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

A SCHOOL BAG FULL OF REMINISCENCES - THE ANGLO INDIAN FLAVOUR

My first five years at school had so much English and an Anglo flavour to it. If it was something else, I believe I would have genuinely felt the loss of having really missed something precious. My teachers, right through those five years were Anglo Indians. My music teacher too was an Anglo Indian and for the first two of these five years, our Headmistress was an Anglo Indian too. This had a bearing on almost everything that happened in a day at school, be it the way the classes were conducted, the disciplinary aspects, the way the interactions with the teachers happened, the exposure to the language that we gained through the Anglo Indian syllabus taught by these teachers, the music sessions and then the Christmas celebrations and the stage plays during the annual day meets every year. This to me, is the biggest gift I got during my school years.

The neighbourhood surrounding the school, also had a British tinge in it. The road where the Railway Mixed Higher Secondary School was located in Perambur, was studded with so many Anglo Indian families. Besides this bunch, there were those on the Foxen Street too that lay next to this road. Our Lady of Lourdes Shrine that stands on the Paper Mills Road was where many of us students went either during our lunch breaks or after school and we always got to see a large Anglo Indian population flock there. There are two other churches adjacent to our school and one of them is just beside the playground. This is where we went when we had a free period, either to play or to sit and chat. Some teachers even took classes under the tree shades, close to this church.

Christmas parties were special and it happened just before the school closed for the Christmas holidays. Each student brought cakes, pasteries and decorations. We had Christmas trees decorated in our classes. I can still feel the hard pinch on my nose, given by one Santa Clause, while he went around distributing gifts. I am still not sure who it was. Annual day every year came with it's own colour and grandeur. We had lots of stage plays and singing and each of these had so many rehearsals at the Railway auditorium that stood opposite to our school. I still recall the feeling of having lip stick smudged all over my lips and cheeks, just before stepping on to the stage for the different plays. Quite a number of them set the tracks on fire and came out in flying colours in the field events too, during the annual sports competitions.

Many of my Anglo Indian classmates had their homes very close to the school and I had the opportunity to visit some of their homes. My immediate neighbour at the Railway Quarters where I spent my childhood, was an Anglo Indian. Kevin Geer, the eldest of the three sons in that family, was my playmate during those years. I got to hear a lot of English music from his home. Hid dad was a saxophonist. I am in touch with many of these friends even now. My dad had an Anglo Indian friend Duncan who gave him so many English music cassettes. He even screened Biblical movies for our prayer group's annual gatherings. If it was not for Duncan Uncle, I would never have had a tryst with so much English music at that age.

A life without this flavour would certainly have been bland. I really cherish those days when I lived in the middle of an Anglo Indian world.

A SCHOOL BAG FULL OF REMINISCENCES - THE LIGHTER MOMENTS

Looking back at my school days, I believe that school would have been a monastery, if all the students were studious. There has to be a bunch of fun loving, casual mates who will contribute to the overall student ecosystem by relieving it of the stress levels and mundane times. We too had a bunch who kept the class lively, although teachers may have thought of it the other way. As in my earlier school related posts, I would be maintaining anonymity of the individuals. I am drawing memories from across my twelve years at school about different individuals.

Flint was an Anglo Indian and had a naturally fair complexion. His hair was a nice curly and well shaped topping for his head. He had good height too and our classmates filled in the rest for him by announcing that he resembled actor Kamal Hassan from a few angles. This made him all the more conscious and he altered his walk and mannerisms to match the actor’s moves. When he smiled, the pyorrhea on his teeth that was a shade distorted in front, showed up. His focus on style, grew more with the passage of time, that he would get off his school uniform and wear a very nice shirt while cycling back home, ensuring that the girl folk got a glimpse of him. He was really popular amongst the back benchers and when Kamal’s Sakala Kalaa Vallavan released in 1982, he became all the more popular.

Although branded as a back bencher and sidelined without any hope by teachers, I still admire Flint for his stubborn character. One day, he was caught while at one of his pranks. The teacher yelled at him saying “Show your smartness if you can, by passing a test in Geography”. Flint took up the challenge and asked the teacher to set the portions and the day and time of the test. And on that day he cleared the test with very high marks. But as we all know, it's consistency and not just one time peaking that matters and Flint went back to his old state soon.

