Hello all,
A write up on, well, read and find out.
I hope you will like it.
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ME, JIMMY and BODHAN PASSENGER…
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I was raised for a good time of my life in a typically dusty Deccan town called Bodhan, a little over 25 kms from Nizamabad(AP), the district headquarters and 8 kms from the Andhra Pradesh- Maharashtra Border. This was part of Golconda empire and the princely state of Hyderabad along with Marathwada till 1956 and hence the unique and deep bonding with the Marathas including interstate weddings.
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Bodhan entered the Indian Railway Map alongside completion of ‘The Godavari Valley railway line’, between Kacheguda to Manmad, in meter gauge. A line branches out at Janakampet Junction, a dreamy station on the Kacheguda-Manmad Mainline, which leads further to Bodhan after 20 kms. During the Nizam’s rule, railways in this region have witnessed glorious days, a separate local rail network had been laid purely to collect sugarcane and deliver it at the Nizam’s Deccan sugars limited, the largest sugar factory in Asia back then at Shakkarnagar. Alas, the downfall began after 1980’s and the factory was finally privatized and the railway line to collect sugarcane removed altogether. At one point, Bodhan was only basking in its erstwhile glory, the sugar factory almost defunct, only 2 train services per day, development encroaching the entire heritage and older generations vanishing with nobody to hear their tales of good old times. Today, Bodhan is something else, it’s not widely known for its sugar factory or its unique railway system anymore. It is a regional educational and agricultural Hub strategically to support farmers during all seasons.
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Although this place has transited from Steam to diesel and meter gauge to Broad gauge, the loyalty towards trains has not changed in few devoted passengers who travel daily mornings to work at Nizamabad and get back in the evening local. Few such people are Shankar mama and Sai Baba uncle whose stories about the erstwhile MG steam engines I grew up listening to. Oops, nostalgia struck and led me way too far from what I actually wanted to write, if the title and what you read till now didn’t make any sense to you till now, it would. I have a tale to share with you, the reader, I don’t know if you would relate to it or not but here goes.
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TO BE CONTINUED…