In its most recent installment, Padhaku Nitin, the flagship railway-focused program on Aaj Tak, hosted by the eminent journalist and broadcaster, Nitin Thakur, convened a dialogue of considerable scholarly and popular resonance. Invited to this forum was Professor (Dr.) Arup K. Chatterjee, whose distinguished contributions as a cultural historian of railway systems have been recognized through his bestselling work, The Great Indian Railways: A Cultural Biography (Bloomsbury, 2019).

Contextualizing the Episode

Padhaku Nitin, under Nitin Thakur’s stewardship, has established itself as a venue where rigorous inquiry and lived experience converge. Thakur’s journalistic acumen facilitates exchanges that interrogate the railway not merely as infrastructure but as a mediator of social practice, agent of cultural meaning, and repository of collective memory. By featuring Dr. Chatterjee—affiliated with O.P. Jindal Global University and acclaimed for his methodological emphasis on “cultural biography”—the program underscored its commitment to bridging scholarly discourse and public engagement.

Dr. Arup K. Chatterjee: Scholarly Profile

Professor (Dr.) Arup K. Chatterjee was introduced as both a professor of English and an authority on the historical interplay between rail systems and cultural formations. His principal volume, The Great Indian Railways: A Cultural Biography (2019), has attained bestseller status by virtue of its interdisciplinary approach, which treats railway artifacts—ranging from station architecture to popular song—as primary sources for narrative inquiry. Subsequent publications, including The Great Indian Railway Saga, attest to his sustained engagement with railways as dynamic cultural texts.

Thematic Synthesis

During the approximately sixty-minute dialogue, three interrelated themes crystallized:

Railways as Vectors of Cultural Romance
- Literary and Cinematic Evocations: Dr. Chatterjee highlighted that Indian literature—from early colonial travelogues to contemporary fiction—frequently mobilizes the railway as a metaphor for personal transformation and spiritual pilgrimage. Bollywood cinema, in particular, has perpetuated station reunions as emblematic rites of passage, thereby inscribing the railway into the popular imagination.
- Emotional Geography: The notion of “railway darshan”, whereby movement by train facilitates an embodied encounter with diverse landscapes and communities, was discussed as a persistent motif in Indian narrative traditions.
Railways as Mirrors of Social Structure
- Compartments of Class and Caste: The conversation underscored how third-class carriages historically functioned as convergent spaces, hosting a variegated mix of laborers, pilgrims, colonial functionaries, and merchant classes. These encounters, Dr. Chatterjee argued, both revealed and occasionally attenuated social hierarchies.
- Economic Implications: The Indian Railways were shown to possess a dual character: while accelerating market integration and facilitating famine relief efforts, they also contributed to uneven economic extraction, particularly in regions where freight priorities aligned with colonial commercial objectives.
Railway Architecture as Imperial Statement
- Gothic Revival and Monumentality: Stations such as Howrah and Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus were examined as material embodiments of British imperial power. Their architectural grandeur served to spectacularize the empire’s technological prowess and administrative reach.
- Heritage and Memory: Although these edifices now occupy a place within India’s heritage infrastructure, their continued use prompts reflection on the ambivalent legacies of colonial modernity.

Myth and Reality: A Critical Dialectic

A particularly incisive segment of the program addressed the oft-cited assertion that the railways “connected India.” Dr. Chatterjee elucidated this claim as a “romantic myth” that, while partially substantiated by the eventual facilitation of national integration, conceals earlier histories in which railway lines primarily serviced imperial extraction. He noted that railway debt was underwritten by Indian taxpayers, and that freight priorities during the late nineteenth century frequently exacerbated regional famines. This dialectical view—acknowledging both integrative and divisive functions—served as a corrective to uncritical celebratory narratives.

Personal Anecdotes and Material-Culture Reflections

Interweaving scholarly analysis with personal reminiscence, Dr. Chatterjee recounted formative experiences:

The sighting of a toy train at Banaras Station during early childhood, which later informed his scholarly curiosity.
A youthful fascination with Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Hound of the Baskervilles, wherein Paddington Station emerges as a liminal space of mystery.
Observations of chai vendors whose quotidian labor animates platform culture.

These vignettes exemplified his conviction that personal memory and material-culture artifacts are indispensable to the historian’s toolkit.

Future Directions in Railway Scholarship

In concluding the episode, Dr. Chatterjee outlined forthcoming projects:

A micro-history of India, articulated through a series of object-based case studies, extending his material-culture methodology beyond the railway.
A historical novel set between 1910 and 1920, engaging with “possible improbabilities” by inserting real literary figures into plausible yet undocumented interactions.

Such endeavors signal his ongoing commitment to innovative historiographical practices that straddle academic and narrative domains.

Concluding Observations

The exchange between Nitin Thakur and Dr. Arup K. Chatterjee exemplifies the productive synergy between journalistic mediation and academic expertise. By treating the Indian Railways as a dynamic archive, the program enhanced public understanding of how infrastructure can both reflect and shape cultural identities. For scholars, enthusiasts, and practitioners alike, this episode of Padhaku Nitin offers a model for interdisciplinary engagement—one that respects empirical rigor while foregrounding the lived experiences that animate institutional histories.