The Unforgettable 12 Hours!​

It was in the first week of January, 2014, my sister and I decided to spend the Pongal holidays at our aunt’s home in Madurai. Our tickets from Chennai to Madurai were booked in one of the least preferred trains between these two cities. Contrary to the usual uneventful train journeys, this particular journey was so interesting that this has become our most memorable trip over the years. Join with me to find out why this journey has become unforgettable for us. Welcome to my travelogue “The Unforgettable 12 Hours!”

Booking Tickets:
It was on 9 th January 2014, I queued up as early as 06.00 A.M in the morning at the Railway Reservation Office to book tatkal tickets to Madurai. Due to our own reasons we had to travel only by train. If we were unsuccessful in securing confirmed berths we had to cancel the trip. The bookings started dot on the scheduled time. When I reached the counter, my hopes of getting a confirmed ticket diminished as the clock ticked 10.10 A.M, a good ten minutes after the sale of the tickets started. Much to my anticipation, the Booking Clerk said all trains were sold out. My regular blogging in various railfanning websites helped me recall that on Fridays, the 11043 Lokmanya Tilak Terminus (Mumbai) – Madurai Express was available from Arakkonam to Madurai at 11.45 P.M. Arakkonam is a small town located about 60 km west of Chennai but well connected by the Suburban Rail Network. I asked the clerk to check for seat availability in the said train. Hurray! Eight seats were available in Third AC. For a moment, I felt that I was the luckiest person on earth. The tickets were issued. Luck favored me for the second time; I got my desired seats, the Side Lower and Side Upper berths.

Chennai to Arakkonam:
On 10th January 2014, I and my sister bid adieu to our parents when the clock at my home struck half past seven in the evening. We set off on our journey to Madurai. This was the start of our unforgettable 12 hours. In the next ten minutes we were at the Pallavaram railway station to board a Chennai Beach local to the Park station. We soon boarded the train and in the next thirty five minutes we were at the Park station. We made use of the underpass to cross over to the Chennai Central Suburban Terminal for boarding the Arakkonam local departing at 09.00 P.M. After an ordeal in the underpass, we managed to reach the platform to find huge crowd waiting to board our train to Arakkonam. Looking at the rush we decided to board the 08.45 P.M Tiruvallur local and change to the Arakkonam local at Tiruvallur. We knew that the idea of boarding a Madurai bound train from Arakkonam would not be taken well by my family members. So, we had simply told our parents that our train would depart from Chennai Central at 09.00 P.M. to Madurai.

Sharp at 08.45 P.M, our train pulled out with a customary jerk and a loud honk. As the journey progressed, I had weird thoughts, rather disturbing thoughts in my mind. What if, the Arakkonam local overtakes us in between? Will there be enough connecting time? Though the local trains usually run on time and are rarely delayed, possibilities of late arrivals could not be ruled out. I always had second thoughts in my mind, may be because of my umpteen number of trips in local trains between Pallavaram and Tambaram. At that time, the Chengalpattu bound locals take platforms 8 or 9 at Tambaram station whereas the Tambaram bound locals arrive at platforms 1 or 2. On most occasions, the platforms for Tambaram bound trains were not available and these trains were made to wait at the outers for a few minutes. When trains to Chengalpattu trail closely, they overtake the Tambaram locals at the outers and arrive at their designated platforms earlier than preceding Tambaram local. Anyhow, we decided to stick to our original plan. We reached Tiruvallur around 10.15 P.M. Our train to Arakkonam arrived at 10.30 P.M and departed in a couple of minutes. Another uneventful train ride of about 35 minutes took us to the third platform at Arakkonam Junction. It was 11.10 P.M, thirty five minutes still left for the scheduled arrival of our train to Madurai.

Arakkonam to Madurai:
Upon arrival, we spotted the Station Master’s room located between platforms 2 and 3. We approached the room to find out the platform for our train. I asked the Station Master, “Sir, Madurai train entha platform la varum?” meaning on which platform does the Madurai train arrive? He replied that it would arrive on the 8 th platform. I could locate only one platform on one side which prompted me asked him whether the said platform was on the other side. He said, “Illa sir, ungalukku pinnala tha iruku” meaning its right behind you. I turned back to see if there were more platforms. We were on platform 2. All I could see was a lone platform which carried a board indicating that it was Platform 1. Beyond that was only barren land with some railway construction material dumped over it. I gave him a puzzled look. He asked me whether this was the first time we were boarding that particular train from Arakkonam. I replied to him in the affirmative. It was in fact, our first time boarding a train from Arakkonam. The Station master
asked us to wait at a bench located just outside his room. He promised to take us to the train when it arrives. Initially it sounded very helpful but the next second it sounded a bit unusual. Why should someone take us to the train? Are we not old enough to board the train ourselves? But wait, more is yet to come. Even as we settled down on the bench, the Station master yelled, “Romba thooram pogatheenga, angaye ukkarunga” which means don’t go too far, just be there. Now it sounded very unusual. Anyhow we sat down. In the next couple of minutes an office boy from the Station Master’s room came to me and said, ‘Sir, koopudraru. Ulla vanga’. This means sir is calling you, come in. I followed him and learnt that our train was running late by two hours and thirty minutes. The estimated time of arrival was 02.15 A.M on 11 th January 2014. He again insisted us not venture too far and reassured that he will take us to the train when it arrives. Totally disappointed by the delay, I returned back to update my sister. She cursed our fate for
booking in that train but immediately acknowledged the fact that it was good that we at least got tickets., without which our trip would have been cancelled.

