(Sub)Urban Legend
No account of my life at MIT will be complete without the details of my daily suburban train journeys to reach the campus. Typically I used to take the 6:40 am BG train from my home station, Perambur Loco Works to Chennai Central. The train would come from Tiruvallur or Arakkonam or Pattabiram Military Siding. As the Perambur-Central stretch is the closing part of the journey, the train used to be slow. I never enjoyed this part of my daily journey.
After detraining at Chennai Central, we have to cross the Poonamalee High Road using the usually dark subway, and reach Park Station on the opposite side. Here I used to take the 7:25 am MG train to Tambaram. Many of my classmates/ batchmates entraining at subsequent stations would also make sure that they are in time for this train. Thus we would typically arrive at Chromepet Station by 8:10 am, well in time for the first hour at 8:30 am. (Dr. PK used to come for his first hours at 8:15 and start filling up the board with diagrams and equations!! That will be the subject of another entry.)
The Park-Chromepet leg of the journey in the mornings is my most favourite. In fact, among all my regular travels, it occupies the prime spot. The reasons are many.
Firstly, I am a big fan of travelling with a blast of air on the face. The Park station is the third station in the Beach-Tambaram line, and only here the train experiences the first signs of crowd. Hence everyday it would be easy for me to get a spot, either sitting by the window or standing by the door, where I can enjoy my blast of air. I would feel very invigorated as the train goes against strong winds, making my hair fall out of place. It is a feeling you have to experience to understand.
Secondly, this leg of the journey is where many of my classmates entrain. Notably at Nungambakkam, Saidapet, Guindy and Pallavaram. Spending few minutes talking with friends in the speeding train first thing in the morning is a greatly refreshing idea. Ganging up in one compartment and talking about the day yet to begin is fun. Especially on exam days, the presence of a friend near you to say, "Don't worry machaan, I too haven't studied anything." is very consoling. The fun in being a day-scholar lies in such daily interactions. (I know some of my hosteller friends would be up in arms. I just want to recollect one TV show for them. In [V] channel, once there was this college show where students were debating whether hostel life was better or day-scholar life. One hosteller went on and on about how they are totally free and independent and how they totally enjoy their life. He ridiculed day-scholars by asking "What do you guys have?" One day-scholar quietly responded: "Mere paas Maa hai!!" in Deewar style, stunning the other side into silence. Yeah, with me too!)
Thirdly, the journey is a tremendous learning experience. The different kinds of people you encounter in Chennai MG suburban trains and the experiences you have with them is quite mindboggling. The BG trains or buses are too crowded to give any meaningful enlightenment. Even in other cities like MUmbai, the suburban trains are way too crowded. Chennai MG trains in mornings are ideal.
Fourthly, we are not the only students travelling in such trains. Thanks to a plethora of engineering colleges located beyond Tambaram, there used to be a rush of students entering our trains. Although the objects of my interest get into special Ladies compartments reserved for them, they used to provide good dharisanams while the train enters the station. Quite fulfilling!
And finally, during the journey, vendors of many eatables come in masses to serve you. My favourites used to be the butter biscuit (an amazing snack) and fried groundnut. Not to mention many varieties of fruits, especially the guava and mango with chilli powder ;-)
The arrival at Chrompet station and how we detrain is the subject of a separate entry, but I will touch upon it here briefly. We used to jump on the express train track, instead of detraining normally like other passengers on the platform. The purpose of this is to reach the campus gate sooner, or so we claimed. Even after the railway authorities put up a fence to prevent such things, we continued to do it.
One interesting aspect of my journey days was the consruction of a subway under the tracks between St.Thomas Mount and Pazavanthaangal. This was continuing even after I left college. On rainy days, the pit that has been dug would be filled with water and neighbourhood children will be having a great time swimming in there.
My reverse journeys in the evenings used to be much less fun, depending on the type of day we had at college. Also due to the absence of point number four mentioned above ;-) And also because each of the friends would get down at his station and leave. For this, typically I used to take the 5:15 pm train at Chromepet, thus reaching Central in time for the 6:20 pm Pattabiram- or 6:35 Tiruvallur- bound train. There is a juice shop in Central station where I do not miss the grape juice everyday.
As for stations, my vote goes to the Central suburban station which is an interesting construction with a high ceiling. It never used to be stuffy here. Especially the steps area at the entrance opening out to the parking lot provides a gentle breeze antime of the day. Another reason for liking Central is the presence of a good magazine shop with all the latest magazines.
And ofcourse I like my base station, Perambur Loco Works. It has a very peaceful atmosphere.
