RATAN CHANDRA CHANDRA,
first catering manager, Howrah Rajdhani
Debashis Chandra, of IRCTC, sits in the cabin, from where his father, Ratan Chandra Chandra, had retired as assistant commercial manager (catering), Eastern Railway. But it is for his work on the Rajdhani, when the train was introduced, that Ratan, who passed away in 2016, is best remembered. “He joined the train as catering manager then rose to the rank of catering supervisor and finally train superintendent,” says Debashis. “He would carry chocolates in his pocket and would give them to children travelling on the Rajdhani. This gesture became so popular, that the railways made chocolates part of the offering on the train. Often, even older people would put their hands out for the chocolates,” remembers Debashis.
As manager and later supervisor, Ratan Chandra Chandra was actively involved in drawing up the menu. “And he would taste every dish before it was served to the passengers,” says his son. The menu would be changed – real beckti fish fries were served on the train. “And if some passenger said he didn’t want chicken, my father would get him an extra fish fry. Or if someone wanted mutton some day, or was ill and wanted khichdi, it would be prepared for him. There were fewer restrictions and he didn’t worry about cost when serving a passenger.”
The Rajdhani moulded his tastes. “I never saw him without a tie. And he loved perfumes. He would say that the passengers
smelt so good, that he had to follow suit,” says Debashis. Ratan Chandra Chandra left the Rajdhani in 1984. His son joined Eastern Railway in 1991. “But once, when I was travelling by the Rajdhani , and someone mentioned my name to one of the passengers, I was told the passenger wanted to see me. I went to see singers Dhananjay Bhattacharya, Shyamal Mitra, Arundhuti Holme Chowdhury and Shibaji Chattopadhyay were travelling together. Dhananjay Bhattacharya looked at me and said I wasn’t the person he was seeking. I laughed and asked whether he was looking for my father, Ratan Chandra Chandra, and he exclaimed ‘yes’, and asked me his whereabouts. I told him he had been made an officer. He hugged me. All passengers of the Rajdhani in those years knew my father by name.”