How Toilets were introduced in the Indian Railways

Okhil Babu's letter to the Railway Department:

"I am arrive by passenger train Ahmedpur station and my belly is too much swelling with jackfruit. I am therefore went to privy. Just I doing the nuisance that guard making whistle blow for train to go off and I am running with 'lotah' in one hand and 'dhoti' in the next when I am fall over and expose all my shocking to man and female women on plateform. I am got leaved at Ahmedpur station.This too much bad, if passenger go to make dung that dam guard not wait train five minutes for him. I am therefore pray your honour to make big fine on that guard for public sake. Otherwise I am making big report to papers."

Okhil Chandra Sen wrote this letter to the Sahibganj divisional railway office in 1909. It is on display at the Railway Museum in New Delhi. It was also reproduced under the caption "Travelers' Tales" in the Far Eastern Economic Review.

Any guesses why this letter was of historic value?

It apparently led to the introduction of toilets on trains!!

THE PUNJABI ALPHABET: REVISION Course

A is for Adjust. Punjabis will always ask you to ‘Thoda Adjust kaar low ji’

B is for Backside, and it has nothing to do with your bum. It is an instruction to go to the rear of a building, or block, or shop or whatever.

C is for Cloney and it’s not a process for replicating sheep, nor is it George’s last name. It is merely an area where people live e.g. Defence Cloney.

E is for Expanditure. Punjabis are never shy of spending money - the latest cars, gadgets, marble floors: their ambitions are always expanding.

F is for Fackade, and even though it sounds like a bad word it is actually just the front of a building (with backside being the back,of course).

G is for Gaddi, and the way a Punjabi can pilot his gaddi puts any F1 driver to shame (If the Grand Prix does come to Ludhiana there’s no way Hamilton, Alonso or Kimi can overtake Balvinder, Jasvinder or Sukhvinder di Gaddi).

H is for Ho Jaoga Ji, and the moment you hear that you have to be careful because you can be reasonably sure it’s rarely going to happen.

I is for Intezaar, and to know more about it see ‘P’.

J is for Jindagi, and if there’s one person who knows how to live life to the fullest it’s a Punjabi.

K is for Khanna, Khurana, Kapoor, etc., the Punjabi equivalent of the Joneses (e.g.’Keeping up with the Khuranas’)

L is for Lovely sister of Happy, but unfortunately she almost never is

M is for Mrooti, the car that an entire generation of Punjabis were in love with.

N is for No Problem Ji. To find out how that works see H.

O is for Oye, which can be surprise (Oyye!), a greeting (Oyy!), anger (OYY!) or pain (Oy oy oy…).

P is for Punj Mint, and no matter how near (1 km) or far (100 km) a Punjabi is from you, he always says he’ll reach you in punjmint.

Q is for Queue, a word completely untranslatable into Punjabi.

R is for Riks, and a Punjabi is always prepared to take one, even if the odds are against him.

S is for Sweetie, Sandy and Sonu, who seem to own half the cars in NCR.

T is for the official bird of Punjab : Tandoori chicken.

U is for when you lose your sex appeal and become ‘Uncle-ji’.

V is for VIP phone numbers @ Rs 15 lakh and counting.

W is for Whan or Whay, as in ‘Whan are you coming ji?

X is for the many X-rated words that flow freely in all Punjabi conversations.

Y is for ‘You nonsense’, when anger replaces vocabulary in a shouting spree.

Z is for Zigzag (Please refer to G & M).

Mai kya ji : Have a good day Ji!

!!I laughed my pancreas out the first time I read it!!

A is for Awpheesh (as in Office). This is where the average Kolkakattan goes and spends a day hard at work. And if he works for the 'West Bengal Gawrment' he will arrive at 10, wipe his forehead till 11, have a tea break at 12, throw around a few files at 12.30, break for lunch at 1, smoke an unfiltered cigarette at 2, break for tea at 3, sleep sitting down at 4 and go home at 4:30. It's a hard life!

B is for Bhision. For some reason many Bengalis don't have good bhision. In fact in Kolkata most people are wearing spectacles all the time.

C is for Chappell. Currently, this is the Bengali word for the Devil, for the worst form of evil. In the night mothers put their kids to sleep saying, 'Na ghumaley Chappell eshey dhorey niye jabe.

D is for Debashish or any other name starting with Deb. By an ancient law every fourth Bengali Child has to be named Debashish. So you have a Debashish everywhere and trying to get creative they are also called Deb, Debu, Deba with variations like Debanik, Deboprotim, Debojyoti, etc. thrown in at times.