And third comes Chromepet, for that is where I have spent the most time, waiting for trains with all my friends together. Sometimes, if there is an interesting conversation going on among us, we would skip trains to prolong these conversations.
No time like those times, when life was full of everyday surprises.
(Posted on 10-Dec-2004)
After detraining at Chennai Central, we have to cross the Poonamalee High Road using the usually dark subway, and reach Park Station on the opposite side. Here I used to take the 7:25 am MG train to Tambaram. Many of my classmates/ batchmates entraining at subsequent stations would also make sure that they are in time for this train. Thus we would typically arrive at Chromepet Station by 8:10 am, well in time for the first hour at 8:30 am. (Dr. PK used to come for his first hours at 8:15 and start filling up the board with diagrams and equations!! That will be the subject of another entry.)
The Park-Chromepet leg of the journey in the mornings is my most favourite. In fact, among all my regular travels, it occupies the prime spot. The reasons are many.
Firstly, I am a big fan of travelling with a blast of air on the face. The Park station is the third station in the Beach-Tambaram line, and only here the train experiences the first signs of crowd. Hence everyday it would be easy for me to get a spot, either sitting by the window or standing by the door, where I can enjoy my blast of air. I would feel very invigorated as the train goes against strong winds, making my hair fall out of place. It is a feeling you have to experience to understand.
Secondly, this leg of the journey is where many of my classmates entrain. Notably at Nungambakkam, Saidapet, Guindy and Pallavaram. Spending few minutes talking with friends in the speeding train first thing in the morning is a greatly refreshing idea. Ganging up in one compartment and talking about the day yet to begin is fun. Especially on exam days, the presence of a friend near you to say, "Don't worry machaan, I too haven't studied anything." is very consoling. The fun in being a day-scholar lies in such daily interactions. (I know some of my hosteller friends would be up in arms. I just want to recollect one TV show for them. In [V] channel, once there was this college show where students were debating whether hostel life was better or day-scholar life. One hosteller went on and on about how they are totally free and independent and how they totally enjoy their life. He ridiculed day-scholars by asking "What do you guys have?" One day-scholar quietly responded: "Mere paas Maa hai!!" in Deewar style, stunning the other side into silence. Yeah, with me too!)
Thirdly, the journey is a tremendous learning experience. The different kinds of people you encounter in Chennai MG suburban trains and the experiences you have with them is quite mindboggling. The BG trains or buses are too crowded to give any meaningful enlightenment. Even in other cities like MUmbai, the suburban trains are way too crowded. Chennai MG trains in mornings are ideal.
Fourthly, we are not the only students travelling in such trains. Thanks to a plethora of engineering colleges located beyond Tambaram, there used to be a rush of students entering our trains. Although the objects of my interest get into special Ladies compartments reserved for them, they used to provide good dharisanams while the train enters the station. Quite fulfilling!
And finally, during the journey, vendors of many eatables come in masses to serve you. My favourites used to be the butter biscuit (an amazing snack) and fried groundnut. Not to mention many varieties of fruits, especially the guava and mango with chilli powder ;-)
The arrival at Chrompet station and how we detrain is the subject of a separate entry, but I will touch upon it here briefly. We used to jump on the express train track, instead of detraining normally like other passengers on the platform. The purpose of this is to reach the campus gate sooner, or so we claimed. Even after the railway authorities put up a fence to prevent such things, we continued to do it.
One interesting aspect of my journey days was the consruction of a subway under the tracks between St.Thomas Mount and Pazavanthaangal. This was continuing even after I left college. On rainy days, the pit that has been dug would be filled with water and neighbourhood children will be having a great time swimming in there.
My reverse journeys in the evenings used to be much less fun, depending on the type of day we had at college. Also due to the absence of point number four mentioned above ;-) And also because each of the friends would get down at his station and leave. For this, typically I used to take the 5:15 pm train at Chromepet, thus reaching Central in time for the 6:20 pm Pattabiram- or 6:35 Tiruvallur- bound train. There is a juice shop in Central station where I do not miss the grape juice everyday.
As for stations, my vote goes to the Central suburban station which is an interesting construction with a high ceiling. It never used to be stuffy here. Especially the steps area at the entrance opening out to the parking lot provides a gentle breeze antime of the day. Another reason for liking Central is the presence of a good magazine shop with all the latest magazines.
And ofcourse I like my base station, Perambur Loco Works. It has a very peaceful atmosphere.
And third comes Chromepet, for that is where I have spent the most time, waiting for trains with all my friends together. Sometimes, if there is an interesting conversation going on among us, we would skip trains to prolong these conversations.
No time like those times, when life was full of everyday surprises.
(Posted on 10-Dec-2004)
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