Saturday, June 26, 2010

Am still waiting.....


Its been almost 2 months now….. I have become a non-living body…. Hitherto, I hardly got to meet a dozen of my friends whenever I got the chance to stay at my home…. Ah…. Home sweet home…. Patratu. How I used to crave for it. How I loved staying for an hour extra while a whole group of enthused fitters n supervisors worked their minds n hands off to ensure that I complied with the forecasted time. The weary looks of disturbed AMEs touching me here and there titillated the mischievous self of mine. How happy I used to get at the sullen face of the Senior DME in the morning power meeting when he said… oh, 14167 won’t be going out today!!! These moments I used to spend at the home shed were really precious as my wheels got the time to sleep… a welcome respite.
But now, things have a changed. Each of my 99 friends have exchanged pleasantries with me more than twice. Its pinching me now. I really want to move on….. I used to define ‘locomotion’, a trait of living organisms…. And now, its like I am on a hospital bed for the last two months, dying a silent death. The treads of my wheels have got layers of rust … a shame for me. I have become a show-piece now….’ Here’s the WDM3B 14000 series loco…. It’s useless… waiting for a truck frame it lost in an accident’…. Its becoming hard to bear these harsh comments. I used to run 2873 up constantly on eighth notch for hundreds of kilometers, and now, even the dummy truck frame on which I was standing for so long has been taken away. I stand on one truck frame and two godforsaken whiting jacks. Cursed be fate.
It was that doomed day when I was hauling 2874 down back towards Hatia. I almost derailed but this info was never relayed. Don’t know what made the pilot do so. A day later, I reached Patratu shed where Toppo my friend came to me with troubled eyes. He knew at once that I was in pain. He called a sahib from the adjacent pit, a rather new one whom I had seen just once, to have a look at me. Soon, it was the talk of the day. One of my truck frame had been damaged beyond the repairing capabilities of the shed. Everyone seemed perturbed. I could sense somehow that this stint wasn’t going to be enjoyable. And it proved so. Its been two months now… n I don’t see myself running before another month.
The injured truck frame was booked to KGP w/shop, thanks to the efforts of the sahibs behind desks. But unfortunately, the cursed wagon got lost in the sea of wagons of SER. Even hundreds of phone calls could not trace my lost limb. After all these painful days, the idea of getting a new bogie flashed in someone’s brain. Teams were sent to DLW to ask for the same. The fact that I belong to the rare species of high load 3D locomotives with heavy motors and equalizer made the task more difficult for my AME sahib. Well, they have returned now and for the first time in the recent past could I see the brightness in the eyes of my admirers. They look confident of rolling me out and I am dying for that.
Blessed do I feel that despite all the misfortunes, I will soon be setting out on the rails again, carrying thousands of pairs of eyes… some sullen, some desperate, some full of hope, some carrying the only hope… but all waiting for the destination. I am also waiting…. waiting for the day I set out again. All I have for the moment is the hope that my caretakers might comprehend what an ailing heart of a ‘dead loco’ feels.