Bombay Railway & History Group: Rafique Baghdadi and Rajendra B. Aklekar -- Romance of Mumbai, trains & films

09 July 2016

Rafique Baghdadi and Rajendra B. Aklekar -- Romance of Mumbai, trains & films

Was honoured to moderate a talk and share stories about the romance of Mumbai, its railway and a bit of cinema with city chronicler-historian Rafique Baghdadi at the dining hall of the UNESCO-listed world heritage site of Mumbai CST railway station on the occasion of CST Heritage Week on July 5, 2016. Thanks to Central Railway Additional General Manager A.K. Srivastava and also Chief Public Relations Officer Narendra Patil.

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What's the book about?

My book on Bombay railway is the story of how the line came up to become India’s first railway line and to grow into the 7 million passengers that if ferries today. It is the story of each station and the relics of that glorious era that are still lying around at those stations. It’s the story of Bombay railway..the lifeline of now Mumbai city.

Halt Station India chronicles the dramatic rise of India’s original rail network, the arrival of the first train, and the subsequent emergence of a pioneering electric line—all in the port city of Bombay. Trains that once provoked awe and fear—they were viewed as fire chariots, smoke-spewing demons—have today become a nation’s lifeblood.

Taking a walk along India’s first rail lines, the author stumbles upon fragments of the past—a clock at Victoria Terminus that offers a rare view of a city; a cannon near Masjid Bunder Station that is worshipped as a god; a watchtower overlooking Sion Station, believed to have housed a witch. Each pit-stop comes with stories of desire and war, ambition and death—by Dockyard Road Station, for instance, author Laurence Sterne’s beloved, Eliza Draper, followed a sailor into the sea; or close to Parel Station, the wife of India’s governor general, Lord Canning found a garden rich in tropical vegetation; this, she replicated at Barrackpore.

Drawing from journals, biographies, newspapers and railway archives—and with nostalgic, first-time accounts of those who travelled by India’s earliest trains—the book captures the economic and social revolutions spurred by the country’s first train line. In this, Halt Station India is not just about the railways—it is the story of the growth of India’s business capital and a rare study of a nation.

To place an order in Mumbai..

Pls call for home delivery--

Mumbai number- 02223524655, 02223511381. Monday to Friday 9.30pm to 5.30pm. Saturday 9.30pm to 2.00pm, Sunday closed. Email at kgminternational@gmail.com

The book is also available online on Flipkart/Amazon and also at book stores

To buy in India

http://www.flipkart.com/halt-station-india-dramatic-tale-nations-first-rail-lines-english/p/itmefqakn8hhzq5b

http://www.amazon.in/Halt-Station-India-Dramatic-Nations/dp/8129134977/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1421582617&sr=8-1&keywords=halt+station+india

To buy in the UK

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Halt-Station-India-Dramatic-Nations/dp/8129134977/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1421582491&sr=8-1&keywords=HALT+STATION+INDIA

For the US and other countries

http://www.amazon.com/Halt-Station-India-Dramatic-Nations/dp/8129134977/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1421582579&sr=8-1&keywords=halt+station+india

The story of Bombay's railway heritage

The first passenger railway in the east (in Asia) ran between 21 miles of Bombay and Thane stations on 16 April, 1853, laid by the Great Indian Peninsula Railway (GIPR) that was originally set up under the Parliament of England Act. Citizens of Bombay celebrated the day as a public holiday.

The same 'experimental line' of the GIPR is today the lifeline of suburban Bombay, now called Mumbai, India's financial capital, ferrying a record 3m suburban passengers every single day. It is called the Central Railway today.

As the line even today runs on the same old blueprint, there are a lot of relics lying along it that attach are of national heritage. The group believes that it is important to document and archive those silent structures that so vividly tell the tale of the glorious past and is working towards it.

May it be that neglected, old and rusted metal shell lying in one corner of the line or a crumbling stone structure. It may be just a piece of scrap for everyone else, but here for members of this group, it's living history.

Rajendra B. Aklekar

91 9892 190 761