Railway Genes
Saturday, July 25, 2009 Labels: History And Society, Philosphy Of Life, You Me and Our Lives 1 comments
A Hereditary Trap
Indian society had and still has insidious stratification based on caste groups. Originally these caste groups started out as work-guilds. A group of carpenters - for example interacted and lived together for professional reasons. Opportunities and mobility being restricted, generations after generations took up jobs of their ancestors. Thus the work-guilds crystallized into water-tight caste groups. A child was condemned (or blessed - in the case of upper castes) to follow family calling. Even modern day professions had their own entrapment for children. I, even in 20th century was destined to become a Railwayman - almost as a karma of birth in a Railway Family....My grand-father in early 20th century was a clerk in a station in Metre Gauge section of what is now called North-eastern Railway. It’s not known whether my great grand father was also in Railway - it would be a fair guess that he too must have been a Railwayman. Jobs in Railways at that time used to be gifted to children of loyal Railwaymen. It was difficult for outsider to enter the profession - unless the person was highly qualified. Thus our family tree is entwined with Railways for over a century, not much later than the inception of Railway in India in mid 19th century. Nobody from the family worked outside Railway (except my father). Nobody married outside a Railway Family (except me). Thus all my relatives - uncles and cousins were Guards, Drivers, Station Masters or Union Leaders. My father escaped the entrapment into Railway, due to untimely death of my grand-father in mid 1920s.He was sent to work in Haridwar Station as a replacement to the locals, who had succumbed to Cholera epidemic. My grand-father also fell to cholera within a month. Although this meant pauperization of the family, my father ultimately did much better than he would have done in Railway. He escaped the Karma of Railway-birth (not berth).
I remember most of my holidays in childhood were spent with Railway Relatives. We played in Railway Yards. We sneaked into forbidden areas like Station Master's room or Signalling Huts. We also played in equipment storage areas - where we played about with signal levers and trolleys etc. Many times we were chased away by the chowkidars. Informally we learnt a lot about Railway operations during playing. In the evening my uncles used to clarify any doubts we had, during our informal coaching in Railway. The discussions over dinner were mostly about Railways. This knowledge and experience fleshed out the bland training I received later during induction into Railway. The Railway entered my Genes by osmosis.
Although I passed out among top quartile of class from IIT-Delhi and most of my class-mates managed to get a career in USA, yet I got trapped to join Railway, due to family persuasions. Firstly, I was persuaded to just enter the competitive Exams For Railway (After all even if you get selected, you can always back-off). Later having succeeded - a whole congregation of relatives emotionally blackmailed me to join. Railway-birth leads to a berth in Railway.
I spent over 37 years in Railways and rose to become CEO of a Zonal Railway.
But it was galling that I could not rise further, because people with no roots in Railway, questioned the depth of my groundings in Railway Operations. Ultimately I resigned.
None of my children joined Railway despite my prodding and escaped the hereditary profession. They were able to break the Railway voodoo. I wish I could have too!!
A good account by Railwayman