Page 25 - Seniors Today - April Issue
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full pressure which results in the brake mental peace are not necessarily wicked
application. In this case there was no driver people but most often the spineless ones.
on board to apply the brake! The chain I returned back to site by the first available
pulling by many people could have resulted train. By then it was dark and all other
in a brakes getting applied, a conjecture departments had finished their work and
since the air brake was still a new feature. their staff had left. My staff had started
No brakes on rakes would have made flakes the OHE work. The damage to the OHE
of the coaches. I recall a quote of Einstein, was excessive and the restoration needed
“There are only two ways to live your life. wiring train which was in place in the tunnel
One is as though nothing is a miracle. The with diesel engines and its thick smoke.
other is as though everything is a miracle.” Almost every one of my section including
The stopping of the train can be a miracle or the assistant officer were on the top of the
no miracle. train. The smoke, lighter than air occupied
Some people may remember this incident the upper part of the tunnel. The upper part
which was reported in the newspaper in the of the tunnel looked like a smoke gutter,
mid-nineties. The coverage was fairly wide. draining out the smoke to atmosphere,
Like all news items, this was also gone out of like a river getting emptied in sea. The
memory and as there were no casualties and staff appeared to be doing some Bollywood
no loss of property. May be because of this it dream sequence; some moved without a leg,
did not become a world news, a silver lining some appeared to work with invisible hand.
for the dark cloud. It was therefore forgotten Some who were finding difficult to breath
quickly. in the thick cloud of smoke tied a cloth on
I was in charge of the OHE and my the face, looked like Halloween figures. To
presence was needed at the site of accident encourage the staff, I also climbed on the top
after all other departments had finished of the train. It was difficult to breath without
their work. My job was like finishing even doing any work, I could imagine the
touches, a last word, nothing more to add. difficulties of the staff who were working
Instead of getting tired for no reason, I was so hard, pulling and lifting heavy wires
asked by the DRM to return home or take and fittings. Least what I could do was to
rest in the rest house at Lonavala. It suited be there on the top of the wiring train. The
me as I was looking under the weather. I working platform on train top, was invisible
was expected to come back to the site after due to smoke screen. The tunnel was totally
couple of days. It was possible to monitor the veiled in smoke.
progress of work from the control office even The four or five coaches and a wagon with
from home and therefore I did what I was the reels of copper wires were fully utilised
told. for the work. But at one location, a gap
I happily took a train to Dadar. Hardly between two coaches, bridged by attic door
had I reached my home than I was told to type arrangement, was not bridged. Staff
return. When the bosses are under tension, was jumping over at this location. As the
they blame juniors. The person who had work continued, with the engine stationary,
suggested me to take rest was now saying the smoke cloud over the coaches increased.
how I had left the site. He was not able The visibility became bad to worse. When
to stand up to his boss. The destroyers of the work picked momentum, one of the staff
SENIORS TODAY | ISSUE #22 | APRIL 2021 25
