Blog 8 – The local train

Local trains in India are part of every city dweller’s life. Even to this day, millions use the local trains to get to their schools, colleges or work places. Trains were as crowded as they are now even in the 90s, so I guess that part has not changed that much!

From 6^th standard onwards, we had to take the local train to go to school as the school bus was only for primary and nursery kids. The station was usually around 15 min by walk and so I would cycle there instead, which would take me less than 5 min. On my way to the station, I would stop at my friend S’s house, wait for her to come out with her cycle. Then, we would both cycle to our other friend G’s house, which was located right next to the station. S and I preferred to leave our cycles at G’s house instead of the usual cycle-stand at the station for two reasons. One was the safety aspect and the other was the ease of getting the cycle out. At the cycle stand, it would take us forever to find a free spot to put the cycle and lock it and later during our return, it would take us ages to locate our cycle as it was common that there were several other cycles of the same type and color placed next to each other.

The actual train journey was only two stations long, but it did not lack any entertainment. We used to generally prefer travelling by the ladies’ compartment (one in front and one in the back section of the train), as most of our other friends and even teachers would be in there. Usually in the mornings there were people who sold idly or puttu for those who did not have the time to make or eat breakfast at home.

When we used to study for the exams or do homework, the middle station on our way Villivakkam was the set mental timer, that is, if you wanted to revise 4 answers by the time you went to school, you had to do 2 before Villivakkam and 2 after else you were not going to make it in time! Once we reached Korattur, we had to walk another 10 minutes to reach our school. We would all happily chat and do the entire trip every day. Sometimes, when we had some spare money, we would buy a cream bun at a bakery near Korattur station. This bun (with vanilla cream outside and chocolate cream inside) costed 3 rupees, and we would each contribute 1 rupee (me and my friends S and G). We would then tell the bakery owner to cut the bun into three pieces (he would gladly oblige) and then each of us would happily eat 1/3^rd bun 😊

Sometime in our 7^th or 8^th standard, the government made train travel for school kids free. But, every month, we had to go to our school’s admin office and get a paper that had our names and then take it to the station which was near our home and then submit a passport photo each, to receive a ‘free pass’. Since this had to be done every month, during the first five days of the month there would always be a lot of crowd in the school’s admin office, where we had to elbow our way to get the paper. Next, at our local station, they would always make us wait at least half an hour before issuing the monthly pass (I think we were the source of entertainment for the otherwise bored folks working at the ticket booth). Once, the ticket fellow was in a foul mood (I think his lunch went bad due to the heat) and so he told us he would not give us a pass. We tried to request him several times and then S and I walked away, while G waited. We had walked almost till the end of the platform when we heard G come running with all our free passes issued. Apparently, he felt bad that his anger made us kids walk away in sadness and he acted quickly on his remorse and gave us the passes.  Phew!

Apart from the school trips, I used to like taking my younger sister to our cousin’s place in Ponneri which was a huge adventure in itself! We would first take the train from Perambur loco works and go to Madras (now Chennai) central and then switch tracks to the train going to Gummidipoondi (G). The first time I went alone in this route was when I was in 7^th standard, I remember my father giving me the ‘railway time table’ which had a list of trains, their entire route and timings neatly printed into a small booklet. He marked both my departure and arrival stations on them, got me a ticket and saw me off at Perambur loco works! I managed to reach without any trouble, crossing off every station in the booklet as we crossed it. I still remember the excitement and sense of adventure I had that day! I also discovered ‘nayyi’ (ghee) biscuit during that journey. So, later when I took my younger sister along, I proudly got her some nayyi (ghee) biscuits to eat, which she of course relished 😊

Also, in the same route they used to sell 1-rupee samosa, which were mini versions of the usual samosa but with a filling of only fried onions! What more can you expect for 1 rupee?! But, they were super crunchy and delicious and the ‘anna’ who sold the samosa would always call it “SAMSAEEE”! Of course, the other staples on the local train were roasted or boiled ground nuts and long strips of cucumber or raw mango with the ‘kaaram’ (chili powder-salt-other spices mix) added on. In the trains going towards Arakonnam/Tiruvallur/Pattabiram siding (AJJ/T/S), in the evenings when there would be many people going back home after a long day at work, there would be one special type of ‘chaat’ sold in the train, made with boiled ground nuts, finely chopped onions, tomatoes, coriander leaves with the usual spices and a dash of lemon. Each plate would be 5 rupees, and many would happily enjoy this snack. The joy of finding an extra 5-rupee coin in one’s bag and buying an extra plate of this ‘chaat’ was unmatched to anything else! 😊

Apart from the food sellers, there would be several others selling miscellaneous stuff especially in the ladies’ compartment, ranging from train pass covers, stationary, simple cosmetics like bindi, sindoor and kajal, hairpins and clips, fruits and vegetables, to even baby and children clothing etc. This market was most useful for the ever-busy working women on the train, most of them who would endure an almost 2-hour train ride back home (one-way). Some of them would even carry a small cutting board and knife in their bag and would buy a vegetable and cut it (or peel it if it was spinach or the likes), as they would keep chatting with their friends and by the time they would reach their station, the vegetable pieces would be ready for immediate cooking as soon as they reached their homes!

The discussions in the ladies’ compartment were also most fascinating, ranging from where to buy clothes for their kids for upcoming Deepavali season, the helpful movie reviews which helped the ladies decide which movie to spend their money for, where to go for the annual family holiday (Ooty or Kodaikannal was the crowd favorite), to tips on everything from recipes to financial planning. What I have observed mostly in these kinds of discussions was that not many of them complained about anything. These were all hard-working women who managed their homes and offices, but their chatter would be full of practical wisdom to help each other and very less gossip or bitching about people around them. And yes, the pregnant ones would always not just be given a place to sit, but some of the other mothers would even bring specially made fruit juices or soups for them. It was like a sisterhood of what they called themselves: “Train friends”!

Of course, the train is a public place and there were some not-so-nice episodes that happened as well. Once a drunkard got into the ladies’ compartment and was blabbering using some vulgar words. Soon, a station came and one of the ladies who got down went and quickly complained to the police there. The train started already, and this fellow continued his rant. But, the cops had notified women police in the next station through radio, who were waiting for him with their batons. When the next station came, two women cops came in swiftly and held him like how one holds a helpless rabbit. They quickly took him out of the train and gave him the thrashing of his life (only below knee and above ankle). I will never forget that sight in my life: these women cops looked just like any other lady inside the ladies’ compartment, but that day I saw goddess Kali in action! As I was at the window seat, one of the cops noticed that I (a child) was looking at them horrified. She quickly came up to me and said, “don’t worry, we are not breaking his bones. This is just to teach him a lesson. He will soon stop drinking liquor after this”! Saying this, she gave me a cheerful grin and went back to take care of him, as our train pulled out of the station.

Standing at the door with the wind on my face as the train moved along, carefully looking both ways before crossing the tracks, sometimes when late running to get into the standing train whilst the engine driver bent outwards to see if everyone got in, all the friends I made, all the snacks I have eaten, the memories of the local train are endless. There have been other countries I have been to and many beautiful train rides I have been part of. But, every time I get into a train, I automatically search for a whiff of samosa or nayyi (ghee) biscuit and the thought of it brings a smile to my face, especially when I am abroad, after all home is where the heart is 😊