Here is a discharge
certificate of an engine driver, Mr. Ardeshir Sorabji from Navsari which is my
family's ancestral home town. This driver's (long since deceased) daily wage
was only Rs. 8 and 12 annas. Mr. Sorabji
served in the Loco and Carriage Department of the BB&CI Railway at Udhna
locoshed from 13 April 1893 until 15 June 1931, and retired as driver. That is
what I would call a career of railway romance!! This was a time when Europeans
could not be found to take up the jobs of Engine Drivers and hence they began
to recruit Parsees. Later on, after independence was attained in 1947, other
communities were also promoted to Driver after serving for years as firemen.
Note that the BB&CI Railway of that era included the Holkar (Indore) and
the Scindia-Neemuch State railways as well.
Picture
and text courtesy of
Dr. Ardeshir B. Damania
