Does your father work on line or off line?” A septuagenarian aunt had thrown this surprising question at me after Sunday mass while I was on a family visit to Madras (sorry, most Anglo Indians [AIs] are yet to adopt the word ‘Chennai’) Why does she want to know if my father is working on a computer/laptop, and even if he wasn’t what was it to her? My puzzled face was the giveaway for the well-meaning relative. “I wanted to know if your father worked for the Railways, and if he did, was his job on the train itself, as an engine driver, guard, TC (on line) or did he work at the railway station and in any other related department (off line).” Suitably embarrassed with my ignorance over these common phrases from the AI lexicon, I informed her that several relatives were employed in both sections in pre and post 1947 India. This part-hilarious, part-insightful episode was a trigger of sorts that instilled in me my fascination with the Railways.