Kial and Deepu together made a very funny pair and they created classic pranks. Their primary motivation of course was to grab the attention of the female folk. Deepu would set up a thick wooden stick that was actually broken as two pieces. It’s rough edges and corners at the broken area, merged so well into each other, that holding on one end kept the other in place and the merged area showed no signs of a breakage either. So for a person watching the whole thing, it would be like Deepu was holding a normal thick wooden stick. Kial would come up, flex his muscles and in one super man’s move, break the stick with his hand. Amazing show indeed. Well, I would be lying if I said that I had never wanted to impress the girl folk. I did want to, but somehow, studies and other important matters took priority. 

One afternoon, while the sun was at its scorching best, we had our physical training period. All of us were lined up in ten rows and our master was calling out instructions for our exercises. Each time we heard him say “Hands up” we could hear one voice within us say “Pants down”. It was so well timed that what he said would mix with what our master called out but still would be a shade late.  Our master went wild and he called out several times to the students to show the person who was doing this and to the person himself to step out. But in these times, we proved to be a real united pack of untamed wolves. Not one person gave in. And so we remained standing there and each one got a nice whacking with the master’s cane. For the diligent students, the installment was one whacking in addition as he was more frustrated with their silence than that of the others. We all knew that the character creating this mockery was Deepu.

Nigdal was another Anglo-Indian, who had a fantastic way of dropping rubber lizards and reptiles from a higher point on to the tables of the girl classmates. You would really get a feel that it dropped from the roof, as he would surreptitiously get himself to a higher elevation to drop them. They would land like with that real "Plop" sound. It was fun to hear the reactions from the girls with most of them screeching “Mummy” and holding on to the other. Nigdal’s attack would be when the whole class would be preparing for an intense test in Physics.

Many teachers would tell us in advance about question answer sessions that they planned to conduct. On such days, Deepu would position himself behind a girl and surreptitiously tie one of her long plaits to the wooden frame of her chair. And when she would be called by the teacher with a question, she would politely get up, only to be pulled down suddenly, by the trick worked up by Deepu. Atleast our batch was not so notorious as our seniors who had bleaching powder spread inside the desks of girl classmates. When the teachers were not around, Deepu mostly used the top of the desks to move around in the classroom. Very rarely did he take the aisles between the desks. You would get a feel that he was up to a table top dance sometimes.

These are some of the many funny experiences that flood my mind as of now. In one way, I should thank these friends for filling my mind with these lighter experiences.

A SCHOOL BAG FULL OF REMINISCENCES - THE GYPSIES

Reminiscences of my school days would be incomplete without a mention of the gypsies. I thought it was appropriate to dedicate an entire piece for them as a mark of respect for them. Although, we often tend to see them as vagabonds and criminals, there is something really attractive and mysterious about them. While on our journeys to school and on our way back to our homes, there was not one day when would have missed seeing a band of the gypsies somewhere on the route. Dressed in the most haphazard and unkempt manner, at first sight, they are certainly a bunch that does not deserve any mention. But observe them a little more closely and you will see why they are an amazing bunch.

One of their skills that caught my fascination, is the way they brought down squirrels with the catapult. I have also seen them shoot small birds with their air guns. There are days when I have stopped my cycle to watch this flawless execution being exhibited. It requires such a great amount of practice and focus to bring about this impeccable execution. I have seen hardly one or two in their bunch, miss a shot, over the entire school time span that I have seen them. This meant that most of them, were really good at it. It really made me think, as to how I could scale up my performance in my academics, through sheer practice and focus.

The other fascinating aspect that I observed, was that they had their own products that they made and sold. I had mentioned in my last post on the same subject of school reminiscences, that there would be vendors who lined up with their sale spots on both sides of the road on the salary day of each month. The gypsies also would put up one or two sales spots in these. Of course, we could find their sale spots on other days too, at different places. What they made, were mostly trinkets and jewelry of various colours, made of beads and metal and other small metalwork. They also sold catapults of different sizes. They had their own supply, assembly and selling systems in place. A bunch of them, would go out on the roads and the streets and use their sticks that had magnets fixed at their ends to pick up different types of iron stuff and scrap. They could be nails or rings or any small parts that found its way outside the Railway shops. Another bunch, would sit and make whatever products they could from what the supply bunch collected. My assumption is that they would invest in the purchase of the beads, that were very much a part of most of their products. What was fascinating was their passion in what they made and the faith that their products would sell, when they were still a group that were being looked down in the social strata by the hoi polloi. I doubt whether their social position has become any different today either.

Monkeys are very much a part of the bunch. The gypsies get them dressed in beautiful human attires and make them do all the monkey tricks. A lot of people gather to watch this and generously give them money. This show was always there on the Railway salary day of every month.

