Readers' Forum
They toiled to transport
In addition to the Parsis who were in the upper echelons of the Indian Railways in the past (see "Lineup of legends,” Parsiana, October 21-November 6, 2020 issue, and "Trains and terrains” November 21- December 6, 2020), there were many others who over the past 150 years played an important role in keeping the wheels of the system greased and moving under harsh and difficult conditions, at times even torrid ones, to transport people and goods safely over long distances.
In 1852, prior to the War of Independence, referred to by the British as the "Mutiny,” the East India Company proposed a plan to terminate the railway line from Calcutta at Meerut. After the Mutiny, the East India Railway Company planned to extend this trunk line from Meerut to the rich hinterland of Punjab, by-passing Delhi. The governor-general approved of the plan. This led to protests by the rich merchants of Delhi. In 1863, a meeting was called to urge the government not to leave Delhi out of the grid. Attending the meeting were "many hundred respectable Indians…The vocal members of the audience included one Hindu, one Muslim and one Parsi besides some aristocrats” who protested that diverting the "iron horse line” away from Delhi would affect trade and would be unfair to those "plutocrats” who had purchased shares in the British Indian Railway Companies.
Pressure from this vocal group, including the Parsi, led to the secretary of state reversing the governor-general’s decision. At midnight on New Year’s eve, 1867, the first train’s whistle sounded as it steamed into Delhi.
We should not forget this influential Parsi from Bahadur Shah Zafar’s Mughal times who was in a way responsible for bringing the railway into Delhi. Is any Parsi in Delhi even aware of this today?
The Railway Guide Book of the time recommended to European tourists, amongst others, a Parsi owned shop in Chandni Chowk. The noted poet from the Mughal Emperor’s court in 1858, Mirza Ghalib, was a connoisseur and regular consumer of good wines. He had remarked that Parsi shops were full of champagne, French wines and indigenous artifacts. He also mentioned a Parsi shop in Khari Baoli.
There were a few dozen Parsis who resided in the walled city of Shah Jehanabad during Mughal times and in the Victorian era. According to my father, if we do not know the names of all these 19th century Parsis from the graves in the old Parsi aramgah, it is because before 1857 all burials took place at the "Purani” Idgah, a mile or so away from the walled city, on the hilly south-western edge.
Nor should we forget the unnamed Parsi railway employees who held poorly paid, dangerous jobs but were important spokes in the wheel of service that provided a faster and safer mode of travel to the Indian public. At any given time there were more Parsi engine drivers than any other category of officers. Many of these forgotten transporters of thousands of lives daily started as firemen who stoked the fires feeding the boilers every few minutes, shoveling in some 50 tons of coal while enveloped by and breathing in lung destroying smoke. These hard working souls who received very low salaries were also responsible for filling the water-tanks of engines, oiling the axle bearings, charging the large number of grease nipples, tapping the wheels and at times hooking the engine and coupling the vacuum hose to the train.
Two Parsis who became loco foremen were stationed at the Bombay Baroda and Central India meter gauge Loco Yard at Serai Rohilla, 15 minutes’ walking distance from our residence. Until 1947 the senior most loco foreman in charge was Douglas Loader, father of my classmate Gerald. My younger brother and I were attracted to their house, across the road from the Delhi Cloth Mills staff colony, mainly to see the various engines and watch the working of the "turn-table,” operated by one man, that turned the engine around. I recall Gerald’s father addressing the two Parsi loco foremen as James (Jamshed) and Tim (Tehmuras), though I can no longer recall their surnames.
At the Main Station, the person in charge of the Parcels Office was another Parsi whose enormous weighing scale displayed our weight as we excited pre-teens stood on its large platform.
RUSI R. SORABJI
California, USA
rustam@sorabji.org
In 1852, prior to the War of Independence, referred to by the British as the "Mutiny,” the East India Company proposed a plan to terminate the railway line from Calcutta at Meerut. After the Mutiny, the East India Railway Company planned to extend this trunk line from Meerut to the rich hinterland of Punjab, by-passing Delhi. The governor-general approved of the plan. This led to protests by the rich merchants of Delhi. In 1863, a meeting was called to urge the government not to leave Delhi out of the grid. Attending the meeting were "many hundred respectable Indians…The vocal members of the audience included one Hindu, one Muslim and one Parsi besides some aristocrats” who protested that diverting the "iron horse line” away from Delhi would affect trade and would be unfair to those "plutocrats” who had purchased shares in the British Indian Railway Companies.
Pressure from this vocal group, including the Parsi, led to the secretary of state reversing the governor-general’s decision. At midnight on New Year’s eve, 1867, the first train’s whistle sounded as it steamed into Delhi.
We should not forget this influential Parsi from Bahadur Shah Zafar’s Mughal times who was in a way responsible for bringing the railway into Delhi. Is any Parsi in Delhi even aware of this today?
The Railway Guide Book of the time recommended to European tourists, amongst others, a Parsi owned shop in Chandni Chowk. The noted poet from the Mughal Emperor’s court in 1858, Mirza Ghalib, was a connoisseur and regular consumer of good wines. He had remarked that Parsi shops were full of champagne, French wines and indigenous artifacts. He also mentioned a Parsi shop in Khari Baoli.
There were a few dozen Parsis who resided in the walled city of Shah Jehanabad during Mughal times and in the Victorian era. According to my father, if we do not know the names of all these 19th century Parsis from the graves in the old Parsi aramgah, it is because before 1857 all burials took place at the "Purani” Idgah, a mile or so away from the walled city, on the hilly south-western edge.
Nor should we forget the unnamed Parsi railway employees who held poorly paid, dangerous jobs but were important spokes in the wheel of service that provided a faster and safer mode of travel to the Indian public. At any given time there were more Parsi engine drivers than any other category of officers. Many of these forgotten transporters of thousands of lives daily started as firemen who stoked the fires feeding the boilers every few minutes, shoveling in some 50 tons of coal while enveloped by and breathing in lung destroying smoke. These hard working souls who received very low salaries were also responsible for filling the water-tanks of engines, oiling the axle bearings, charging the large number of grease nipples, tapping the wheels and at times hooking the engine and coupling the vacuum hose to the train.
Two Parsis who became loco foremen were stationed at the Bombay Baroda and Central India meter gauge Loco Yard at Serai Rohilla, 15 minutes’ walking distance from our residence. Until 1947 the senior most loco foreman in charge was Douglas Loader, father of my classmate Gerald. My younger brother and I were attracted to their house, across the road from the Delhi Cloth Mills staff colony, mainly to see the various engines and watch the working of the "turn-table,” operated by one man, that turned the engine around. I recall Gerald’s father addressing the two Parsi loco foremen as James (Jamshed) and Tim (Tehmuras), though I can no longer recall their surnames.
At the Main Station, the person in charge of the Parcels Office was another Parsi whose enormous weighing scale displayed our weight as we excited pre-teens stood on its large platform.
RUSI R. SORABJI
California, USA
rustam@sorabji.org
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