Toilets in Trains

This is an amazing yet true incident without which travel on trains in India would be a different ball game altogether. Toilets were introduced on Indian trains only after a passenger Okhil Chandha Sen wrote a letter in 1909 to the Sahibganj Divisional Office complaining about how he missed the train when he got down to answer the call of nature. The Times of India recently reproduced the unedited letter:

Dear Sir,
I am arrive by passenger from Ahmedpur station and my belly too much swelling with Jack Fruit. I am therefore went to privy. Just I am doing the nuisance that gaurd making whistle blow for train to go off and I am running with ‘lotta’ in one hand and ‘dhoti’ in the next hand when I fall over and expose all my shocking to man and female woman on platform. This too much bad if passenger go to make dung that dam gaurd not wait train for five minutes for me. I am therefore pray your honour to make big fine on that gaurd for public sake. Otherwise I am making big reports to papers.
Yours faithfully
Okhil Chandha

For the Indian-English uninitiated, 'lotta' is a mug and 'dhoti' is the Indian version of the sarong.
Jawahar