E is for Eeesh. This is a very common Bengali exclamation made famous by Aishwarya Rai in the movie Devdas. It is estimated that on an average a Bengali, especially Bengali women, use eeesh 10,089 times every year. 'Ei Morechhey' is a close second to Eeesh.

F is for Feeesh. These are creatures that swim in rivers and seas and are a favourite food of the Bengalis. Despite the fact that a fish market has such strong smells, with one sniff a Bengali knows if a fish is all right. If not he will say 'eeesh what feeesh is theesh!'

G is for Good name. Every Bengali boy will have a good name like Debashish or Deboprotim and a pet name like Motka, Bhombol, Thobla, etc. While every Bengali girls will have pet names like Tia, Tuktuki, Mishti, Khuku, etc.

H is for Harmonium. This the Bengali equivalent of a rock guitar. Take four Bengalis and a Harmonium and you have the successors to The Bheatles!

I is for lleesh. This is a feeesh with 10,000 bones which would kill any ordinary person, but which the Bengalis eat with releeesh!

J is for Jhola. No self respecting Bengali is complete without his Jhola. It is a shapeless cloth bag where he keeps all his belongings and he fits an amazing number of things in. Even as you read this there are 2 million jholas bobbling around Kolkata - and they all look exactly the same! Notethat 'Jhol' as in Maachher Jhol is a close second.

K is for Kee Kaando !. It used to be the favourite Bengali exclamation till eeesh took over because of Aishwarya Rai (now Kee Kando's agent is trying to hire Bipasha Basu).

L is for Lungi - the dress for all occasions. People in Kolkata manage to play football and cricket wearing it not to mention the daily trip in the morning to the local bajaar. Now there is talk of a lungi expedition to Mt. Everest .

M is for Minibus. These are dangerous half buses whose antics would effortlessly frighten the living daylights out of all James Bond stuntmen as well as Formula 1 race car drivers.

N is for Nangto. This is the Bengali word for Naked. It is the most interesting naked word in any language!

O is for Oil. The Bengalis believe that a touch of mustard oil will cure anything from cold (oil in the nose), to earache (oil in the ear), to cough (oil on the throat) to piles (oil you know where!)

P is for Phootball. This is always a phavourite phassion of the Kolkattan. Every Bengali is born an expert in this game. The two biggest clubs there are Mohunbagan and East Bengal and when they play the city comes to a stop.

Q is for Queen. This really has nothing to do with the Bengalis or Kolkata, but it's the only Q word I could think of at this moment. There's also Quilt but they never use them in Kolkata.

R is for Robi Thakur. Many nany years ago Rabindranath got the Nobel Prize. This has given the right to all Bengalis no matter where they are to frame their acceptance speeches as if they were directly related to the great poet and walk with their head held high. This also gives Bengalis the birthright to look down at Delhi and Mumbai and of course 'all non-Bengawlees'! Note that 'Rawshogolla' comes a close second!

S is for Shourav. Now that they finally produced a genuine cricketer and a captain, Bengalis think that he should be allowed to play until he is 70 years old. Of course they will see to it that he stays in good form by doing a little bit of 'joggo' and 'maanot'.

T is for Trams. Hundred years later there are still trams in Kolkata. Of course if you are in a hurry it's faster to walk.

U is for Aambrela. When a Bengali baby is born he is handed one.

V is for Bhaayolence. Bengalis are the most non-violent violent people around. When an accident happens they will fold up their sleeves, shout and scream and curse and abuse, "Chherey De Bolchhi" but the last time someone actually hit someone was in 1979.

W is for Water. For three months of the year the city is underwater and every year for the last 200 years the authorities are taken by surprise by this!

X is for X'mas. It's very big in Kolkata, with Park Street fully lit up and all Bengalis agreeing that they must eat cake that day.

Y is for Yesshtaarday. Which is always better than today for a Bengali (see R for Robi Thakur).

Z is for Jebra, Joo, Jipper and Jylophone.

Well...It's True.. Isn't It???

Some Facts which are very true!
1. Whenever I find the key to success, someone changes the lock.

2. To Err is human, to forgive is not a COMPANY policy.

3. The road to success??.. Is always under construction.

4. Alcohol doesn't solve any problems, but if you think again, neither does Milk.

5. In order to get a Loan, you first need to prove that you don't need it.

6. All the desirable things in life are either illegal, expensive or fattening.

7. Since Light travels faster than Sound, people appear brighter before you hear them speak.

8. Everyone has a scheme of getting rich?.. Which never works.

9. If at first you don't succeed?. Destroy all evidence that you ever tried.

10. You can never determine which side of the bread to butter. If it falls down, it will always land on the buttered side.

