Weekly Western: Last Parsi 'Bawa' retires from railways

Viraf Dalal, the last Parsi motor man

Parsi Bau, Viraf Dalal, the last motor man to run EMU's through the suburbs of Mumbai, retired on June 30th. He said that it was a prestigious job, ignoring the dangers and commitment involved. ''When there is mist or heavy rain, it becomes very hard to spot the signals. You miss any one signal and you are done for'' he said. He has had a clean track record with no accidents in his 34 long years of service. People from the parsi community usually are given the nickname 'driver' (those who work as motor men in the railways). He said that it was sad to see that he was the last parsi driver in the railways, as his great-grandfather, "Driver" Dorabjee also was a motor man. "But in his days, you had to shove in bits of coal to boil the steam- these days it is easier in EMU's - you do not have helpers, just the Dead Man's Handle for company" he said. Dead Man's Handle is a device which automatically switches off the train in the case when the driver faints or during other similar circumstances. The lineage of Parsi motor men have been etched in history. We should take note of their commitment without which a disaster would be eminent in the Mumbra-Kalyan stretch of the Mumbai Metro.

Aditya CR

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