TRAIN

Farukhnagar has a railway station too! It was to my utter surprise I found an abandoned building and a sarai (inn) on the outskirts of the town. With that there was a platform like structure with a yellow board with Farukhnagar written on it. There was a railway track on which Farukhnagar travelled to modern times. The buildings are desolate with tree growing from its rooftop and railway tracks are covered with the grass. Now in this fast pace era the whole ambience over here looks like a leaf from a book of History. And this virtual book has real stories. By looking at this sight one could imagine a train is about to arrive, passengers are running around to catch it, and train slowly moves to its destination. Now it seems the same din is completely absorbed in the serenity of the abandoned station. The railway track still has the traces of many events related to change, time and space. And the search for these stories took me to a tea stall in the town. And there I met an old man in his late 80s known as “pandit ji” while sipping a tea at a tea stall next to a chowk where bust of Rajiv Gandhi made out of marble stands erect, recalls the changing phases of politics and his town. He talks about the “time” when as a kid he used to see a descent of nawab’s family passing everyday from this chowk on his way from sheesh mahal to his haveli. He still remembers how this so called last nawab while loitering on his horse used to tease children in the street by asking them the way to his haveli. On telling the right direction the kids were rewarded with toffees. He tells how “ride” from being manual turned into mechanical. Horses and bullock carts were replaced by train which located farukhnagar on the map of British India in 1873. During British India faruknagar was a very important salt production center as it had 386 salt wells. Connecting it with railway line turned farukhnagar into a hub of business. Earlier it was a “goods” train with special bogie attached for Pandit Bakhtar lal-the richest of all businessmen. Later it got turned into passenger train with 10 bogies. Initially train had stream engine later it was converted into coal. During early days people were bit hesitant about the schedule of train but slowly attuned their lives according to the train’s time. Early morning on farukhnagar station one can see the hustle and bustle of people from various walks of life rushing to catch train. Milk men, florists, juti maker, moora seller, food grain godown workers, small businessmen and office goers were regular travelers. The journey by train was not only necessity but recreational too. For instance there were many comical incidents associated with train journey. For e.g. Farukhnagar geographically is a rough and uneven sandy terrain. Next station Sultanpur from farukhnagar on its way had many steep heights to cross. Since engine was of coal it was not powerful enough to produce speed which can let train climb in one go. Whole train used to slide back to farukhngar before it gathered power enough to climb up the challenging steep. But this contest of train with the topography enabled people to catch it even if it was missed at the main station by them.
Ironically, train is still struggling to reach Farukhnagar smoothly and people have not only missed it but they are missing it badly because the railway station over here has gone defunct for about last ten years