11. Anything dropped on the floor will roll over to the most inaccessible corner.

12. As soon as you mention something?? if it is good, it is taken?.If it is bad, it happens.

13. He who has the gold, makes the rules ---- Murphy's golden rule.

14. If you come early, the bus is late. If you come late?? the bus is still late.

15. Once you have bought something, you will find the same item being sold somewhere else at a cheaper rate.

16. When in a queue, the other line always moves faster and the person in front of you will always have the most complex of transactions.

17. If you have paper, you don't have a pen??. If you have a pen, you don't have paper?? if you have both, no one calls.

18. Especially for engg. Students--If you have bunked the class, the professor has taken attendance.

19. You will pick up maximum wrong numbers when on roaming.

20. The door bell or your mobile will always ring when you are in the bathroom.

21. After a long wait for bus no.20, two 20 number buses will always pull in together and the bus which you get in will be crowded than the other.

22. If your exam is tomorrow, there will be a power cut tonight.

23. Irrespective of the direction of the wind, the smoke from the cigarette will always tend to go to the non-smoker.

जय हिंद..

Udham Singh was one of the great patriots of India, with a burning desire to see his motherland free from the clutches of British colonialism and imperialism. According to British records, he was born at Sunam Village, Patiala State, on 23 August 1901, and was known at various stages in his relatively short life by the following names: Sher Singh, Udham Singh, Udhan Singh, Ude Singh, Frank Brazil and Mohemed Singh Azad. Being orphaned at the age of three, he was brought up in the Sikh orphanage attached to Khalsa College, Amritsar. He was issued with a passport on 20 March 1933 in Lahore in the name of Udham Singh. In a Metropolitan Police report, file MEPO 3/1743, dated 16 March 1940 (3 days after Udham Singh had been charged with the murder of Sir Michael O'Dwyer), we find information concerning his life, which reveals him to be a highly active, well-travelled, politically motivated, secular-minded young man with some great purpose in his life, a supporter of Bolshevism and driven by an ardent hatred of British rule in India. This is how the report runs:
SINGH served in the Army in Basra for a year and a half and in British East Africa for two years. He returned thereafter to India for a few months and then proceeded to London in the company of one PRITAM SINGH. The two sailed for the United States via Mexico. He worked for two years in California and for some months in Detroit and Chicago, whence he moved to East New York where he lived for five years. Thereafter he shipped for voyages in various vessels of the US Shipping Line according to his own account as a Porto Rican, because no Indians were allowed to be employed on US vessels. (He is known to have held a seaman's certificate in the name of FRANK BRAZIL of Porto Rico). From New York he made a trip to Europe, landing in France, and thereafter visiting Belgium, Germany and going as far as Vilna in Lithuania, returning via Hungary, Poland, Switzerland, Italy and France, embarking there for America. After another few months in the USA, he took employment on vessels plying to most of the Mediterranean ports and thereafter secured employment on the S.S. Jalapa as a carpenter. He arrived in this vessel at Karachi in July, 1927, and deserted from her in Calcutta.
While in America he appears to have come under the influence of Ghadr Party [Party of Revolt] and to have been affected by its teaching. He used to read seditious literature published by this party. On 27 July 1927 he was fined at Karachi for having in his possession a large number of obscene postcards.
On 30 August 1927 he was arrested at Amritsar as it was suspected that he was in possession of unlicensed Arms. Two revolvers, one pistol, a quantity of ammunition and copies of the prohibited paper, Ghadr-i-Gunj [Voice of Revolt], were recovered from him. He was prosecuted under section 20 of the Arms Act and was sentenced to five years rigorous imprisonment. He stated that he had intended to murder Europeans who were ruling over Indians and that he fully sympathised with the Bolsheviks, as their object was to liberate India from foreign control. He was released from gaol on 23 October 1931.
He visited his village for a short time in 1933 and then proceeded to London where in 1934 he was known to be living at 9 Alder Street, Commercial Road.
On 5 July 1934, as Udham Singh, he applied in London for endorsements to his passport no. 52753, issued in Lahore: he gave his address as 4, Best Lane, Canterbury, Kent, and said he had a business as a sports outfitter in India, but that he had not worked since his arrival some nine months previously. (There is, however, evidence to show that he had been pursuing the calling of a peddler). He announced that he wished to travel by motor-cycle via Germany, Belgium and Poland to Russia, across Russia to Odessa, where he would take ship for Constantinople en route for India. This was considered rather strange, in view of the fact he had recently broken his arm, but as he had not at that time been identified as an Indian of extremist views no objections could be raised.
On 12 May 1936, he applied in London for endorsements for Holland, Germany, Poland, Austria, Hungary and Italy, giving the address 4, Duke Street, Spitalfields, E. The application was granted.
On 16 May 1936 he applied in Berlin for further endorsements including the Eastern European countries and the USSR. In view of the fact that he had not asked for these at the time of his application in London four days earlier, he was informed that his case would have to be referred to London, where upon he withdrew his application.
On 25 June 1936 he was reported as arriving in London from Leningrad, and in the following November it was reported that he was living with a white woman in the West End of London and was working at intervals on crowd scenes at film studios. On several occasions he is reported to have expressed extreme views and he is known to have boasted that he had smuggled arms into India.
In August, 1938, UDHAM SINGH was charged in London with demanding money with menaces. The Jury disagreed at the first trial and he was acquitted at the second trial.
He has not come under notice at meetings organised by Indian extremist movements in London.
On National Registration day he registered in the name of AZAD Singh, under Serial No. EACK/305/7, giving his occupation as carpenter, and stating that he was born on 23 October 1905. His address was given as: 581 Wimborne Road, Bournemouth.
A further record of antecedents was supplied by the prisoner to Detective Sergeant Lisney and this is also attached.
It appears his last employment terminated on 7th November, 1939, since when he has been receiving 17/-per week unemployment benefit in the name of SINGH AZAD.
Source: 'Lalkar', November-December, 1996.

