The rattle of iron wheels, the sound of cloudy compressed air kicking dust billowing out through the wheels, shook the mother earth.
The squealing metal brakes flew streaks of flashes as they did their job perfectly well to grind the tram to a jarring halt. Yes, the tram had come to a dead stop inches away from the rear bumper of my car. I missed a heartbeat for sure.
Background to the Love
Respect born out of pure love for these wooden and metal carriages made me turn the car to the left so that I can ease out of the rails that ran through the stone bricked sections of the roads of Calcutta where the trams ran.
The rails, perhaps planted by the British regime, over ninety years ago still shine under Calcutta’s hot humid sun.
She rumbled on beside me to occupy the space I stood and with a swagger of a gentle elephant moved on towards the city skyline.
Click ‘Play ‘below’ and be a passenger
Childhood cravings
So, what is so unique?
Let me back flip pages by about thirty years. Young boys and girls of our teens were always excited to ride any mode of public transportation. Having a personal car, was a luxury. Just like, any other kid, I was equally thrilled, if not more, to get a tram ride.
Getting on to a tram with my sister, occupy a window seat, wobble like a leaf as the tram lurched from side to side as it made its way from Ballygunge to Esplanade; was a feast for my eyes and senses.
The world around me was all about that three hours of up and down journey from Ballygunge and back again. The sound was immense as the iron wheels went over the rail grooves that reverberated across the houses that lined up the road on either side.
Old Court House Street, Kolkata
Felt so special as if everyone stared at me riding the noisy self-propelled carriages.
The forty kilometers per hour speed caused enough air to pour in through its windows and swept back my hair.
The tram touched various sections of the city, some very congested with heavy traffic, others less crowded.
being painted by youngsters to
commemorate the tram’s birthday
A specific section of my memorable journey was just beyond the city limits, for a short spell though, before the rails went right back into the city.
The zig zagging tram winded through acres of the long unkempt grasses that lay over the steel tracks around the Maidan, the sprawling green pastured fringes of the city.
On one side the Calcutta skyline showed the tall and ever-increasing corporate houses and on the other, the greenery-laden Fort William of the armed forces.
The clouded sky with the far-flung city limits flew past the little boy’s scanning eyes. The ride was about an hour and a half.
Every bit of it is etched in my memory.
Tram and today’s youngsters
being painted by artists
It was a Sunday, and the young artist community landed with their armor of paints, brushes and palette to beautify the trams to give these metal and wooden vehicles a fresh lease of life.
More artists poured in and painted the discerning sides of tram after tram to their heart’s content. It was indeed a sight to behold.
My school had declared the summer vacation. This meant my parents will allow 1-2 days of “no study”. With no bound happiness, my face glowed like an electric bulb and I requested my mother to have a joy ride in a tram.
Life was so simple in those days and our want as a kid was limited to just a ride in a tram and my heart filled with unadulterated pleasure with the mere thought of it.
artistry on the trams they painted
Trams have always been the favorite choice for retired ladies and gentlemen.
In one of my rides, I remember an octogenarian, clad in dark pleated trousers went on talking to another old man, both were talking about events, fifty years ago.
They sounded so happy, and the faces beamed with smiles that stretched from one ear to the other. The tram had taken them back to their younger days. They were oblivious of the fact that the stoppage they wanted to disembark had whisked past 🤩
Hardly youngsters were seen boarding them. However, very recently, a singular event caught my attention and I joined in the revelry.
Tram’s history, a pictorial journey
lined up side by side waiting for the next day’s sun rays to appear.
They will make their rounds helping the
citizens to commute
A group consisting of millennium generation or X-generation kids, characterized by toying mobile handheld devices, wires of all kinds sticking out from their ears, short-cropped hair and, incredibly bright colored dress-ware hounded on the Tram terminus.
Large tattoos adorned their bare skins, with TV and camera crew in tow bunched up to dig into the history of Calcutta trams.
the trams drive over to be repaired
I panned my camera, to capture interesting historical facts that were decoratively kept on the tram windows by the young college crowd.
