The Legend- Fourteen Thousand Nine!

We come across many things in life, which stay connected with us for long, for craziest of the reasons. I have many such things, to which I’m connected to, and some of them are the ones which one couldn’t even imagine. I’d describe one such beautiful thing to which I’m connected to.

Coming to the point, I love trains. More so, some particular rolling stock. I’ve experienced some breathtaking moments and heartbreaks.

As they tell, breathtaking moments are not usually long lived, but the heartbreaks are. I’ve lived some worst heartbreaks, three of them to be precise, and they crippled me. One after another, life kept throwing beamers at me. I’d say, if there is a worst decade that I would probably see ever in my life, it would be this one we’re presently in (2010-2019).

Railway is something that helped me organize my life, that gave me the confidence through these rough patches. I always believed machines had life. And the way these not so huge machines took on the challenges that were thrown by mother nature, I got the hope that I could survive at the worst conditions. And no sooner I had those thoughts, I faced the second of the three. My love for machines is something I realized when I was literally sad over a locomotive that was destroyed by an angry mob, sometime in early 2016.

I was not mature enough to take on those worst heartbreaks that I was referring to, when they first started to flow, and later on, by the time last one came, I understood the importance of loss of a valuable relationship/something.

I’ve been someone who liked to have someone in my life to share it with me, however I got rejected multiple times, for obvious reasons of immaturity. And finally, when I found someone, it was not practical. Now, I’m in search of something that is undefined, and probably that is something which I’m not sure of. In this phase, railway and the beautiful rolling stock have come to the rescue one again. This one, though is known to be a minor fix, still is working out.

This was first brought into my attention by my dear friend, AB. For those of you who don’t know, I photograph trains. This was a rare rolling stock, and was often referred as a precious capture. There were days when you could see four of them with a single train, if you were at the right spot in the right time, however, with the way things have changed, or rather, are changing, the kind of rolling stock that I’m describing is something that came down to two when it first held my attention.

That particular click triggered one more person, SKS, and almost a decade after he left train photography, he picked up his camera and pulled out some best clicks that I ever came across. Mesmerized by his craze, it grabbed more of my attention, and that is when I realized the importance of the wonderful machine. It was something which didn’t grab my attention, purely because of my dedication towards the other kinds, however once I understood how precious it was, it became one of my top priorities.

Two of them were doing absolutely fine we were having plans of chasing them at our leisure, however one of them had to undergo change earlier than expected, due to a mishap. This meant there was only one left, and it remained super special and our utmost priority, at the diminishing bandwidth we had.

Personally, I had very little bandwidth and I missed capturing the “Legend” (let’s call it the Legend starting now) numerous times. I felt sad, and yes, that hope of capturing it for one final time in the avatar is was, before the railways changed its appearance and features. Even though I tried doing it, it never happened.

As it was portrayed in the movie “Om Shanti Om,”  it is told that “Agar kisi cheez ko dil se chaaho to puri kayanat usey tumse milane ki koshish mein lag jaati hai,” which translates to wonderful quote in the book The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, “When you desire something badly enough, the entire universe conspires to give it to you,” (I always believed that it is something that is like a fairy tale and something that doesn’t happen in reality), life gave me a surprise, on a lazy Summer Sunday, when finally I was barely up and the sun was at his prime in my region.

I was awaiting for the confirmation of a similar looking rolling stock, and when someone confirmed that it was the legend himself, I extend my plan to go to a better place. On my way to that place, what used to be a crowded place, was barely filled with people. The places where I used to wait for tens of minutes with innumerable other vehicles, holding my handle/steering, waiting the signal to show up green, I found myself alone. Reason- heat.

Finally I reach the spot, and I aim my camera towards the direction from which the legend is supposed to show up. I imagine the legend in the frame and was assuming on how an ideal shot would look like.

There were two trains that were supposed to come before the legend, thanks to the particular train the legend was assigned to, and the Special treatment it received, and from the other side, while I was not hoping to capture any train, I got to capture 4 of them.

Finally, the two trains that were supposed to be in front of the legend, the mighty Duronto bound for Capital, for which I’ve waited numerous hours at similar conditions few years ago, and the Golconda Express, bound for Guntur, with a surprising loco from Kolkata, pass by. This means, in all probabilities, the legend was all set to show up.

I had captured this legend earlier, and I was not so tensed back then. Probably because I never realized that my life is going to be streamlined in such a way that the moment I was living in would be so precious.

It was 46 degrees on a Summer afternoon. I could have been in the comforts of a 17 degree cool room, or sit in a movie hall watching Iron Man say “And I am Iron Man” before snapping the fingers, thereby destroying Thanos. Yet, I find myself shy away from a garbage bin, under the tremendous heat, waiting for legend to show up. It’s the moments like these, which make life worth living.

I see the smoke from far, which means the legend is making his way. I pray to god one last time- “Please no train from the opposite side blocking the view.”

I clutch my camera, and I find my palms are wet.

I wish someone could calculate my blood pressure at that time. I’m sure it would have touched all-time high.

The legend shows up. My heart skips a beat. Eyelids wide open.

“Focus”- I tell myself.

The beauty of the legend is mesmerizing. Even after 26+ years, the rock solid masculine looks of the legend never fade away. On top of it the appearance- inarguably the best livery a railway engine could ever don. Orange-Blue with yellow stripe. The Guththi WDM3A Baldie #14009 is in his full flow.

My fingers are in autopilot mode- they start clicking the pictures- before the one final picture that I was dreaming off.

I held on for a moment, and finally when the moment was right- and

Click!

And right after the shutter sound, the proud smile that I carried, fulfilling nothing less than a beautiful dream.

Here is the image that I shot!

Dedicating this to my dear friend, SKS, who is on the other side of the planet.