“And who would believe that there’s an English story behind it,” says the writer and composer of this evergreen song, Dr Bal Sidhu, who’s in Chandigarh for an NRI Sammelan.

“The year was 1989. I gave the lyrics and composition, Kuljit Bhamra the music and Mangal Singh, the voice.”

“English parties have this tradition of a Congo dance where everybody falls in a line and dances their way out. I always wanted to bring this element into the bhangra music, and the rail gaddi became a symbol for this human chain,” smiles the cardiologiost who, interestingly, funded his education at Cardiff in the United Kingdom through music.

In the process, he wrote over 95 songs performed by artistes like Malkiat Singh, Heera Group, Channi of Alaap, and penned two books Tor Vilaitan Di and Khatra. Next in the pipeline is Hai Sohniye that releases on January 16, and Railgaddi II — The Third Generation.

“Often at weddings, boys tend to misbehave with girls in the railgaddi song. So, keeping this in mind, I’ve written a Part Two to the song which now has two railgaddis in it, one headed by the bride and other by the groom,” he says.

Looking back, there’s more to the track record of Dr Sidhu, head of Three ‘S’ Infrastructures Pvt Ltd.

Barely 10 when his father pushed him from Kapurthala to the UK for a better life, Dr Sidhu’s had a hard journey where music came as a rescue.

“It began with writing and singing sehras and sikhyas (traditional Punjabi wedding songs) at weddings in UK. Punjabi music wasn’t big at that time, and this platform was my first brush with public 'speaking',” he goes on to speak about Cheekh Bulbuli, a character from inspired from his village Bhet in Kapurthala, and of days spent with poets and writers.

“Once I had the safety net after a year in medical profession, I decided to try out new things, beginning with music. Opportunity comes from the circle of people you are interacting with. Mine was expanding with writers, medicine, music and the latest, business.”