Train Ride to my native place

Who doesn’t like riding a train to their native place? I have very sweet memories of train rides to my native place. I was born in Srivilliputtur a small satellite town in Virdhunagar District of Tamilnadu. Temple in Tamilnadu's government emblem is from srivilliputtur, check out the photos below, thanks to my friend George Mathai for the photos. Town is very famous for milk sweet palkova(milk peda). There use to be a Meter Gauge train called Kollam Mail from Chennai Egmore to Kollam in Kerala, it goes through some very scenic stretches. I love the night journey in Meter Gauge Trains; it is like sleeping in a cradle, with your mom/dad swinging it for you (my dad use to swing me in the cradle when I was a toddler). Most of the times we tend to travel with the extended family my aunt uncle and cousins that makes the trip even more interesting. Once the train tickets are booked, it will be mostly sleeper/sitter class (sitter class and you can sleep on the floor of the train with news paper), finding the right spot to sleep and jostling for space will be fun. Preparation for the trip would start at least a week ahead, with round table conference on what food to prepare and then asking dad to convey that to my aunt and uncle (it was days of no phone in my house) what time we will leave to the train station etc. We will start announcing (I would rather call it bragging) in school or with friends in summer vacation at least a week in advance that I am going in train to my native place and it is fun etc. Excitement would set in at least a day before train ride, I will not be able to sleep for a day or so. My mom and dad would be happy to go and see their parents.

We would arrive in the station at least an hour in advance and wait in the station. My dad cultivated good reading habit in me and my brother. He use to buy us Magazine (I remember it as Times Magazine or Week Magazine or Aanda Vikatan) when we were waiting in the station, we use to go through the tidbits and then read it for the 1st hour in the train. Station would be buzzing with activity with vendors selling tea and snacks, you can see people from all societies in the station. I use to love watching people’s expression when they say a byee to someone on a train that is leaving and happiness in receiving someone in the arriving train. Excitement for us in the station would set in the moment we see a train arriving into the station from Yard, we have to be ready to see where the coaches will be , it can either in front or back, we use to always take the middle ground so that we need not carry our luggage’s and walk all the way. As kids we use to board the train first to search for our reserved seat and to catch a window seat :-) and let our parents know where our seats are. Then our parents have to answer a question every 5 mins once till the train leaves on when the train will leave. Once the trains start moving we will peer outside and wave at strangers and say a byee to them( I guess it was fun being a kid, can never do that now). We will unpack and empty our home made food packages once the train crosses Chengalpet (it was an hour from Egmore). Most of them would retire to sleep 15 or 20 mins after dinner. For sleeping there will be newspapers laid out in floor of the train for kids ( so that we don’t get our clothes dirty) and then there will be an air pillows coming out and it will be like 1 pillow for two kids( I hate that , I always use to fight for a pillow alone) We( kids) use to wake up whenever the train stops in a major station it goes in this order Villupuram, Tiruchi, Dindugul and by the time train comes to Madurai most of them in the train would be awake. We use to get Tea and drink in Madurai and then wait for ManaMadurai station to come for getting good fresh vada’s with coconut chutney, yummy. Srivilliputtur was an hour away from Manamadurai. It has a very small railway station with just 1 platform. We have to be all prepared with our luggage’s before the station comes, the train use to stop their only for 5 mins, should get down before that. Railway station is 5 kms outside the town, the only modes of transport from Railway station to Town is through Jatka (horse driven carts), it was another fun ride. There the fight will be for who will sit along with the guy who controls the cart (horse driver, I don’t know what they call him, he is not a jockey though), slow moving cart with the greeneries around I don’t have words to express it. My village is 9 Kms from Srivilliputtur town, we have to catch a bus to go to a nearby place Krishnan kovil and the walk 1 ½ kms to my native village Vallaypatti. We usually hire/rent a bi-cycle from Krishnan kovil and load all the luggage in that and then walk to my native place with that. My dad won’t allow me to ride a bicycle. We usually go to pongal/harvest festival in the April Month to our native place. My village is on the leeward side of Western Ghats and we get rain there during North East Monsoon in October, November and December. The cultivate rice, onion and ground nut during that season and harvest it during March so the farmers will have money during April hence the harvest festival is celebrated on April.
Preparation on the way back to Chennai for the train ride will be hectic. We usually get produce (rice and other stuff) from our land and take it to Chennai. Packing the Produce in sack and stitching it requires lot of skill, we will have at least 4 100 kgs sack packed with all the required items. Usually my uncles (mom’s brother) would come to the railway station to send us off, they and my dad use to carry all the huge sacks. Getting it into the train within 5 mins when it is there will be a challenge by itself. There use to be a good curve for the trains approaching the station and you can just see the smoke from diesel engines coming from the train from a distance between trees and mountains, you know that your train is on the way. There starts the fun of train journey again and our lifes in Chennai will get back to the routine grind.

Rain and Flood

I miss Chennai during rainy days, that too my house. I love the smell of earth or mud whatever you want call it( manvasanai that is how they call it in Tamil). It evokes lot of good memories and which kid doesnt like rain.

My house was in a low lying area so it use to flood a lot when it rains. Flood use to be running water not stagnant water. My dad knew about the flooding in the area before he constructed the house there, so we had a high basement for our house compared to others, it was 4 1/2 feet i guess. The kind of preparation we use to make for going to school would be nice, cover the school bag with polythene cover and carry the school shoes and socks in a polyethene bag and then walk till the point where there was not water then dry the feet put the socks and shoes on. The whole thing has to be repeated when we have to come back home too. Going to school when we have a white uniform without getting dirty was a big challenge by itself. My dads two wheeler choice was also based on the flood water, he had Bajaj M80 which had the silencer higher than a TVS Champs ( those were not the ages for fancy bikes). Usually the flood use to be atleast 1 1/2 to 2 feet of running water, he cannot bring his two wheeler in, he us to park it in his friends house in some what higher area compared to us.

My parents would allow us to play in water one hour a day if it is an holiday during flood. We use to make paper boats, convert any stick into boat and send it, there use to be competition on whose paper boats goes the farthest before it sinks in water. The flood water use to come the stream nearby, thanks to google earth it is actually the source for river Adyar, it is very clean since it is very near to the source. So whenever there is flood water there use to be fishes and obviously snakes around of different colors, I don't know what it is may be it comes from my mom, we were never scared of snakes in water. Another thing what we use to do is try to throw flat stones in water and make it to glide in water. Miss all those days....

Till 2005 December water never entered into the house, but 2005 december it was very very heavy rain from october and almost all the lakes around our area was full and some miscreants broke lot of lakes off( since they have constructed house near the lakes illegaly) and it was high tide in sea that day too, so water was pushed in through Adyar river and with so much water rushing in to Adyar River with breaking of lakes it kind of created a backflow and started circling around our low lying area. When i came home the night before from work, there was hardly any water on the road and in the morning at around 6 water was entering our house, we had to vacate our house. Fire fighters had to be rushed into even more low lying areas with boats to rescue people. It was a bad flood that year and it was the last flood i saw.

And why did write this blog, since it is monsoon season in chennai and it is raining heavily there now