My first visit to India was a business trip in 1992. Ford Electronics had supplied telecommunications equipment to G.E.C. for the Delhi Ring Resignalling Project and I'd agreed to go to Delhi for a couple of weeks to assist in commissioning. In fact, I was there for almost seven weeks! We were very comfortably settled in a large, modern hotel in New Delhi invariably referred to as 'Taj Man Singh' because of its location in Man Singh Road. G.E.C. had a car and driver and each day we would be ferried through the city to the various work sites as necessary.
I had experienced the Far East a number of times in earlier trips to Hong Kong and Taiwan and expected India to be similar. But most people agree that India is unique. The combination of the heat, the people, the culture can overwhelm Westerners. I was told that people either love India or hate it - indifference is not an option. For a couple of days as I coped with it all, I wasn't sure which camp I'd be in. Then I decided I loved it. One of the ex-patriate wives told me "I've been here for five years, but India still has the power to shock or delight me with some new discovery".
There was a different shock for me on the first morning going to work. As the car passed under a railway bridge, a train was passing over the top. To my amazement, it was hauled by a very run-down steam locomotive - a class 'WP' broad-gauge 'Pacific'. I'd assumed all steam had been eliminated and yet here I was, transported back to the '60s when steam was being eliminated in Britain.
We started work in a telecommunications equipment room surrounded by railway lines at Delhi Junction. Working practices were so different from the U.K. - no high-visibility clothing, public and staff wandering all over the railway at will. On one side, we had the broad gauge through platforms with an incessant procession of trains, electric, diesel and (occasionally), steam. On the other side, the metre gauge terminal platforms were served a by a series of diesel- and steam-hauled services.
I could hardly believe my eyes and it was hard to keep my mind on the job in hand! But this, of course, was only the first of the shocks and surprises in store for me. You can read a little more of my adventures here.
[Link to continuation added 15-January 2013]
