Monday, March 2, 2009

Farmer's field

If you have been following the blog you may remember the photo of the train engine that was part of a farmer's home. A neighbor and I returned to the scene this past weekend to get a closer look at the locomotive and try to find its owner...
We got a good look at the engine - both inside and out.In the photo above you can see how close it is to the road. The engine is a narrow-gauge train. The mystery, though, is that there are no railroad tracks anywhere in this part of Noida. This is a very heavy machine - we have no idea who got the engine to its current location or how it was moved!
Since my neighbor is a native of India and is obviously fluent in Hindi - we decided to take a little trek back through the open farm fields to try and find the land-owner and see what else we could discover.

We met villagers along the way who were harvesting and cleaning vegetables (radishes, onions, tomatoes, cauliflower and flowers).

This odd contraption - its owner taking a nap - is seen around town hauling everything from lumber to produce. It is a homemade hybrid. Part motor-scooter and part bicycle-rickshaw. Although we never found the owner of the train, everyone we met was very friendly, helpful - and a little curious about us. It was a beautiful day for a hike - right here in our own Noida!

3 comments:

thenguyens said...

Great pictures! Let us know if you ever find out how the engine landed in a field w/out a track.

dpk said...

Can you tell me exact location of this train place? I need to go there

HouseBoy said...

The train was located just off the north side of Dadri road in Noida. (follow Dadri Road from Sector 50 east toward Dadri). Alas, that particular field no longer exists and is being cleared for construction. Last I checked, the engine was still there, though. The landscape is changing very quickly in and around Noida.