A SCHOOL BAG FULL OF REMINISCENCES - WAVING TO A PASSING UNFINISHED TRAIN

This is a picture of an unfinished train carriage that I shot around late evening time at a spot in Chennai. On my return from work, I get down from the company shuttle at a spot that is about two kilometres away from home and walk the stretch. This is to have a walking stint in my daily routine, even though the routine is not big enough, time-wise. And what I love most about this stretch is this railroad that lies within twenty metres from where the shuttle drops me.

On most of the days in the year, I don't get to see any trains plying on this railroad. One reason for the same is that there is no regular train plying through this track as whatever service that had been planned earlier, did not materialize. The only activity that goes on on this railroad is the movement of unfinished carriages from the Shell division of the Integral Coach Factory (ICF) to its Furnishing division and vice versa. And this happening at the time when I return from work, is probably that rare. ICF at Perambur is where the carriages get manufactured. 

Every day, I wait near the track and have a look on either side to see if there is any unfinished train appearing in the distance. And when I spot one, I patiently wait for it to pass by, even though it could take a good ten minutes. I always very happily wave to the driver and the person on the last carriage and they smile and wave back. Am not sure if it's the same people that I get to see each time but I always get a response and that makes me happy.

There is something very special about this train unlike the fully finished ones filled with people that I normally got to see every day during my school days. It's like the driver and the other person, possibly the guard, being all alone with a kind of ghost ridden train full of unfinished, empty and dark carriages. But still they are happy and full of bubbling spirit. I think that way, they are mentally stronger humans than me because I would probably sulk driving a unfinished train, when there are better trains being driven all over the world. It takes lot of character to be able to do a dirty job and wrap it with a happy heart and a warm smile.

I have a connection with the Indian Railways as my parents were Railway employees and the first twenty years of my life were spent in the Railway quarters and its surroundings. I studied at the Railway Mixed Higher Secondary School, Perambur and there were just very few days when I missed out seeing a train pass by. I would spot one of them either when I was on my way to school or while returning back. This view though, would be from the top of the over bridge running over the tracks and I would not be able to connect with the driver or the guard this way. These trains were fully finished ones carrying full of passengers. These days, every time I see an unfinished train, beautiful memories of watching the trains whiz past under the bridge, flash through my mind.

But whether the train is a fully finished one with passengers or an unfinished one, a train driver is on a different journey always when compared to those drivers on vehicles on a road. On a road, drivers get to see much more human activity and they always have the possibilities of quick proximity with other humans while on their journeys. A bus driver for example has all the passengers behind him that he can see anytime, a car driver if not alone, will have passengers inside and both these drivers can view human activity outside or stop and interact with humans, while they drive on a road. But a train driver's state is different. His journey is most of the time a lonely ride barring the person accompanying him in his cabin, as he can neither meet the passengers in the carriages behind him nor is he seeing human activity outside while he drives. He has to reach a station to see it or that could happen while plying adjacent to roads or places of human activity, that comes by once a while. His journey is mostly filled with loneliness irrespective of whether it's a ride through the daytime or the night.

But sometimes on the flip side, his tryst with nature is more intimate. He sometimes takes a path that is carved through the mountains and he gets to see and feel that pristine greenery and develops a much closer connect with Mother Earth. Many rail routes in India give this feel and that's what makes train journeys unique. One can never get this feel while on a car or a bus. So while the train driver goes through that patch of loneliness, nature gives him intimate company.

I always keep looking forward to taking up journeys by train and my love for the unfinished trains is still the same.

You may read the related pieces at:

Journeys to Home
https://cherryspace.blogspot.com/2016/06/a-school-bag-full-of-reminiscences.html

The Gypsies

https://cherryspace.blogspot.com/2016/07/a-school-bag-full-of-reminiscences.html

Lighter Moments

https://cherryspace.blogspot.com/2016/08/a-school-bag-full-of-reminiscences.html

The Anglo Indian Flavour

https://cherryspace.blogspot.com/2017/01/a-school-bag-for-of-reminiscences-anglo.html