Barring two short interruptions, the recital of the epic has been a record-making feat, the residents of this bustling town are proud of.

The Ram Hanuman temple outside the station is a major center of attraction for the locals and those who visit this town. For close to two decades now the Ramayan recital has been going on continuously.

The tea-shop owner outside the temple told Agratoday.in "The Akhand Paath program started way back in 1980 when the meter guage railway station at Achnera was a center of hectic activity. But there were several breaks after the railways decided to change the guage from meter to broad. The railway staff moved over to Jaipur. But now with the opening of the Divisional Railway Manager’s (DRM) office in Agra, and the Agra-Jaipur route becoming alive with more trains running, the flavor of the past has returned and the number of devouts has increased."

Others denied there had been a break. "Even a communal clash in 2007 could not stop the Ramayan Path," asserted Ram Sewak, a fruit vendor outside the station.

What surprises the Hanuman bhakts is how without a system or an institutional arrangement, the uninterrupted recital of of the Hindu epic has been going on. The temple is small, without resources and pomp or show. People walk in drop a few coins, pay their obeisance and return. The lone pandit on the wooden takhat recites the couplets from the holy book. The fatigued loudspeaker, when there is light, breaks the monotony of the area. Since there are no set rules anyone can take turns over the mike and relieve the other.

A pandit sitting outside said there never was a shortage of readers (Pathaks) who consider it a privilege to volunteer their reading services. The temple pujari says there is “some invisible force that sustains the enthusiasm of the people.”

Since October 21, 1994 to date there have been more than 3440 paaths (the number of times the book has been read loudly without a break). Like most other temples in small towns of India this too has idols of Ram, Sita, Hanuman and a Shiv Ling in the center. Outside the temple hangs a wall clock and a small board which records the number of times the Ramayana has been read.

Vishnu Dayal Sharma, a retired post master with a flowing beard, who was reading the Ramayan told Agratoday.in "how long this will continue only Ramji knows. My children are studying and I am spending my retired life in the service of Ramayan. After two hours, another person will come, then another and so on. The process will continue. Sri Ram Ruddh Baba of Ayodhya started it in 1994."