Train Journeys and Railway Stations!!

Yesterday Jayanthi made dry black gram choley for our evening snacks.

Black Chana presoaked and pressure cooked and mixed with her patented masala powder, finely diced green chilies and spices and grated ginger and lemon juice and the works!!

And she served it, steaming hot!

First spoonful and my throat started glowing.

A few spoonful’s later, my nose opened up and started dripping,

Then my ears got hot and eyes started watering, and my face and then my whole body started sweating.

You get the feeling?

And when I finished my bowl, I felt like coming out of a 5-star Sauna!

And I was troubled for a moment.

What would happen when I sit on the throne the next morning??

Fortunately, and thankfully, the morning passed off peacefully, much to my mental (and physical) relief and here I am - alive and writing this post!!

Black gram choley brought back fond memories of Central market and Sarojini Nagar market in Delhi. Where in winters you would find a row of chat wallahs with steaming pots on smoking coal stoves.

And you could choose your pick.

Hot spicy choley served with grated mooli (radish) & thin onions rings and a big green chili on top.

Or boiled and steaming shakkargandi (sweet potato). Freshly peeled and diced in front of you and sprinkled with chat masala & aamchur and a generous squeeze of fresh cut lemon.

And 2 toothpicks stuck on top and served with a flourish and a warm smile – aka. ‘enjoy your meal, Sir’.

And of course, my favorite - ‘bhutta’ !!

Black choley also reminded me of all the UP and MP railway stations where for 10 rupees you would get  a leafy tray with 4 thick pooris and topped with a generous portion of hot and spicy black choley with the mandatory sprinkling of chopped onions and the green chill on top!!

And with that, let me take you some 53 years back in time.

I was 12 years then,    and was already a veteran of 4 train sorties between  Dehra Dun to Vellore and back. (Not Vellore exactly, but Katpadi Junction).

A 3 nights 4 days expedition at that time.

Overnight train Dehra Dun to Delhi.

Then change over from Ajmeri Gate to Kashmiri gate (and later to Nizamuddin Jn) to catch the GT Express/Dakshin Express to Chennai.

A two nights train ride before alighting at Chennai (or Katpadi Junction) and then a bus ride to Vellore.

And I am sure many folks from my generation would have endured such 2 nights 3 day train rides to their hometowns, grandparents’ house, or on summer vacations.

And many of you might recollect these wonderful scenes from the past.

Steam Engines:

No electric locomotives then. A few diesel engines and a lot of big black smoking & steaming steam engines!!

The cone nose shaped ones ran express & mail trains.

The flat faced ones were for passengers and good trains.

And with absolute fascination we would watch the steam escaping from the numerous valves, hot water dripping from various spouts, the gushing hiss of compressed steam as the piston linked to the wheels plunged into the cylinder, a series of  deep throated ‘chugh - chughs’ followed by a huge mushroom of black smoke pushed thru the overhead chimney as the big black mammoth started rolling.

And the engine drivers mostly wore black clothes, his hands and face black with soot, the black hanky tied over his head. And his pearly white teeth would shine every time he spoke up or smiled.

And to humor us kids as we watched him shovel coal into the burning engine furnace and tweak the dials, he would reach out to the overhead wire and tug it hard – and with delight we would hear the loud ear piercing shrill whistle and see a gush of milky white steam escaping from the engine body.

The Railway Station:

Remember AH Wheeler and Higgin Bothams??

Overflowing with newspapers in different languages, and magazines. Sports weeklies and comics and fiction novels.

And they had English to Hindi translation dictionary.

And Competition Success Review and GK digest for folks who are traveling to attend an entrance exam or an interview.

And they sold playing cards too !!

Before boarding the train, it was mandatory for us to stock up our reading material. To keep us occupied for 2 full days. 

A few Indrajal comics,  Mandrakes and Phantoms and Amar Chitra Kathas.

Champaks and Tinkle Digest

Illustrated Weekly of India and Star & Style and Femina.

Sometimes dad also bought the film world weekly paper called The Screen – the first Indian newspaper to have color photographs!  

With snaps of famous stars & actress  in wet white sarees !!!

We bought our own books – Enid Blytons, James Hadley Chase & Alistair McLeans.  And Reader Digests too.

Remember the drinking water taps set in a cement island so that the water spills are drained out and do not spread all over the platform??

And you needed to stand on your toes , lean over the small ledge, bend over the marble basin and push hard with all your strength on the push  knob tap before the water would gush out.

