Kolkata: 64-year-old tots up third first day first-show since 1984 – Times of India

KOLKATA: He was there when India’s first Metro took its maiden 3.4km run from Esplanade to Bhowanipore 38 years ago. On October 14, 2020, he was at Sector V station to take East-West Metro’s first 5.5km ride to Salt Lake Stadium. On Thursday, too, he was part of East-West Metro’s crucial Sealdah operations.
Dipankar Bakshi, 64, boarded the first train from Sector V at 7am. Asked to share his thoughts, he said, “I was there when India ran its first Metro. I am here when truncated sections of India’s first underwater Metro are launched. I want to be there when the entire 16km East-West Metro is commissioned next year. I had said this in 2020 and I have kept my promise. I hope the Metro authorities will keep their promise, too and throw open the Sector V-Howrah Maidan corridor to the people of Kolkata soon. People badly need the Metro to relieve them of the daily commuting miseries.”

The homeopath and Salt Lake EC Block resident was accompanied by his wife, Rini Bakshi, who said, “We were here on East-West Metro’s first commercial run in 2020. But I was reluctant to come today, because it’s a Thursday and I have to organize my weekly Lakshmi Puja. But my husband wouldn’t take no for an answer. He said this was a historic occasion and I cannot miss it. As a wife, I have to match his enthusiasm.”
On board the train to Sealdah, her husband recalled the D-Day 38 years ago. “The memories of October 24, 1984 will remain etched in my memory forever. Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had died a week after India got its first underground rapid transit system.” What marvels Bakshi is Metro’s technological leap. “I am waiting to travel from Sector V to Howrah, when for the first time in India, a train will go under a river and we will have our own Eurostar that runs through the Channel Tunnel,” he said.
He recalled the day the North-South Metro ran for the first time. “I was an intern at the Sambhunath Pandit Hospital. I quickly finished my work to be at the Metro inauguration. It was a non-AC rake and things were basic compared to these state-of-the-art BEML AC rakes,” he said. Bakshi’s interest in firsts ranges from Metro’s inception as India’s first underground railway to postal first-day covers and first editions of newspapers. “I have bought every newspaper that was born as I grew up,” he said.
“Occasions like these help us relive Kolkata’s journey with the Metro, which is an integral part of the people’s lives,” he said, remembering how excited he was when motormen Tapan Nath and Sanjay Sil had steered the first BHEL-made rake from Esplanade to Bhowanipore.