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Babychayan was my Mummy's twin brother.
I had spent few days with Babychayan at Hubli a couple of days before the Railway strike began. He was in the Railways. Signals. He was strongly articulating the Railway men's cause with everyone he met. By that time he had been elected as a top union official. I did wonder if he was that vociferous the Govt. would be acting against him.
As soon as the Railway strike began there was a knock at his door at 9 pm one night. It was the Police. "Where's Paul?," they shouted. It was his official name. He came out. "You come with us", they had ordered. He was taken away. Though they frantically searched, his people came to know where he was kept only after three weeks. Finally he was released, once the Railway strike was over.
Lila's Achayan was Station Master at Kappil station. Not many trains stopped there. There were two Station Masters. They were supposed to share duty hours everyday. But what they had been doing was, one would do 24 or 48 hours' duty at a stretch and go home for the next 24/48 hours after handing over charge to the other. When the strike began, Achayan was not there. Assuming he was on strike, the Police were searching for him. They had even called at his house in Trivandrum.
Fortunately he was not arrested as he had returned to Kappil, when the Police looked for him at home. But it scared him. He had immediately filed for VRS and got out of the Railways.
Emergency followed.
The autocrat had learned how people could be subjugated mercilessly by crushing the Railway strike.
