'The' Letter About 'The' Emergency

Have you ever traveled in a train? Of course you would have!! At least once!! Who wouldn't?

So here's an interesting thing. Can you just imagine if you would have to pee in the middle of your train journey and the toilets are not at all clean. Horrible, isn't it?

Okay, now imagine, if there are no toilets at all. Scary, right? You might be wondering why would there be a train which has no toilets attached to the compartments. Thanks to Mr. Okhil Chandra Sen we would not have to worry about having toilets in train compartments.

Earlier, before 1909, none of the trains in India had toilets attached to the compartments. For anyone, who had to pee had to get down at a station and perform their bodily functions by using the lavatories at the train stations. In this process, Okhil, when he got down at Ahmedpur station to perform his activity he had to go through some difficult situation because of which he wrote an angry letter to the Sahibganj Divisional Railway Office in West Bengal. Eventually toilets were attached to the train compartments and we are happily using them now.

Below is the letter, that brought us the change in Indian Railways.

Image Courtesy: Letters Of Note

We still have 'the' letter from Mr. Okhil Chnadra Sen in the Railway Museum, New Delhi. Railway Museum has the above version in display for us.

So, that was it :) Few more minutes to another Friday of this wonderful Leap Year. Happy Friday to all the readers!!