I remember watching a very funny scene while returning from school, one day. A police team was trying to clear out a gypsy bunch from a location. One of them, while lifting his air gun in the process of quickly evading the police beating him up, happened to portray a position as though, he was aiming the gun at the police. The poor fellow got beaten up all the more, miserably :))

With the rampant growth of e-Commerce, the products of their type are being made and sold by several other individuals through home based ventures. Women can stand out in the crowd or go boho-chic by incorporating the gypsy woman jewelry into their outfit. You enter a fascinating world when you have a tryst with gypsy jewelry. You can spot beads from the size of a mustard seed to that of a lemon in their works of art. I think women should go in for this jewelry only if they are in the mood for experimenting as they are sure to stand out in a crowd in a pretty quirky way with these. That way, they get to tweak their looks everyday to go in the gypsy way. A free spirited and flamboyant mentality is what a gypsy look reflects and that is yet to catch up in a big way in conservative India. There are several gypsy tribes all over the world and each have their own flamboyance in their way of life.

I very rarely take the Railway road these days and it's been a long time, since I have seen a bunch of gypsies. It would be really interesting to see, how the mobile technology has impacted them as mobiles have crept into the hands of almost everyone in India. Imagine some one in the gypsy community getting a good exposure on e-Commerce. He or she could make a big impact, while India is going through this transformation in shopping now.

A SCHOOL BAG FULL OF REMINISCENCES - JOURNEYS TO HOME FROM SCHOOL

Last week this time, my classmates got together on the occasion of our 30th year out of school. I could not make it, even though I tried my best to plan some time for it. Even though I am tied up with multiple tasks in my hand now, nothing can stop my mind rewinding its way into the past and bringing back those different moments from the archives.

Sometime last year, the HINDU reported on the canopies that still remained fresh in the city and the Constable Road in Chennai, connecting Ayanavaram to Perambur, featured in it. This road belongs to the Southern Railways. This was the road that most of us took to go to school. Looking back, I still believe, that we were gifted with such a beautiful canopy to tread through. The British presence in India has given its landscape a lot of organization and beauty. Although its oppression is that which always hogs our mind first and was what our forefathers strongly opposed, I doubt whether each of us in our school, thank the British for the organization called the Railways and the facilities that it opened up for its employees like the Railway Mixed Higher Secondary School, the Railway Headquarters Hospital, the Railway Quarters, the quiet roads like the Constable Road that further led into the inner quieter roads and the beautiful canopies that adorn most of these places even today.

Any batch will have its tiny clusters where a set of friends within it, find more comfort in being together. Our batch too had such clusters and some of these still remain intact. The journeys that took us to school and back to our homes, were what made school days so special. So let me try and recall some of the instances that we as clusters encountered while on these journeys. As always, anonymity gives me the freedom and comfort to write better and also puts my friends, in positions of comfort too.

When I started cycling to school, sometime in my 9th standard, I had a cluster of friends. Journeys to school were mostly solitary and we would get to meet classmates only by chance, as each would eject out from our homes with such speed and try and reach the school on time for our morning assembly. But, on the contrary, the return journeys were more relaxed, pleasurable and at ease. We drove together but the sad part was that we would reach home earlier, and so we had little time to wander around, primarily because, parents would be expecting us to get back in a certain span of time, unless some other schedules that they would be aware of, came in between.

But with the cycle in our hands, we had a different freedom, in that we could choose the route we wanted to take, while going back home, be it through the Perambur bridge, the Loco Works bridge or even the Carriage Works bridge although the last one involved some arduous times. But still we knew it was worth it. Our school was very close to the Carriage Works station and there was not a single day that we did not get to see a train whiz past. The Railways was very much a part of our daily life. That was the time that the steam locomotive was getting phased out and the diesel engines were taking their place. Watching the engine was like watching a beast, in all its roaring glory and domineering stature.

Through the Perambur bridge route, Pranav and Guna were the two with whom I would get together while Anarkesh, Ilu and Jammy would be another pack. When Anarkesh was not there, Ilu and Jammy would join our pack. The batch had students whose parents were at different income levels. So this had a bearing on how the clusters were getting formed. But still a few would be so modest and unassuming with all of us. Guna would be into his tricks with the cycle, trying to drive it with his hands free. I remember an incident where he got pretty close, trailing a bus, and when the bus stopped suddenly, the sharp point of his cycle’s front rim hit the bus and made a hole there. I could not believe a cycle could do that, but it happened. No one in the bus noticed though.

