PICTURE SPEAK

DECKED UP: Howrah station wears a festive look, lit up with special lights

The Howrah station building designed by British engineer Halsey Ricardo is an imposing Romanesque showpiece but it stands in no comparison to Mumbai's Victoria Terminus. It has often been criticised by experts for its boring and rigid symmetry, the clock on one of its eight towers is the only variation in its structure. "It is not a pleasant structure," artist Rathin Mitra wrote in one of his columns on Kolkata's heritage buildings, adding that it had suggestions of a Tibetan monastery and an English penitentiary.

The building was itself a result of a change: The Bengal-Nagpur Railway was extended to Howrah in 1900 and Howrah became an important railway centre. What was a modest structure of red bricks with a roof of corrugated iron sheets and a single platform when the first train chugged out, was converted into what is today the second oldest station in India.

CHUGGING ALONG

TRAIN TRAFFIC: About 300 trains arrive and depart from Howrah station every day. PASSENGER FLOW: It is used by over one million people daily. REVENUE GENERATION: Daily sales of tickets amount to Rs 9 lakh. ARCHITECTURAL DELIGHT: It is the second oldest station and one of the largest railway complexes in India. UNIQUE: It is the only station in the country with a road running through it.

As a part of the centenary celebration to mark this momentous occasion, a live painting workshop was organised by Wasim Kapoor, Dwijen Gupta and Deepali Bhattacharyya and attended by 25 budding artists. Apart from this, a sit and draw competition was held for children on platform No. 21.

The station building, on any given evening, wears a festive look, with its facade lit up by 5,000 bulbs. However, the railway authorities arranged special lights from Chandannagore to mark the event. Commemorating 100 years of the Howrah station, West Bengal Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi released a book called Vibrant Edifice-The Saga of Howrah. Compiled by three senior railway officials, it recounts the history of the station. Six hundred people, including national and state-level sportspersons, and 300 railway employees participated in a torch run in Kolkata on this occasion. Apart from these events, souvenirs such as caps, badges, T-shirts and mugs bearing Howrah's 100-year logo, are also being sold.

PICTURE SPEAK

VIBRANT EDIFICE: A view of the crowded Howrah station

The changing faces of Howrah station will also be documented in a regional railway museum, say authorities. An area close to the station has already been earmarked for the museum and the authorities plan to run a toy train and set up an entire amusement park at the proposed structure. "We are planning it on the lines of the rail museum in Delhi," says H.V. Sharma, the divisional railway manager of Howrah. Documents such as the original plan of the building drawn up by Ricardo and some rare photographs and stamps will also grace the museum.

Over the years, many things have changed but what is still intact is Howrah station's most familiar fixture-the "boro ghari" (big clock). These are the twin-faced clocks standing back-to-back, mounted on heavy wooden frames, since 1926.

However, a few things have changed. A new block for South Eastern Railway trains has been added to the complex, the 30-year-old subway, which leads directly to the Ganges ghat, is one of the oldest additions to the station, and the old refreshment room has given way to modern stand-and-eat food plazas.

Satya Ranjan Das, 80, who served as the senior assistant station master at Howrah, recalls the days when he was personally called to solve commuter problems. "It's a lot more impersonal now. The building is the same, but I feel alienated. It has changed a lot," he laments. Das, however, fails to see where the beauty of the station lies. Not in its huge impersonal structure, but in its ever-changing ways.