Memories: A journey to Guwahati, Assam

My father worked in Indian Railways. His last posting had been in Assam in the North Eastern part of our country. In fact, he started his career in the Indian Railways in Assam in 1958. Assam is a beautiful place.Though very far away from our place, there are a lot of similarities, in geography, vegetation and other aspects of life. He writes about his first posting in Assam.

My first posting was as a Probationer in the Stores Department of the N. F. (Northeast Frontier) Railway with its Headquarters at Guwahati in Assam. A probationer is an Officer who is undergoing two years’ training in the Department. I was in Bomaby and had to go from there to Guwahati. There was no direct train from Bombay to Assam then. One had to take short distance trains and change them often. Also, there were no railway bridges across the rivers Ganga in Bengal and Brahmaputra in Assam. So, first I took a train to Allahabad from Bombay. From there, I took a train to Katihar in Bihar and from there a train to Siliguri in North Bengal. The Railway line east of Siliguri was built after we got our Independence. As it was very difficult to build a bridge across the Brahmaputra, the line ended at Amingaon station on the northbank of the river just north of Guwahati.

At Amingaon, I got down from the train. A huge ship was waiting for us in the Brahmaputra. To cross the river, we had to board the ship first.. After flowing in Tibet for a great distance from west to east, the river changes its direction and enters India. First, it passes through Arunachal Pradesh and then enters the state of Assam. Dibrugarh on the south bank of the river is a big city. After flowing for 400 km from the river reaches Guwahati and continues its westward flow reaching West Bengal and then turning southwards to enter Bangladesh. We got into the ship waiting for us to move. The river is about 3 km wide and they say it is the narrowest point of the river in India. We waited for about an hour for the luggage and parcels to be transferred. The river water flows at a high speed and carries the ship downstream for about 4 km. The ship changes its direction and moves towards Pandu, the river port closest to Guwahati. It takes about an hour from Amingaon to Pandu.

Our train to Guwahati was waiting for us. It takes about an hour for shifting the luggage. The train has to move eastwards before reaching Dibrugarh. The next station from Pandu is Maligaon, close to the Headquarters of the N.F. Railway. We got down there. A transport was waiting for us to go to the General Manager’s Office. Shri K.K.R. Rao was the Secretary to the G.M. at the time and I first went to his office and reported to him. Reporting for work to the Secretary means I have now joined the Indian Railways and have become its employee. I was asked to meet the Controller of Stores (COS) and report to him. That’s how my service with the Indian Railways started. Even now, 56 years later, the Railways are looking after me and my family wonderfully. My thanks are due to all those responsible.

( My father retired as the Controller of Stores)

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(Photo of the map is from the internet)