Yesterday I, along with my wife, got the opportunity to visit the International Trade Fair at the Pragati Maidan, New Delhi. Since it was the second day after the Fair was opened, there was not much rush, as it used to be. In the same way, being the first few days all the pavilions have not been fully arranged also. These will be done without delay.
We visited some state pavilions including that of Kerala. There are a lot of exhibits to see, and if one wants to purchase, so many useful things are also there. We saw some families with three – four bags full of purchases.
There are a lot of PSUs, which had put their stalls. Government Departments are also participating. I went to the Railways Pavilion. Though not very big, the Railways have arranged a good records of their 160 years of functioning, the various changes that have taken place, the kind of engines that have been used, the special railway lines and coaches of Nilgiris, Shimla, J and K etc. etc.
The biggest service and industry sector in India employing the maximum number of workers, the Railways had covered miles after miles after it started running first in the Great Indian Peninsula Railway from Bori Bunder (present Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus) to Thane on 16th April 1853. Railways claim that it carries one billion tons of freight and 830 crores passengers annually to various destinations. And the lakhs of workers doing their duty 24 hours of the day and night!
All of a sudden, I thought about the continuous railway journeys that I had undertaken for about 10-15 years after I reached Delhi as the President and then General Secretary of the AITE Union Class III and then the BSNL Employees Union. Almost 15 to 20 days I was travelling in the train. Sometimes, it will be in A/C III Tier, but mostly it was sleeper or ordinary compartment, with out reservation. I remember many times, when along with other union comrades, we had to sit on the floor of the compartment, since no seat was available and there was so much rush. The journeys used to be one day, two days or even three days according to the distance. Since the one pointed agenda was only to meet workers and organise the union, difficulties were no barrier. It was a crusade for the workers. I still feel inspired to remember that how our comrades through out the country supported us and showed their love and affection with out any limit. I will write in detail on this at a later date.Thanks the exhibition for reminding all these.
Hearty Congratulations to the Indian Railways that connect the entire nation together!
VAN Namboodiri's Blog 
You can write down your autobiography which will be useful for us to know Sir.
Being a national trade union leader , how you can silent in the administrative sponsored trade union Running in the so called 160 year great Indian Railways.Please move your pen against the dirty play of the both federations and their cheating towards not only their members but also the National movement of Indian working class .
Dear Comrade, The trade unions in the Railways have got a great tradition. It may be true that they may not be participating in each and every struggle, probably due to their peculiar kind of duty arrangements etc. but their 22 days struggle for Bonus in 1974 was a great struggle which resulted in Bonus to Railway employees first and then to all other CG Employees and later to state government employees. Even now both the 2 major Federations are part of the struggles of the central Trade Unions. The Railways Unions have got membership more than the combined strength of all other Central government unions. Of course, there are differences in approach to issues, but that is natural. Bringing the railway unions to the mainstream is a target that has to be achieved. The views of DREU and AILRSA, which are progressive unions with a militant approach may be different. But at the same time we can not forget the requirement of a mighty joint movement of the entire working class to fight against the imperialist led neo-liberal and anti-working class policy being implemented by the ruling class in the country.