Train 18 hype as the day of the unveiling drew close

Train 18/Vande Bharat express is in news once again. No, perhaps not the train so much, but the creators of the train, albeit for the wrong reasons. Not much news can be expected in respect of the train as the much-promised third rake is nowhere in sight. Yes, it has been put back in operation after Lockdown and a big news was created about it but was that really newsworthy? The two trains ran for more than a year without any hitch or glitch, without a single cancellation of service. Or, are the announcements for more and more Train 18 rakes newsworthy any more? It is as if mere promises of 100 rakes, or even 44 rakes, matter more than actual delivery. As for the creators, much hullabaloo about them being spared by the CVC is so misplaced. It is like you give a dog a bad name, move ahead to hang him and ceremoniously spare him the noose after the dog has already suffered silently and mre importantly, ignominiously. And not all have been spared, as you would definitely know. Some have already lost a lot, all because they dared to make this train on their own. The last word has not been said and God knows what is in store, one way or the other. 

Be that as it may, let me change the pitch a bit and take this opportunity to indulge is some memoirs once again after remitting it to the background for months. After all, my book on the subject is under print.

What had followed the sanction in April 17 has been history in the making. Hard work and travails, a hitch here and a roadblock there. Problems galore but solutions too, with great synergy. The team worked like men possessed, not only the ICF team but also all the partner companies. These companies saw in this project the pride of nation building, not business alone. Day and night, 24 X 7. Memories of our almost daily meetings with European consultants at times which suited them, that is, late in the night, are vivid. Numerous shop floor meetings, standing next to those who were building the train, not in some air-conditioned room. I had never seen such energy and fervour in my entire service life. Good people, with a bag of tricks, had taken the bull by the horn and here they were, walking on air today.

 

I secured a date for unveiling of the train from Lohani. 27^th October of 2018. Shubhranshu, Manish and Dash, all of them said the date was fine but they would not clearly commit that it was doable. I knew the sentiment. The train had been tested in part and it was moving. The entire train would be coupled perhaps a couple of days before 27^th and there was no reason that it would not move as train too. If it did not, it would be a reason for harder work through the two nights but the train, in some or the other would be unveiled.

 

Al the stake holders sat together to work out the nature of the unveiling. The discussion itself was passionate and not surprisingly, full of emotion. We knew that that we could plan an orderly ceremony but it would be foolish to limit the number of people. At that time of the year the Furnishing shops have some 5000 men working with a large chunk of contractors’ labour. There was no way to deprive anyone of the joy of the historical event. Keeping the crowd of workers and large presence of Press and Media in mind, we selected the location. It was the newly modified Commissioning shed. We would invite all the members and some other senior officers of IR. While we could not care less about the members who had consistently reeked of negativity, we were indeed keen that certain members who had generally supported us as well as certain positive-minded officers must attend. I talked to them personally and secured their presence. Girish Pillai, Member (Traffic), V.P. Pathak, Member (Stores) and Mahesh Gupta, Member (Engineering) readily agreed to be roll up. We would send out invitations to senior retired officers of IR who had settled in Chennai. In addition to some retired members and GMs from other cities. We were selective and invited only those retired officers from other cities who had been supportive of me or Shubhranshu at some stage. We would all assemble at the top of the shed where a huge curtain would block the view of the shed where the train would be kept ready some 50 ft away. RPF band would be playing soulful music to suit the occasion. When the rope would be nipped and curtain drawn, the train would immediately sound its horn and start moving slowly towards the audience.

 

There was some debate about the flavour of enhancing sight and sound as the train started moving; Bharat Natyam, Mridamgam, Gtatakam, Orchestra, Choir and so on. And some weird suggestions like acrobatics, Rajnikanth stunts, ululation, shrieks, break dance and what not. I stuck to my favourite, a Dollu Kunitha group from Ramnagaram, near Bangalore. Dollu Kunitha is a major popular drum dance, accompanied by singing. The main sound, apart from many others, is from Dollu, a type of drum, hung by means of a thick threads from the necks of the performers. The sound and dance are uniquely energetic, offering great rhythm and instant excitement among the spectators to tap their feet and flounce their bodies a bit. Basically, a spectacular and captivating show. I had invited them on some occasions earlier to great response. Dhanish, our ever-smiling Protocol  in-charge, was put on the job and as was his alacrity in settling such things, we had their presence sealed soon.

I went through the last week before the unveiling as if in a trance. Things were moving mechanically and I had nothing to contribute except to do those famous shop floor reviews.

