Journalism of Courage
For 12 years, the voice of Sushma Hondeokar has been putting lakhs of harrowed commuters at the busy Chhattrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) at ease. The 44-year-old is the only woman announcer in a team of 20 at the station and makes 200 announcements a day. Informing about rescheduled trains, changes in platform numbers and a thing or two that is best for their safety.
A station like CSMT handles more than 140 passenger train services and manages close to 1,660 services of suburban trains. Hondeokar, who will complete 25 years of service in the central railway this year, mostly announces the position of long distance trains. She is as much in demand in the control office, which monitors suburban train movement for the Mumbai division. “Our routine job involves alerting passengers about arrival and departure status of trains and their positions at stations. Some days demand more from us. Two years ago when commuters had stopped trains at Badlapur over delay of services, I had to work eight-nine hours at a stretch, till things were under control. Informing commuters that services of local trains are affected for a good three hours is a difficult job. I had to be constantly on the mic, informing them about shuttle services CR had organised and apologise for inconvenience. It needs a calm head,” she recalled.
Fixed hours or holidays is not a the privileges she enjoys. “A train had derailed near Igatpuri that disrupted services, some years ago. It was my holiday. I received a call from the office if I could report to work as they needed someone senior to co-oridinate at the control office. I handed over the puran polis I had prepared for a picnic to my colleagues at Dadar station and went to work.” she added.
Hondeokar agrees, that unlike other desk jobs in a government office, her job is challenging. Quite like singers or dubbing artists, she avoids food that may adversely affect her throat and a 9 am to 5 pm shift, she says, is next to impossible. “It is difficult to work at the control office because the work is more and you need to wait for the reliever who can take over. Though there are other senior railway announcers, I am happy my office trusts me. We are required to relay the railways plan to commuters on a real-time basis and it sure is challenging” says Hondeokar.
On November 26, 2008 when terrorists attacked CSMT, she says she could have been at the station if it was not for a reliever. “As my reliever was late that day, I was prepared to work till the evening. But another senior announcer, who was not supposed to be working that day, offered help which made my day end early. Had it not been for him, I would have seen the blackest day in the history of Mumbai with my own eyes,” she added. Hondeokar, however, believes the job is slowly fading away. “I can say that technology or contract labor may not offer the same quality of work as we could,” she said. The CR has 15 female announcers in Mumbai division.
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