Interesting letter written more than 100 years back.
Date: 02 – 07 – 1909
Divisional Railway Officer,
Sahibgunj,
Respected Sirs,
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 or train to go off and I am running with lotaah in one hand and dhoti in the next when I am fall over and expose all my shocking to man and female women on platform. 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.(ORIGINAL LETTER)
Your faithful Servant,
Okhil Chandra Sen
Okhil Babu wrote this letter to the Sahibganj divisional railway officer in 1909. It is on display at the Railway Museum in New Delhi. It was also reproduced under the caption Travellers Tales in the Far Eastern Economic Review.
Any guesses why this letter is of Historic Value?
It led to the introduction of TOILETS in trains in India…!!!!
Impact of the letter
- Back then, passengers had to wait till the next station to answer the call of nature!
- Thank Okhil Chandra for making Indian Railways do the needful. He wrote the following letter to Indian Railways and finally, there were toilets in 1909!
- The trains got toilets after Indian Railways completed about 50 years!
So no idea is stupid and Always speak up…👍😀✌
(Howsoever bad or good you may be at any language)…
A letter which created history.
In the first 55 years of operation of the Indian Railways, there were no toilets in trains. On July 2, 1909, an aggrieved Babu Okhil Chandra Sen lodged a complaint to the then Transportation Superintendent, Sahibganj.
After this, the railway authorities had no other option but to introduce toilets in all lower class carriages in trains running more than 50 miles at that time.
Okhil wrote this letter in his anguish. Though the letter certainly lacked the basic English grammar but it really became an important document in the history of Indian railways.
It led to the introduction of TOILETS in trains in India…..!!!!
So no idea is stupid and should not be discarded.