 

News of some great work in the offing was spreading all over the railway and non-railway circles, excitement had built up by the media. ICF has been in news in recent two years due to the new products it created and the metamorphosis that had take place. Our experiments in visual arts, makeover of the museum and pioneering work towards a green environment had been getting good coverage. These initiatives were covered strongly by some capable journalist based in Chennai. So, while the news originated earlier from Chennai, the stories were now emanating from Delhi. The coverage that was on in the months leading to turnout of Train 18 was unprecedented causing a buzz at national level. I learned through my social media accounts that there did exist a large number of rail fans and enthusiasts who were eagerly lapping up the news of Train 18. There is another type of people who support meritorious indigenous development and there number is legion; they were also following the news. It made us apprehensive and excited both at once; we did not want to a victim of our own popularity, if and when Train 18 got turned out and God forbid, developed any snags or encountered external obstacles. Or simply the pressure of time line of turnout which had already slipped by nearly two months. The positive side, for sure, was that we were reassured realized that once the train is tested and cleared for operation, there would be no need for us to publicize it inside and outside IR. Our journalist friends had already declared it to be a game changer and they would simply need to drive the point home. Train 18 was no longer a news of Indian Railways, it had become national news.

 

Talking of media, I have an interesting face of theirs to highlight. Based on a direction of Lohani, we had held a media workshop in ICF. The idea was to brief them on the positive sides of works being done on IR to improve its image. Most of the participants were from national dailies and TV channels from Delhi. Although the idea was to educate the participants on various aspects of legacy, strengths and working of IR, some special interest by these journalists in the projects of ICF was natural. They were exposed to Train 18 concepts; since manufacture had started and with so much buzz about it at ICF, these journalist were quick to see value in the project. All of them gathered a lot of information through direct interaction with me and other team members. We were exposed to a very positive side of Press and Media; they were quite eager to bring forth a story in which they saw a good message for the country. This became even clearer as the project moved towards completion. Extensive coverage took place on Aaj Tak, India Today, Zee Business, Door Darshan, ABP news, Financial Express, The Times of India, Hindu, The New Indian Express  etc.

 

I used to tell the team frequently a quote of Ophelia from Hamlet, “Lord, we know what we are, but not what we may be." But here was the media letting us know what we were and what we were going to be. It cut across their political inclinations. And all this coverage, to date, has been happening without ICF affording them any favour or service. All the team ICF, particularly Venkatesan, the Public Relations Officer, did was to keep good communication going with them. As much as 99% of the coverage of ICF and Train 18 has been positive.

 

One of the regular questions from our friends and media was same old, by now hackneyed, one and I was trying to find a befitting answer every day. The easiest path for me was to retreat to much superior intelligence. Peter Ackroyd in Shakespeare: The Biography has found answers for the brilliance of the bard. On his creativity, he writes, “He had learnt in his schooldays that one of the first characteristics of invention was imitation, and he was an imitator of genius.” Someone has said that ideas that spread win. Shakespeare, believe me, is the wellspring of new ideas for all of us as he had mastered the art of articulating on the human nature and ideas in an organization must flow for or through its human elements. What were we doing here at ICF was, largely, trying to bring the best out of our human resources. Some have criticized Shakespeare as derivative, which, to my mind, is rather foolish. One has to keep reverting to the existing knowledge and information to evolve new ideas. And that is the reason I keep quoting the bard, which was my easy, and effective getaway with Press and Media. And to make it more flowery, post facto, our home-grown Ghalib is always at hand:

 

Humne ja ke dekh liya hai, had-e-nazar se aage bhi

Rahguzar hi rahguzar  hai,   rahguzar  se  aage bhi

 

(I have gone and seen what lies beyond the horizon, paths and paths are laid out beyond your road.)

 

Even as the cacophony surrounding Train 18 was picking up outside IR, there was similar scramble to get more news on the train within IR. Mostly from those who were looking for a feel good news from IR. And definitely some who merely wanted to keep abreast, rummaging for some bad news and hoping that that the train would come a cropper. Srinivas and Vavre earlier and now Shubhranshu too had done enough talking about it to excite the well-wishers and agitate the cynics.

 

We waited for October 27^th with bated breath. I wanted to get over with it, frankly, as I was actually getting tired of acting, or rather being, the proverbial dog with two tails. We heard the poet Wasif Dehlvi, exclaiming:

 

Didar   se   pehle   hi    kya   haal   hua   dil   ka,

Kya hoga jo ultenege wo rukh se naqab aakhir

 

(Our hearts are so bemused even before seeing the beloved, what would happen when she unveils her countenance)

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