Portraits of Train Stations

A random railway station on way from Bengaluru to Nagpur

Most of you who know me or have read some older posts, know that I've always been an airport/airplane person. My second dream job at one point used to be to work in ATC [Air Traffic Control].

Through the University of Delhi [DU] and because of being part of National Service Scheme [NSS] at my college, I got to take a trip. This educational trip called Gyanodaya. Luckily, my two best friends at college were coming along. We had been planning to take a trip together before our final year began, anyway. Our primary mode of transport was to be a chartered train of the Indian Railways - non AC. :)

The destinations : Ahmedabad, Bombay, Goa, Bangalore, Mysore and Wardha.

It was also all-expenses paid! You can imagine the appeal. Add up Goa, free trip and friends.

Since it was an educational trip, we also had to complete projects - preferably on the HP laptops and MTNL 3G USB modems that had been provided by the University. One of the suggested topics for a humanities project was "Portrait of a Train Station". Before I started the journey, I wouldn't have thought twice about such a project. But after all those hours spent staring out the window during the journey, I felt like I had my bit to say about it. So here goes.

the chandigarh station

The Railway station in Chandigarh is the first one that I can remember. It's home, as with many other places in Chandigarh. 

The thing about going to the station in Chandigarh is that you could only be doing one or the other :

• Receiving someone who was coming in from Delhi.
• Taking a train to Delhi.

Something interesting is what I call the Shatabdi/ChandigarhStation Rule. According to the rule, if you are at the station to receive someone or even to take the train, you always find at least one person that you know. You most likely will know this person really well. If you don't, you definitely know of him/her. If you've lived in Chandigarh long enough, you will probably find someone you know in the same coach as you. It's true, bro. There's no escaping it. Of course, it doesn't apply if you're just visiting the city. My father has always, always found this rule to apply to him. Of course, he did live in the city for 30 years!

the huge stations in those big cities

By these, I refer to New Delhi, Hazrat Nizamuddin and Chennai Central. For years, my summers would begin at the Chandigarh station. Then came New Delhi. From where we'd run to Hz. Nizamuddin to catch the Rajdhani/GT/Tamil Nadu Express to Chennai Central. 

All I've ever felt about these stations are that they're huge, crazy crowded and always sorta intimidated me. In the sense, I have always worried about missing the train or getting lost. Big, scary places. And the coolie wale bhaiyas! 

I guess I could add Mumbai Central to this list as well.

victoria terminus/chhatrapati shivaji terminus

Hands down, VT is the most pretty station I've ever seen. And I still can't call it CST. 

It's the stereotypical setting in a Bollywood movie to first step into this city of dreams.
It's the first place in Mumbai that they step in for so many people who hope to make this city their own or make it on their own.

26/11

It's one station that's a must see and the experience of catching a train there is amazing in itself. Or just people-watch at VT - unless of course the police think it's suspicious and throw you out.

the unknown stations

These kind of stations dot the entire nation. I suspect they make up the majority of the 7,500 railway stations that India has. If you're the kind who sleeps during train journeys or don't really look out the window much, you may not have noticed these. But my time on the Gyanodaya Express let me notice and got me thinking about these nameless, numerous stations. 

These are the kind of places that disappear into oblivion on a map of India. 

According to Wikipedia, Indian Railways run 10,000 trains daily. When I consider this number and the random stations I saw from the train, it makes me wonder. I wonder whether people ever buy tickets to go to these places, provided they even know of these places. Maybe, most times, it's people buying tickets to go away from these places, to those bigger, crowded towns and cities. The Indian Migrant Dream.

But then, what about those people I saw sitting, (waiting, wishing?) on those stations? You may say they're waiting for a train to stop, so they could board it and maybe leave for someplace with hope, a better future or to visit friends and relatives. Or they could be waiting to receive their loved ones. 

The deal is, when you notice similar settings almost every other day - like I did (we were on the train almost exactly half the total duration of the trip which was 12 days long) - you feel like there could be something else to it all. Here's my hypothesis : some of the people I noticed at these stations seemed like they had come to chill. Yes, I did use 'chill' - please laugh. 

Imagine this : you live in a small town/village. The population is not much. In smaller towns and villages, everyone known everyone. There's usually a lack of privacy. Someone else's business has to be your business and vice versa. The closest film theatre is in the next village or town perhaps. You may have mobile phones somehow but the internet isn't something you've heard of. Entertainment could comprise of fights among communities or families or some folk music or dance. Maybe you want some privacy. Maybe you want some more entertainment, or some place like a park to ... hang out/chill at. A railway station, in such a context, seems to fit the bill. I realise it's an extremely far-fetched hypothesis and something that I could be entirely wrong about. 

My assumptions cannot possibly reflect the reality. After all, I belong only to roughly 30% of the Indian population (Urban India). I haven't traveled enough. Neither have I spoken to or interacted with people who lead lives that are polar opposites to my own. 

P.S. - If you ever do get the chance to visit New York City, make sure your itinerary has the following :)