The Hindu Business Line : Running a life-line

As a train meanders through different terrain, the children watching it pass are not happy with just waving to the passengers. Some try to catch the engine-driver’s eye and point excitedly to his hand, where the watch is strapped on, and ask the time. And engine-driver Arun (name changed) makes it a point never to disappoint the children. He always replies to them, using his fingers to tell the time.

Nothing thrills the children more than having the engine-driver himself respond to them, says Arun, who has been living a young boy’s dream of becoming an engine driver for over two decades now. Dressed in a light-blue shirt, sleeves rolled up to his elbows, his clothes bear the grease marks of hard work in the engine. And he sports them proudly.

There are colleagues who prefer to wear spotless clothes and seek more respect in society than what an engine-driver gets, he says, adding they choose to become supervisors.

But for Arun, whose career as an engine-driver started after he responded to a newspaper advertisement, he loves every moment of being the master of the train, especially when it is on the move.

It is hard work inside the engine cabin, despite the presence of two people, he says. Whatever the weather outside, whether one is travelling through dacoit-infested country or peaceful green fields, the engine-driver’s attention cannot afford to waver. There is not even a radio to keep him company; and while passengers sleep at night the two men in the engine stay awake all night long, keeping their eyes on the tracks to ensure everyone gets home safe by the morning.

But it is not always that people appreciate the job of an engine-driver, he says. The drivers are trained, well-paid, do the trouble-shooting in the engines themselves and are held accountable for every incident that happens with the train they are in charge of, says a younger engine-driver, who has been in this job for more than five years and is dressed more fashionably than his “senior”.

The younger breed rely heavily on the hands-on experience of their seniors and are exhilarated with the many different, unexpected experiences that everyday journeys can throw up.

Also, their interests extend far beyond the rail racks, even to the fluctuations of the Sensex, as they are avid investors in the stock market! Leafing through a business magazine, the young engine-driver rattles off good investment options so confidently that even the senior drivers, who are otherwise suspicious of the stock markets, evince interest.

But an engine-driver’s life is crossed by several heart-wrenching, soul-searching moments when people commit suicides by jumping in front of trains. What could have driven a woman with her three children to step in front of a train or a young lad to walk on the tracks with his back to the approaching train?

These are thoughts that haunt them, the driver says. What adds to the pain is when the train-driver makes eye-contact with the person attempting suicide. It goes straight here, the older driver says, his hand placed on his heart.

The engine-driver’s primary responsibility is to the passengers, so even when there is a person on the track he cannot stop the fast-moving train as the speed and momentum could derail the train itself.

But there are times when the train has not picked up momentum yet and the driver manages to yell out to the person to get off the tracks, he says.

The tracks are a lonely place, especially at night, so it’s no surprise that stories abound of ghosts standing beside the tracks! And sometimes, when life takes a turn for the worse, some of the drivers cannot help wondering whether these deaths on the tracks have come back to haunt them.

But every such incident is thoroughly enquired into by the authorities, he says, indicating that the drivers are under constant scrutiny — by the authorities, the media and the public.

And, of course, the happy moments happen when they manage to shoo lazy cattle off the tracks in the nick of time and the train passes by without harming even an inch of them. “We cheer in the engine after each such near-escape”, he says.

For this engine-driver, his moments of pride come when he attends his child’s school and speaks to the starry-eyed class about life on the tracks and the role it plays in getting families together.

Children are the engine-drivers’ best friends, he says reflectively. One of the most natural things that even an infant does is to lift a hand and wave to a passing train, he says with a smile of pride.