Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 101, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 April 1911 — ON INDIAN RAILROADS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

ON INDIAN RAILROADS

PECULIARITIES OF . TRAVEL IN THAT WONDERFUL/ LAND. Problem of Supplying Watdr t* “Caste” Men ,1s Sometimes Hard . " to Overcome Many Carry Their Own Supply. An Indian railway time table affords interesting study, it combines

voluminous railway information with a considerable amount of matter particularly .Interesting to the tourist Caste does not cause the railways 90 much trouble as might be imagined, judging by all one hears about it in England. Indeed c&ste distinctions are found to resolve int<j two main principles. One only con-

cerns us here, the other—the prohibition of Intermarriage— having reference to matters outside the radius of a railway official’s activities. - A “caste” man must not partake of food cooked or even handled by one of inferior caste. Food Is a wide term. A very orthodox person would Include medicine compounded by an apothecary. One of more., liberal views might receive, say, a plantain (banana) from the hands of an individual beneath him, for the “unclean” hands of the latter would have come In contact only with the skin and not with the part to be eaten.

The first and most obvious requirement of any long distance traveler in a hot climate is fluid refreshment. The filter and the glass commonly found in an English <jjning car would be no use in India, inasmuch as the native would first of all want to know who put the water in the filter and then who last used the glass. If satisfactorily assured on the latter point, he would nevertheless run no risk of contamination, but would pour the liquid down his throat while holding the glass a few inches above his mouth. .: But the orthodox man, taking no risks at all, carries with him a brass water pot attached to a belt, and even then adopts the further precaution abovfe mentioned. At every station a native patrols the platform carrying a skin with a supply of water. Experience has taught the railway companies to be particular as to who is entrusted with this duty. Continuing, the writer says: ‘1 once traveled with a Brahmin who parched with thirst eagerly called the water carrier at each successive station. But before replenishing his brass pot he cross-examined the man as to his antecedents and ‘not being satisfied that he was of sufflcently high caste continued suffering agonies till a wire was sent on ahead, the result of which was that the holiest man of all the countryside was routed out and Induced to do duty pro tern. “Fortunately very holy people seldom travel and when they do they contrive to let it be known beforehand so that meals may be specially prepared for them in dvance.”