Swinging on Railway Gate

Living in a small town/village outskirts of Bombay had its own charm for me as a child. Thakurli was a small station. and There was a platform with two tracks and two outside the platform. And there were gates that were manually opened and shut by staff in a brown uniform. (by the way, these staffers used to wear loose half trousers and it kind of made us laugh just looking at them). In our long list of healthy funtimes, running towards the gate everytime we knew it was going to be opened was on the much awaited list. How did we come to know if the gates were being opened? After trains passed, we knew the timings between lean period when trains would be passing and no trains phases. As well, we had another indicator, these were trucks and other vehicles waiting to cross to the west side (we lived on the east side). As soon as the trucks would even start their engines, we would somehow find each other and run towards the gates. As soon as the trucks were gone, the staff would come to close the gates and the we would all hang on it and nudge the gentleman to swing it faster. and to not move slowly. at times we would also ask him to go in sow motion. depending on his mood, he would entertain us. if not shoo us away...
Ranga Rajah