A Car, A Locomotive & A Walk Through Central Kolkata

 

I was heading out to pick up my car, which had gone in for its regular servicing.

I am a bit of a creature of habit. Loyal to a fault, perhaps. But that’s just how I am.

I have been sending my cars to Dewar’s Garage in Central Kolkata for servicing ever since I bought my first car. There are some things you just don’t change. You find a garage you trust, and you stick with it. End of story.

So, instead of taking the car out, I decided to take the Metro into town.

I hopped onto the Metro at Kavi Subhash Metro Station at New Garia, the terminal station of the Blue Line. The station is quite an interesting piece of Kolkata’s ever-expanding transport jigsaw, with the suburban railway station adjoining it and the Orange Line Metro also being integrated into the complex.

As the Metro pulled out of the station, something caught my eye.

There, trundling along the suburban railway tracks, was an Indian Railways WDS-6 shunting locomotive — No. 36088.

Now, most people probably wouldn't give a second glance to an old railway locomotive passing by.

I am not most people.

A locomotive is a locomotive.

And an Indian Railways shunter quietly doing its job is enough to make me forget, for a moment, that I was actually on my way to pick up my car.

By the time I alighted from the Metro, I managed to click a picture of the train. The rake was one of the older ones, although interestingly, it had been fitted with air-conditioning. Indian Railways does have a rather wonderful way of combining the old with the new.

From there, I walked towards Central.

And this is where I was reminded once again why walking through Kolkata is such a wonderful thing to do.

When you are driving, your attention is on the road, the traffic, the pedestrians, the buses, the potholes and the occasional person who seems to have obtained his driving licence through divine intervention.

On foot, you see things differently.

You notice buildings. You notice people. You notice little corners and details that you would otherwise simply whizz past.

Walking from Central Station, I came across the Lalbazar Fire Station.

And suddenly, what had started as a rather mundane trip to collect a serviced car had turned into one of those little Kolkata journeys where the city keeps throwing things at you to look at.

A Metro ride.

An old Indian Railways locomotive.

An air-conditioned rake.

A historic fire station.

And a walk through the streets of Central Kolkata.

All because I had to go and pick up my car.

Perhaps that's the real charm of Kolkata.

Sometimes you don't really need a plan.

You just need to get off the Metro and walk.

And keep your eyes open.

You never know what you'll discover.

And yes, eventually I did get to Dewar's Garage and pick up the car.

But by then, the car was almost secondary.

The journey had already done its job.

to see more Train Pictures visit my blog IndianTrainSpotter