Rail Kahani / ریل کہانی

by Raza Ali Abidi

228 pages, Hardcover

About the author

Raza Ali Abidi (Urdu: رضا علی عابدی‎) is a Pakistani journalist and broadcaster who is best known for his radio documentaries on the Grand Trunk Road and the Indus River. His published works include several collections of cultural essays and short stories. He has worked with the BBC Urdu Service and retired in 1996.

Reviews

[Zarish Fatima · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my second book by Raza Ali Abidi. I have an old love for trains. My maternal home is in Lahore, so I spent a good amount of childhood holidays travelling from Rawalpindi railway station to Lahore station. One day, I do want to travel all the way to Quetta and Karachi via train. This book will convince you to take a train to Quetta.
Abidi starts on his rail journey from the station in Quetta and ends it in Calcutta. Basically taking the route for north Western Indian Railways of Bristish India. He shares numerous interesting stories of the Railway building project in Balochistan in detail. A significant portion of the book explores Balochistan railway and Sindh. I would say that is also a drawback of this short book. The writer does not share much on the history of construction of railway stations of what now is India. He doesn't explore the details of engineering and issues of stations built in North Western India as he does in Balochistan and Sindh.
Of Indian Railway stations , he discusses the cities more than the railway. The fact could be that railway staff there was not as accommodating as it was in Pakistan.
The one station he does talk about is the construction of Lahore station. My in-laws are from Mughalpura, so it is an area whose name does claim to a certain history. The area, however, if one visits does not seem to have any Mughal architecture to back up the name. As it turns out, the book gives context on how the "takhedaar" pulled apart Mughal manors, hammams, and mosques and used the bricks to build the current railway station of Lahore and Mughalpura station and tracks. He is even known to have dug up Harrapa archaeological sites to source cheap and free bricks for the railway station.
If you are interested in railway history, a bit of history of famous railway stations and travelogues, you will definitely find this book interesting.

[Dil Nawaz · Rating 5 out of 5]

جب بھی سردیاں آتی ہیں میرا دِل کرتا ہے ریل گاڑی میں بیٹھ کر کہیں سفر کیا جائے-

ریل گاڑیوں سے مجھے بچپن سے پیار ہے آج بھی میں ہوائی جہاز اور بس کی جگہ ریل گاڑی میں سفر کرنا پسند کرتا ہوں- میری خواہش یہ ہے کہ یورپ کا ٹور ٹرین سے کیا جائے-

ریل کہانی جو کوئٹہ سے شروع سے ہوتی ہے اور کلکتہ پر ختم ہوتی ہے- رضا عابدی صاحب نے سفر کے ساتھ ساتھ اسٹیشنز کی تاریخ بھی لکھی ہے- مسافروں، افسروں، مزدوروں، خوانچوں کے انٹرویو بھی لئے ہیں-

اس کتاب کو پڑھ کر لگتا ہے آپ بھی سفر کر رہے ہیں- کچھ لوگ اور افسر کہتے ہیں ریلوے انگریزوں کے دور میں صاف ستھری اور وقت پر آتی تھی- حالات

بارڈر کے اس طرف بھی حالات کچھ زیادہ مختلف نہیں- انڈیا میں مسئلہ آبادی کا ہے- وہاں سیٹ حاصل کرنا بڑا ہی مشکل ہے- رضا عابدی کا کہانی لکھنے کا انداز سادہ اور دلچسپ ہے-

اگر آپ کوئٹہ سے کلکتہ ریل گاڑی کے ذریعے سفر کرنا چاہتے ہیں تو یہ کتاب ضرور پڑھیں-

[Amna Rasheed · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good

[Shaheera Munir · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very nice interesting book abt railway history of sub continent. I could still feel the magic and excitement of my childhood journeys through train.