मेरा रंग दे...

Shaheed Bhagat Singh
Born: September 27, 1908
Died: March 23, 1931

Achievements:

Gave a new direction to revolutionary movement in India, formed 'Naujavan Bharat Sabha' to spread the message of revolution in Punjab, formed 'Hindustan Samajvadi Prajatantra Sangha' along with Chandrasekhar Azad to establish a republic in India, assassinated police official Saunders to avenge the death of Lala Lajpat Rai, dropped bomb in Central Legislative Assembly along with Batukeshwar Dutt।Bhagat Singh was one of the most prominent faces of Indian freedom struggle। He was a revolutionary ahead of his times। By Revolution he meant that the present order of things, which is based on manifest injustice must change। Bhagat Singh studied the European revolutionary movement and was greatly attracted towards socialism. He realised that the overthrow of British rule should be accompanied by the socialist reconstruction of Indian society and for this political power must be seized by the workers.Though portrayed as a terrorist by the British, Sardar Bhagat Singh was critical of the individual terrorism which was prevalent among the revolutionary youth of his time and called for mass mobilization. Bhagat Singh gave a new direction to the revolutionary movement in India. He differed from his predecessors on two counts. Firstly, he accepted the logic of atheism and publicly proclaimed it. Secondly, until then revolutionaries had no conception of post-independence society. Their immediate goal was destruction of the British Empire and they had no inclination to work out a political alternative. Bhagat Singh, because of his interest in studying and his keen sense of history gave revolutionary movement a goal beyond the elimination of the British. A clarity of vision and determination of purpose distinguished Bhagat Singh from other leaders of the National Movement. He emerged as the only alternative to Gandhi and the Indian National Congress, especially for the youth.Bhagat Singh was born in a Sikh family in village Banga in Layalpur district of Punjab (now in Pakistan). He was the third son of Sardar Kishan Singh and Vidyavati. Bhagat Singh's family was actively involved in freedom struggle. His father Kishan Singh and uncle Ajit Singh were members of Ghadr Party founded in the U.S to oust British rule from India. Family atmosphere had a great effect on the mind of young Bhagat Singh and patriotism flowed in his veins from childhood.While studying at the local D.A.V. School in Lahore, in 1916, young Bhagat Singh came into contact with some well-known political leaders like Lala Lajpat Rai and Ras Bihari Bose. Punjab was politically very charged in those days. In 1919, when Jalianwala Bagh massacre took place, Bhagat Singh was only 12 years old. The massacre deeply disturbed him. On the next day of massacre Bhagat Singh went to Jalianwala Bagh and collected soil from the spot and kept it as a memento for the rest of his life. The massacre strengthened his resolve to drive British out from India.In response to Mahatma Gandhi's call for non-cooperation against British rule in 1921, Bhagat Singh left his school and actively participated in the movement. In 1922, when Mahatma Gandhi suspended Non-cooperation movement against violence at Chauri-chaura in Gorakhpur, Bhagat was greatly disappointed. His faith in non violence weakened and he came to the conclusion that armed revolution was the only practical way of winning freedom. To continue his studies, Bhagat Singh joined the National College in Lahore, founded by Lala Lajpat Rai. At this college, which was a centre of revolutionary activities, he came into contact with revolutionaries such as Bhagwati Charan, Sukhdev and others.To avoid early marriage, Bhagat Singh ran away from home and went to Kanpur. Here, he came into contact with a revolutionary named Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi, and learnt his first lessons as revolutionary. On hearing that his grandmother was ill, Bhagat Singh returned home. He continued his revolutionary activities from his village. He went to Lahore and formed a union of revolutionaries by name 'Naujavan Bharat Sabha'. He started spreading the message of revolution in