Gateway

If I make a list of the places I most frequent, I am sure the Chennai Central Railway Station will find a place somewhere in the top 20 if not the top 10. Yes, it is true I go there so often either to receive people or to see them off or whenever I travel. For Indians the most common mode of travel is by train. This morning I had been to receive some relatives and standing in the platform waiting for the train to arrive set me thinking of my travel in the earlier days and all the good memories that came along with it. If you ask me what my most preferred mode of travel is, I would surely say it is the train. I enjoy thoroughly my train trips and whenever I lack company I make up with my reading. Of the hundreds of journeys I have made by train I have enjoyed most of them and I don’t think I have one negative experience to talk about. I know this may not be true for so many others. Yes, there have been inconveniences like a noisy marriage group or non availability of coffee without sugar or some beggars or vagrants in the compartment. Like most Indians my motto is one of live and let live and hence I tend to ignore most things. As a result of this attitude, I have little to complain in a public place.

Almost all my train travel has either begun or ended at the Chennai Central Railway Station and thus this station becomes the focal point of my love for the train. In the 136 years history of the Chennai Central Railway Station, I have been around for more than 50 years; hence I can proudly say that I have witnessed its growth for more than one third of its life. I have seen it grow from a six platform station to a twelve platform one. I have seen various amenities find their place inside the station. When I was a kid the only stalls available were that of the Southern Railway Catering Division and they served packed food in mobile carts. The excitement then would be visiting Higginbothams and buying a book or a magazine from there. Higginbothams was right at the entrance and it was somehow difficult to miss. Even now Higginbothams is the only book shop at the station, but somehow it seems to have lost its prominence. The food stalls are a plenty now and the passenger is at a loss when it comes to choices. Most of the leading restaurateurs have a pick up point in the station. Then there are the retiring rooms, left luggage counters, pharmacies, wheel chairs and battery operated cars for the sick and the elderly, bank ATM’s, an internet browsing centre and so on and so forth. The platforms and the building itself have had a thorough make over. From the lowly cement and Cuddapah slab platforms we now have the polished granite ones. In keeping with the increased length of the trains the length of the platforms too has doubled. Receiving or seeing off someone sometimes turns into a good walk and thus serves the dual purpose of an exercise too.

The station is a 24x7 zone and I am yet to see it dull and silent. I have been there at various times during the day and each time finding a parking is a mission impossible. The parking lot area keeps increasing but is still not enough to meet the demands. The railway authorities have introduced a Premium Parking and like all things premium cost 150% more. I must say it is truly an ingenuous ways of adding to the coffer. The station is most crowded during the months of April and May. This is the summer vacation months and most of the families plan their travel then. This is the time when Chennai is the hottest and a good time to get away. The best way to beat the Chennai heat is to stay away from the city. Prior to the holidays, the booking offices are the most crowded and those who are able to get the tickets and berths of their choice consider themselves really lucky. Even though the Railways have become tech savvy and there are those who book their tickets via the internet, the masses still opt to stand in queue. Much as the government tries to beat the rush by adding new specials during this season, they are nowhere near meeting the demand. So my trip this morning to the station saw me jostling with the crowd and the luggage and at the end of it I felt happy that I could find my guests and bring them out without any hassle. This ability to find the guests in a crowd has attributed to me being assigned the station duty. Mishaps have happened when others have gone and hence it is an unwritten rule that it would be my job. Considering the earlier poor track record for keeping time, the railways seems to have worked their way around and now they maintain time very well. At times things can go wrong and this is expected considering the fact that the Indian Railway is the world’s largest railway and also the world’s largest employer. On an average 18 million people travel daily by train and the network covers 6909 stations. One sore point at this station is that of dealing with the coolies, these guys in red shirt are a handful and for a newcomer to the city it will not be the best welcome. With the invention of the pull along bags in all sizes and shapes their livelihood has been hard hit as people rarely engage them.

I for one am not deterred by these small obstacles. The magnificent red building with its imposing towers never fail to produce a sense of happiness in me. If I am traveling alone, I go with anticipation as to who my co travelers would be or if I am in a group I thoroughly enjoy the experience. My next travel is on the 19th of this month and like always I am sure that this too would be a good journey. I have the confidence that the Chennai Central Railway Station will never let me down!!