of India when the Battle of Plassey, Assaye, and Goojerat have become mere landmarks of history.8217;8217;

At 5.55 pm Mumbai Central, the Flying Ranee born 1906 is rumbling to speed to Surat. 8216;8216;She was born of a humble lineage and attained glory along the way. Exactly when and where we don8217;t know and neither does the Western Railway for that matter,8217;8217; quotes a fading issue of Rail Darpan. Most officials freeze when asked for scraps of

information or fading photographs to resurrect

the Ranee8217;s past.

Once India8217;s fastest medium distance train, and the first to be rigged with double-decker coaches in 1979 there was once a telephone on board, the Ranee now scrapes into Surat often minutes behind schedule. And hey, it looks like just

another heaving suburban local but for the double-decker community squashed in impossibly small spaces.

8216;8216;She is a slow Ranee now. Too many stops,8217;8217; grumbles textile businessman S G Crawford.

Once famed for separate vegetarian and non-vegetarian dining, today they don8217;t serve food on board. 8216;8216;So many daily office commuters, there8217;s no room for dining,8217;8217; mutters an official.

Looking up from Men are from Mars8230;Jaya Mayenkar is on her seven-times-a-month visit to Surat to catch up with her son. 8216;8216;Flying Ranee?8217;8217; She raises an eyebrow to indicate she8217;s never on time. 8216;8216;I don8217;t talk to anyone, people are stressed out and ready for a fight.8217;8217;

Teacher Aban Palsetia seems to hang on to fond memories of 28 years ago. 8216;8216;Birthdays, farewells,

anniversaries, lipstick shopping on board. That charm is all gone.8217;8217;

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