Punjab. In 1928 he attended a meeting of revolutionaries in Delhi and came into contact with Chandrasekhar Azad. The two formed 'Hindustan Samajvadi Prajatantra Sangha'. Its aim was to establish a republic in India by means of an armed revolution.In February 1928, a committee from England, called Simon Commission visited India. The purpose of its visit was to decide how much freedom and responsibility could be given to the people of India. But there was no Indian on the committee. This angered Indians and they decided to boycott Simon Commission. While protesting against Simon Commission in Lahore, Lala Lajpat Rai was brutally Lathicharged and later on succumbed to injuries. Bhagat Singh was determined to avenge Lajpat Rai's death by shooting the British official responsible for the killing, Deputy Inspector General Scott. He shot down Assistant Superintendent Saunders instead, mistaking him for Scott. Bhagat Singh had to flee from Lahore to escape death punishment.Instead of finding the root cause of discontent of Indians, the British government took to more repressive measures. Under the Defense of India Act, it gave more power to the police to arrest persons to stop processions with suspicious movements and actions. The Act brought in the Central Legislative Assembly was defeated by one vote. Even then it was to be passed in the form of an ordinance in the "interest of the public." Bhagat Singh who was in hiding all this while, volunteered to throw a bomb in the Central Legislative Assembly where the meeting to pass the ordinance was being held. It was a carefully laid out plot, not to cause death or injury but to draw the attention of the government, that the modes of its suppression could no more be tolerated. It was decided that Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt would court arrest after throwing the bomb. On April 8, 1929 Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt threw bombs in the Central Assembly Hall while the Assembly was in session. The bombs did not hurt anyone. After throwing the bombs, Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt, deliberately courted arrest by refusing to run away from the scene. During his trial, Bhagat Singh refused to employ any defence counsel. In jail, he went on hunger strike to protest the inhuman treatment of fellow-political prisoners by jail authorities. On October 7, 1930 Bhagat Singh, Sukh Dev and Raj Guru were awarded death sentence by a special tribunal. Despite great popular pressure and numerous appeals by political leaders of India, Bhagat Singh and his associates were hanged in the early hours of March 23, 1931.

Is Banning SMSes the solution to J&K problem

SC Reimposes Ban On SMS
August 6, 2008
NEW DELHI: Ban on SMSes in violence-ridden Jammu region will continue, the Supreme Court said on Tuesday while agreeing with the J&K government’s plea that SMS was used to spread rumours that fanned violent protests against revocation of land allotment to Amarnath Shrine Board.
The state, which appeared to have zeroed in on SMSes as the culprit behind the flare-up that refuses to die down, challenged the HCs August 4 order lifting curbs imposed by the state government on SMSes, telecasts on local TVs and issuance of curfew passes to reporters.
A three-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan went along with the J&K government’s reasoning and stayed the HC order relating to SMSes. However, when it questioned the state’s order on regulating curfew passes for reporters, the state promised that it would make available the passes provided the reporters made applications for that purpose.
The violent protests in Jammu started a day after the state government bowed to protests in the Valley and revoked its earlier order diverting alleged forest land to Amarnath Shrine Board for the purpose of building temporary shelters for pilgrims.
On August 2, the district magistrate of Jammu passed an order putting curbs on local television channels, but withdrew it after two channels agreed to abide by the dictat voluntarily. Following imposition of ban on SMSes, the Bar Association of Jammu moved a petition on Sunday. A division Bench, hearing the petition ordered lifting of the curbs.