>From my memoirs 4 years back
I was travelling from Pune to Hyderabad by Hussain Sagar Express on 24 Feb 2014
Monday night. An elderly gentleman was sitting on the opposite berth and we
got chatting . The conversation went on something like this :
Me : Kaka, you look old and appear to be travelling alone. How are you managing
this and at this age is it all necessary.
Kaka : Yes, I am 82 years old and I am going to Nasrapur near Hyderabad. I am
going to meet an old colleague's family. You see, he died last week and I have
to meet his family. My son did not inform me earlier when he got the message
else I would have gone to attend his funeral.
Me : Kaka he seems to be a very good and old colleague of yours ?
Kaka : Oh yes, You see I retired in 1992 and he retired after 2-3 months -
early 1993. I settled along with my son in Mumbai. He returned back to his
home town in Nasrapur and was staying there till the end.
Me : You remained in touch ?
kaka : Oh yes we used to send post cards to each other. I sent one the last
month and was expecting a reply but did not get one. I am sure he must have
started writing one but maybe could not complete it.
Me : Kaka, where were you working and any memorable moments during your work ?
Kaka : You see beta, we were working in the railways. The suburban railways in
Mumbai. I was the Guard and he was the Motorman. We worked together as a team
for more than 15 years. Our team was never broken by the babus. Let me tell
you the most memorable journey during this period. Sometime in the year 1988,
we were on duty for the " Office Local "
Me : "Office Local "
Kaka : Office Local is the 8.12 Local from Asangaon to VT ( CST now ). This
local was known as Office Local because all the office goers of Asangaon and
nearby villages took this local to Mumbai.
When we got the rake in the yard, it was already 17 minutes late.
With change of tracks at Asangaon, we lost another 9 minutes. So we were late
by 26 minutes at the start of the journey. A group of college students came to
us and said we will late for our exams I discussed this with my friend and we
decided to try to bridge the time gap to the best of our ability.
Then what, I was standing on the gangway checking all the passengers
boarding and alighting and he was on the horn all the time. Between the two of
us, we coordinated the entire journey and finally we reached VT ( CST ) just 1
minute late. A Mumbai local making up for around 25 minutes at the morning peak
hour in Mumbai was unheard of and we made it.
Me : Kaka, why did you do it and why do you think you could do it ?
Kaka : You see beta, We decided to do it for the children who had to take their
exams. We co-ordinated like a true team and reaching VT on time was the only
aim . "Amcha Nazar fakta fakta VT war hota " ie our focus was only on reaching
VT on time . We felt like "Tanaji Manasure" ( Tanaji was the general of
Chatrapati Shivaji who conquered Singhad at the cost of his own life )
Me : Kaka you remember your friend ?
Kaka : Yes beta, He was a true friend who stood by me always. Who makes
friends like this anymore. " Devani ashe mitra banyache sodun dele " god has
stopped making friends like this anymore.
Me : Miss him ?
kaka : Oh yes, I miss him. Raosaheb, why did you leave before me ? I know You
are the driver and I am the guard. always behind you... even in this .
( tears rolling down his eyes )
This mans name is D G Joshi and his friends name was D C Rao.
Simple old man, simple incident but raw true unpolluted emotions. speaks
volumes........................ Sampath Iyer
Sent from my iPhone
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