I captured a couple of them for your reading pleasure.
as they were seen as British objects
They unearthed fascinating antiquity which dated back to 24th February 1873.
The Ballygunge tram depot which is about five minutes walk from where I stay was opened to the public.
Viceroy Lord Curzon way back in 1902
School children, young and old with bursting enthusiasm queued up to get a glimpse of where the trams stayed for the night after making fifteen to twenty sorties across the city every day.
The young ones listened to them with bated breath.
city of Kanpur in the 1920s’
My family and I used trams extensively.
During my school or college days, my first choice was always a tram.
In today’s fast paced world, the Calcutta tram is looked upon as a relic of the past. They are slow, look decadent and you can hardly see people using them.
tramlines to protect the asphalted road from
the iron wheel vibration
The tram engineers had opened up both to teach students how they serviced and maintained trams.
A few of the trams were neatly decorated with twinkling lights and historical anecdotes being shown via big screens.
Senior citizens were being interviewed to recollect their memories of trams.
from where the first electric tramcar rolled from
Esplanade to Kidderpore in 1902 is now made
as a tram museum
A third tram joined the celebrations. The tram shuddered and came to another halt. The mechanical foot horn clanked on as the tram driver impatiently stepped on it. She looked old, rusty, her sides all used up by advertisements of all sorts.
Trams have been an integral part of our genre.
and materials to the East India offices
from the Calcutta ports
As I loitered in and around the parked trams, I hopped into one and explored the interior, which included the passenger sections, the driver’s cabin, and the frugal controls with which a tram is driven.
behind the cockpit
for ladies; however, children are merrily
allowed to sit and jump around but not us
After braving a midday sun for about two to three hours, I was parched like one of the overhead corrugated sheets and needed a drink to quench my thirst.
Again a tram showered comfort. One parked on the edge was turned into a mobile cafe.
A cup of freshly brewed coffee with some munchies revived my strength. The day was from August, the worst month of the year.
You drain sweat and grime under a sultry overcast sky.
chiseled over stone bricks
well decorated and was able to attract the youngsters
hire today for a day for family functions. You can hold parties
and the tram will take you around the city at your
convenience for a full day
The next day, I drove in the early hours of the morning to visit the tram museum.
model tram stands to welcome the visitors to tell
the tram stories of a bygone age
I reckon you are now familiar with a few slices of Calcutta tram’s history.
It still fascinates me as much it did when I was very young.
the Esplanade terminus
The tram has not changed much and it still keeps pace with the twenty-first century four to six-wheeled competitors with its rich history and past.
She may not be as fast as them, have wooden benches to sit on but provides a strange sort of sublime comfort that surpasses what a modern-day technologically superior, and ergonomically designed sedan offers 🥰
And of course, she is the most environment friendly transport with zero-carbon emission which none of the automobiles till date has been able to match barring the handful of electric vehicles.
Long live, Calcutta tramways !!
Inference
Generation that I belong to will definitely remember the trams, and how they shaped all our lives with aplomb.
This non polluting mode of transport that in many European countries are being reintroduced, made even more modern seeing the dreadful green house effect of the combustion engines across the world.
Needless to say, Kolkata’s air quality index will glow bright green provided, Kolkata’s present regime reevaluates the brilliance of the tram transportation and commits to its upkeep and help it to flourish.
The healthy dividends trams bring, far outweigh the slow pace at which they move. Younger Calcuttans should make a beeline to Industry majors, corporates to shake hands with the state machinery to revive the Calcutta Tramways 😍
If I live to be an octogenarian, I will again flag a tram down, jump in and feel the long lost breeze that I so dearly miss …
| Tram routes that still exist | Route #25, #24/29; only 4 trams are operational |
| Best time to enjoy Kolkata in a tram | Sunday early morning, route #25 |
| Tram museums | Smaranika Tram Museum, Surendra Nath Park Address: 6, Esplanade East, Maidan, Esplanade, Bow Barracks, Kolkata, West Bengal 700069 |
| Pocket pinch | Rs.6 per person(Tram fare, both classes) |
SPITFIRE GAUTAM 