And miles to go...

As you probably know by now, trains have a special place with me. Sometimes they infuriate me. Sometimes I get a pleasant surprise. But they will always be there, as unshakable as the main building of Egmore station. And nearly as old :D (Chennai Egmore turned 100 this month)

Railway stations are a different matter, though. I'm always at my most philosophical mood when I'm in a railway station. Think about it. Unless you're in a tearing hurry to do something once you get to your destination, there's no need to worry while you wait for a train. And even if you do worry, there's nothing you can do. The train will arrive when it does. Your luggage is safe with you. And you probably won't fall sick because of that coffee you just bought from the vendor on the platform. So just sit back, relax and watch as the rest of the human race files past.

It's an attitude that helped me a lot when "disaster" struck last June. There was flooding in Bombay then (as there is every summer) and my train to go back home from Pune was held up between VT and Kalyan. There wasn't much news coming from the enquiry counter, it was raining and I had two big suitcases with me. So I couldn't go out, I couldn't move around freely and I had no bloody idea when the train would get there (7 hours later, as it turned out). And that's when a calm, laid back attitude helps.

But I digress. I've always had a special attachment to the station in Udumalaipettai (Udt from here on). Udt is my mum's hometown. The station there is one of those classic small town stations. Two platforms, concrete benches, an inadequate asbestos roof over the platforms.

And a metre gauge track. Yeah. That means trouble for the time being. The railways is on a drive to convert metre gauge tracks to broad gauge, and is going about it piecemeal, at it's own pace. The line on which this station stands used to have trains that went all the way to Rameswaram. Now Coimbatore is completely broad gauge, And I believe there's no metre gauge line between Dindigul and Madurai. So there's a small island of metre gauge track between Dindigul and Palghat. To make sense of what I'm talking about, look here. (the map's a little outdated, I think)

Since it's such a small stretch, there's very little traffic on this line. Only ten trains pass through Udt. Both directions put together. That's really sad. Trains here hardly ever run on time. Since they are so unreliable, most people don't bother taking a train. Why would they? The roads out of Udt are pretty decent. And even State Transport buses here have colour TVs and DVD players (to play cheesy Tamil flicks). There's no reason for anyone to take the train . And that means the railways has even less reason to be punctual or improve services. The only people who take these trains now are the ones who seek nostalgia or have a lot of luggage.

It doesn't even feel like a real railway station anymore. The signalling system is antiquated. People gather there in the evening like it's a park of some sort. And the track is rusting over. Really. There's a fine brown coat on top of the rails. You probably won't find a finer example of a living museum.

Yet, the station lives on. And I'll never forget it. Not least for its ability to throw up some of the most beautiful sunsets. Orange light, sculpted exquisitely,yet softened by layers of clouds. Lush green trees, mostly coconut palms, provide a fitting foreground. It's a sight worth killing for. And something a 2Mpx camera phone can never do justice to.

A small town railway station...

This is a small photo feature. The post will follow.


The signboard that welcomes you to the "poor man's Ooty"


They don't see too much movement of people here


Two platforms for the metre gauge track. No 9 3/4 here!

The Signal operator's post. Wise old men of the town sit outside. Udumalai is a pretty windy place. It's near the Palghat pass, so it gets pretty windy, especially now that the SW monsoon is in. And that makes open spaces like this a great place to spend an evening.

Only 10 trains pass by in one day. Both ways put together.


People board the last but one train of the day. This one's headed to Podanur (a suburb of Coimbatore). Trains on this line go to Podanur or Palakkad/Palghat to the north and Dindigul to the south. That's it. Lines further down in both directions are broad gauge.

This platform stall wasn't here the last time I came by (which was over two years ago). Will it be here the next time around? I guess so. It's more like a pottikadai now. There's rampant tresspassing. People going from one side of town to the other just enter the station and walk across the tracks. Guess there's not much the authorities can do.

This is a nothing post

The title says it all. I know that I've been very lazy updating this blog. Even though I haven't been doing anything that kept me too busy to update. Neither have I done too little, so that there's nothing to talk about. I feel like I ought to be blacklisted for it.

Anyway, this is a nothing post. It's just to tell you that I'm going to my grandmother's place for ten days, and I won't be going online for the aforementioned period of time (I can still do legalese. Sweet!) My gran lives in a small town near Coimbatore, which is rapidly losing it's small town charm. So I want to soak in as much as I can over the next few days. eternal dreamer and firefoxcub, I'm sorry I haven't written anything about Pondicherry. I will once I get back home. And ffc, you can tell your friend that the weather's pretty good, so it's worth a trip now. Just watch out for the occasional spell of rain.

That's all for now. This has been ess.