Tracking Modernity: India’s Railway and the Culture of Mobility

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TRACKING MODERNITY This page intentionally left blank Tracking Modernity . . . . India’s Railway and the Culture of Mobility Marian Aguiar University of Minnesota Press Minneapolis London An earlier version of chapter 3 appeared as “Railway Space in Partition Literature,” in 27 Down: New Departures in Indian Railway Studies, edited by Ian Kerr (2007); by permission of Orient Blackswan Private Limited. Copyright 2011 by the Regents of the University of Minnesota All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying , recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Published by the University of Minnesota Press 111 Third Avenue South, Suite 290 Minneapolis, MN 55401-2520 http://www.upress.umn.edu Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Aguiar, Marian. Tracking modernity : India’s railway and the culture of mobility / Marian Aguiar. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-8166-6560-0 (acid-free paper) ISBN 978-0-8166-6561-7 (pbk. : acid-free paper) 1. Indic literature (English)–20th century–History and criticism. 2. Railroads–India. 3. Modernism (Aesthetics)–India. 4. Railroads in literature. 5. Postcolonialism–India. 6. Popular culture–India–Social aspects. 7. Mass media–India–Social aspects. 8. Partition, Territorial, in literature. I. Title. PR9489.6.A37 2010 820.9'3558–dc22 2010030715 Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper The University of Minnesota is an equal-opportunity educator and employer. 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 For Ida Aguiar This page intentionally left blank The two headed station master belongs to a sect that rejects every timetable not published in the year the track was laid as apocryphal but interprets the first timetable with a freedom that allows him to read every subsequent timetable between the lines of its text ARUN KOLATKAR, JEJURI This page intentionally left blank ...