Remember the earthen matka pot vendor slowly rolling his cart??

 A variety of earthen pots, some with narrow necks, and some with a spout at the top. And the spout shaped like a lion’s head with a hole in the mouth to let out the water.

Remember the toy cart?? 

Bright colored plastic toys – rattles and rubber squeezies and animals and board games and flutes and - drums and dumroos.

Dad never bought   me any of those.

Remember the ever-present group of military jawans in their olive fatigues and heavy boots.

Every station you could find a bunch of them on their way to join a new platoon. And they carried their regular khakhi holdalls and freshly painted army issued steel trunks.  And they had their names and battalion numbers stenciled on the side.

And the fruit carts and the food carts and the trinket carts loaded with fake pearl strings and mirrors, rows of plastic bangles and vanity items including soap, toothpaste, brush & comb sets.
And the chains and locks to secure your baggage.

And as the train started on its journey and chugged thru the various city stations, it took you thru a variety of experiences that you can never get anywhere.

First the traveling bards (singers)

Young children with shrill voices, old weather-beaten men with grating /booming voices, couples and blind folks and any number of combination of these.  

And they carried their ganjira / ek-tara / castanets and harmoniums!

And some had just two flat tile pieces wedged between their fingers and they created some wonderful beats!

And they would get on from one station and get off at the next, closely chased out by the TTE.

And I am sure they would board the next bogie when the TTE is not watching!

And they sang a medley of songs – from devotional to folk songs to filmy songs.

One time a bunch of bachelors in the next booth got a blind couple to sit down and made them sing all their favorite songs until the next station.  

It was wonderful!!

And we shared our food with them and gave them a generous bakshish.

Next the auctioneer.

A big bundle of towels, bedsheets, drapes, embroidered sofa covers and steel utensils. And he would run a brisk auction encouraging and goading the elders to bid higher!!

Next the hawkers!

The shikanji makers, the bhel puri makers, the peanut and chana masala vendor, the fruit salad makers, the cucumber walla,  and the soft drinks and ice cream vendors and the biscuit vendors. And the bread maska sandwich makers too.

And as we pass thru MP and AP, you get a steady stream of oranges and cheekoos and mangoes and guavas and jamuns and sitafal (custard apples). And small tubloads of ber (wild berries) the big fleshy oval shaped brownish green ones and the sweet and sour, deep red small round ones!!

And in between these offerings the in-train catering services would come up with vadas (batata vadas / medu vadas/ masala vadas) and samosas&  sandwiches and omelets and potato wafer packets and dosas  and coffee and teas !!

And as if these in train refreshments were not sufficient, each station will come up with if own specialty offerings.

 

Agra (& Cantt. and Raja ki Mandi) station will have carts piled with gift boxes stuffed with pethas (both standard dry  and angoori variety) and the famous Dal-moth in half kilo and one kilo packets.

And we had to buy them!!

And this cart is slowly pushed away by the Taj Mahal cart.  A variety of Taj Mahals carved out of white    soap stones. From pure white to sober colored border lined ones. In all sizes with matching packing boxes. And they also sold picture postcards and picture books on Agra.  Along with them they also sold diamond shaped mirror studded Air India Maharajas.

And one can never fail to notice the that young man in skull cap holding a thick stack of peacock feathers selling them at five rupees for a dozen. And he had peacock feather fans and tassels as well.

And Mathura station offered its famous brown Mathura pedas.

(You should go out into the streets of Mathura and watch those fat ‘halwais’ rolling the brown peda  in their pudgy hands before tossing it on a bed of fine grained sugar.)

And as the days pass you cruise thru other stations like  Gwalior & Jhansi & Bina & Bhopal & Nagpur & Warangal & Ongole  and Nellore before hitting Chennai..

And each station smelt different and has its own unique atmosphere.

Even the water tasted different at each of these places – sweet to bland to brackish.

And the food changed too

From stuffed kulchas in Hazrat Nizamuddin to phulkas with potato ‘gila’ sabji to pooris with spicy choley. And further south all you got was food packets.

Imli rice / lemon rice / sambhar rice and curd rice. All wrapped up in a banana (or pumpkin) leaf and packed in a newspaper and tied with a thin string.

And I can go on and on and on…

And as I reflect back on those days, I am motivated to make a trip again.

From Chennai to Delhi and back.

In a 3 tier non-AC coach.

Wonder if I will survive the trip.

But if I do, it would be an experience that would be worth writing another blogpost!!

Krish..