Sunday Special-A Rustic Indian Railway Passenger!

An Indian was also sitting with the British in a compartment of the same train. 

The compartment was full of English people. They were all making fun of the 

Indian. Some were saying, look what kind of a person has boarded the train, while

others were laughing at his attire and calling him a rustic. Some were so angry that

 they were cursing the train and shouting, why did they let an Indian board the train?

 Get him out of the compartment. But this had no effect on the man wearing dhoti-

kurta, black coat and a turban on his head. He was sitting with a calm and serious 

expression, as if he was thinking about something. The train was running at a fast speed

 and the British were mocking and insulting the Indian at the same pace. But suddenly 

that man got up from his seat and shouted loudly, "Stop the train". Before anyone could 

understand anything, he pulled the chain. The train stopped. Now it seemed as if the 

Britishers were furious. Everyone was abusing him. They were using all the words in the 

dictionary like uneducated, ignorant etc. But that man was standing quietly in a serious 

posture. As if he was not affected by anyone's words. His silence was increasing the anger

of the Britishers.

The train guard came running and asked in a harsh voice, "Who stopped the train?"

Before any Englishman could speak, that man spoke up:- "I stopped you sir".

Are you crazy? Are you sitting in a train for the first time? Do you know, stopping the train 

without any reason is a crime:- "The guard said angrily"

Yes sir! I know it but if I had not stopped the train then hundreds of people would have lost

 their lives.

Everyone started laughing loudly after listening to that man's words. But without getting 

perturbed, he said with full confidence:- The track is broken at a distance of about one 

furlong from here. If you want, you can go and see it.

That man and some English passengers also went along with the guard. Throughout the 

journey, the English were leaving no stone unturned in making lewd remarks at him.

But everyone's eyes were wide open when they saw that the track was broken at the 

distance mentioned. The nuts and bolts were open. Now all those faces including the 

guard who were calling the Indian uneducated, ignorant and crazy, started looking at him

 curiously, as if asking how did you find out all this from such a distance?

The guard asked: How did you know that the tracks were broken?

He said:- Sir, everyone was busy with their work in the train. At that time my attention was

 focused on the speed of the train. The train was moving at its normal speed. But suddenly

 I felt a change in its speed due to vibration of the track. This happens when the track is 

broken at some distance. So without wasting a moment, I pulled the chain to stop the train.

The guard and the Englishman standing there were stunned. 

The guard asked, such detailed technical knowledge! You don't seem to be an ordinary 

person. Introduce yourself.

The man replied very politely:- Sir, I am Indian engineer Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya...

Yes! That extraordinary person was none other than "Dr. Visvesvaraya".

Visvesvaraya on a 1960 stamp of India

Visvesvaraya was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire (CIE) in 1911 by King Edward VII, when he was the Chief Engineer to the Government of Mysore. In 1915, while he was Dewan of Mysore, Visvesvaraya was knighted as a Knight Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire (KCIE) by King George V for his contributions to the public good.

After India attained independence, Visvesvaraya received the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honour, in 1955.[8] He received an honorary membership from the Institution of Civil Engineers, London, a fellowship from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, and several honorary degrees including D.Sc., LL.D., D.Litt. from eight universities in India. He was the president of the 1923 session of the Indian Science Congress.

His birthday is celebrated as Engineers Day

Searched and Illustrated by Tejinder Kamboj

 

                                   (1940-20??)

(1940-20??)