With Ilu, I had a company to discuss songs and we would sing some numbers while driving. Jammy and Pranav were humourous individuals and they kept the journey alive. We also had the female folk going as clusters alongside. Suni and Heera were in one and Nimi and Vidhu were into the other. Females were beautiful and adolescence kept eating into us, but the call of duty and responsibility, always kept us awake and oblivious of romantic encounters.

While on the Loco Works route, I had the company of Kandha and Ganapathy. With Kandha, the discussion would be mostly on study strategies. This really helped me a lot. Sometimes, I would stop at Ganapathy’s house for a while before moving ahead. He would mostly be answering my random questions but I liked his company. He was the Jackie Shroff of our batch. Have a look at him today and you will be stunned that he is all bald. To experience the Carriage Works bridge route, we have many times, even carried our cycles up and down the bridge. We took this route to experience more of the quiet canopies as the other routes had regular city traffic invading into them.

Prior to this stage, I went to school by walk. I had a clear six kilometres distance up and down, to cover, and I had never felt it to be a burden anytime during those days. I think walking that distance today for me is a big thing, although I do it sometimes. Pranav, Guna, Jammy and Jogs formed the cluster of friends, with whom I spent a long time in this period, walking to school and back to home. As little boys, Guna and I have kicked stones right from school all the way on the road to our home. I am not sure what pleasure we got out of this :) Sometimes we just stood on the Carriage Works bridge, to watch the acrobatics of the monkeys that were on the cranes inside the Carriage Works workshop. Walking up and then down on this bridge gave a special feeling each time. If we spotted a train approaching from yonder, we would wait to feel the rumble as it passed under us, and then again, wait to see it disappear in the distance.

On some other days we took a deviation on our return journey and went through the Railway Headquarters Hospital and then out through a gate near the Joint Office that was the building adjacent to it. This was primarily to enjoy watching the snails around the fountain near the Cardio Thoracic Unit inside the hospital. We would sit there on the edge of the pool and get the water sprinkles all over us. Sometimes, we would go through the street where Jammy stayed on Brock Road, which is a road close to the Railway Headquarters Hospital and then head for home. This way, we would get to spend more time with him. During one of these stints on a windy day, my umbrella parted with me and landed into the Railway Canal that runs parallel to this road. I had to bid good bye to it that day and spend an hour answering questions from my mother. I miss those wonderful moments where nature literally took us in her cradle right through. Jogs was mad about cricket and we spent a lot of time on discussions regarding bowling techniques. This was the period when the West Indian team had toured India under the captaincy of the dashing cricketer Alvin Kallicharan, who was a major contributor for the West Indies during their dominating periods at the World Cup. Jogs had pictures of all the cricketers with him and I believe cricket was the major thing that inundated Jog’s mind always.

Rains brought in a different dimension as we had water puddles and huge stretches of water, all over the place on this route. Guna and I have tried pelting stones, where there were huge stretches of rain water, to see the ripples we could create with the stone skidding over the surface. I should accept that he was pretty good at it. I don’t know how much my shoes would have loved it as they constantly went through these watery times. We also spent a lot of time, watching a variety of fishes, frogs and tadpoles during these stints. But the stealthy water snakes were those who garnered our special attention.

The advent of every month end brought in another dimension. There were vendors who lined up on both sides of the roads that we took on the Carriage Works bridge route. They sold so many trinkets and food items for the Railway staff to buy with their purses that were in full cry. It was a real sight. I remember spending some real time observing the things being sold, although I never ventured for a purchase anytime. We even witnessed the snake and mongoose fight that some hosted on these days.

The whole Railway area had parts of the railway system used in some form, either as a fence or as a divider at some place or the other. And so, parts like the rails, the fish plates or the sleepers, always got registered into our minds. A few yards away from the Carriage Works workshop, Guna, Pranav and myself have stopped many times to see the gas cutting of old carriage wheels. It was fun to watch the huge wheel that stood like a rock solid metal giant, give in and fall apart finally into pieces. At that point, I never knew that the surface of the wheel had a certain profile and that a lot of engineering went into its design.

These are some precious memories that I can recall while we were on these journeys. I believe that very few school going kids in the city would have experienced this, because there is no life in getting into a car or a school van and getting out of it at school, as was the case with most of the students of some of the top schools in the city. I would even say, life is curtailed when we are pillion riders on a bike and we get dropped at school by our parents or anyone who is appointed by them to do it. We friends in our cluster were lucky that way. Our life was in the distance that we covered together as friends.