Our only time pass was to watch all the late night trains from Chennai pass by. The Cheran Express, Coimbatore Special, Bangalore Mail and the Mumbai Mail slowly made their way out of the station. It was around 01.00 A.M now. The only time pass was now gone. Soon mist took over and chillness crept in. The horizon became hazy and the visibility reduced. The entire station looked deserted barring eight people including us. We learnt that all of us were waiting for the same train, the 11043 Lokmanya Tilak Terminus – Madurai Express. It was a long and uneventful wait. Barring the movement of a couple of freight trains towards Chennai there was nothing worth mentioning. The clock ticked 02.00 A.M , a young chap who was glued to his mobile phone all this time stood up and looked towards the railway line coming from Renigunta side. A light appeared at a distance. You guessed it right, yes, a train was approaching. Within seconds the station became active. By now, everyone stood up , all eyes were on the light, and all hands on the luggage. Initially it seemed to be an excitement from the weary passengers but we soon felt something strange. Everyone were on their heels. It looked as if a race was about to start. May be the train usually stops for a very short duration? Anyhow, we prepared ourselves for a superfast boarding.

As the light came closer, the Public Address system came alive. Even as only the train number was announced everyone started to run towards the Foot over bridge. We both just followed the crowd. A race in the middle of the night? That too at a railway station! As we were on the bridge, both the silhouette of the engine and the roaring sound of the powerful diesel locomotive became clear. All this time, we kept following a guy. I and my sister were at the second and third positions in the race. Not bad, given the fact that we were new to the track and had no preparations. The other end of the bridge landed at the vast barren piece of land beyond the first platform. We kept following the guy on the barren land. At one point, I overtook him. Though I took the lead, I had no idea of where to go, so just slowed down my pace. That guy yelled at me, ‘Munnadi odunga’ meaning run ahead. I and my sister started to run at the maximum speed we could. We were at the first two positions. As we turned back to have a glance at the other people, everyone were running at their maximum speeds. The last person in the race was a Railway man with a signal lamp.

The midnight race on the serene patch of land, chilling breeze, hazy atmosphere, chugging sound of the diesel locomotive is an experience to be cherished!

It was not long enough to find the train swiftly zoom past us. Even before we could catch a proper glimpse of the train, our coach, B1, fifth from locomotive moved ahead of us. We picked up pace only to be hindered by a board that appeared from nowhere. We stopped short to find the words ‘Arakkonam Junction- Platform 8’ written on it. It was when we realized that we were actually running on the platform. The so called platform was just half a feet higher than the ground level which practically meant the platform was nonexistent. The train was still in motion and so were we.

In the next few seconds, the train came to a screeching halt. The coach S4 was next us. This meant we had to still cross three more coaches to reach our coach, B1. As we neared the door, it opened and a head popped out. It was the TTE. He asked us, ‘B1 eh, 31,32 eh?’. We said, ‘yes’. He asked us to get in. It was the first time I was boarding a train from the ground level or should I say half a feet above the ground level? My eyes were at the same level as the floor of the coach. I am about 6 feet 2 inches tall. My sister is only 5 feet tall. Imagine how difficult it would have been for her to climb up. I was to get in first and get the bags from my sister so that she can get in quite easily. As per the plan I got in first. Even before I got in, my sister started to climb up with the luggage. She was half way through and then had no idea on how to proceed further. She yelled; ‘Kai kudu da’ which means lend me your hand for support. Myself and the TTE helped her to get in. We soon took our Side Lower and Side Upper berths. The time was 02.20 A.M. Quickly the sound of our heavy breathing broke the silence in the coach. As we sipped some water from our bottle, the train pulled out. In the next thirty minutes, we were at Kanchipuram where I dozed off into sleep.

Around 07.20 A.M in the morning, I woke up and adjusted the window screens to have a view of the scenery outside. I expected that our train would be nearing Trichy. In the next couple of minutes we crossed the Chennai bound Ananthapuri Express. That train was supposed arrive in Chennai by 08.40 A.M. I felt pity for the passengers of that train as their train was heavily delayed. I wondered, why was that train delayed so badly? Was there a loco failure? We were moving at a sedate pace. The scenery through the window surprisingly looked very familiar. I had a feeling that I had travelled in that stretch very recently. It didn’t take much time for me to realize that it was indeed the stretch in which I travelled the previous week when I took the evening passenger from Pondicherry to Chennai. In the next couple of minutes we pulled into the Melmaruvathur station! It was 07.30 A.M. We had actually covered a distance of only 99 km from 02.20 A.M to 07.30 A.M at a whooping average speed of 19 kmph!!!

I could not control my laughter when I realized that we started twelve hours ago from our house, travelled for 180 km by changing three trains and participated in a running race to ultimately reach a place which was only 72 km away from my home by the shortest rail route. Even before I could digest this, it was now time for the second realization, I understood that the Chennai bound Ananthapuri express was more or less on time but we were badly delayed. In fact, we along with other passengers who boarded the train at Arakkonam, Kanchipuram and Chengalpattu needed to be empathized.

These two realizations made me burst out into laughter. I laughed out so loudly that my sister who was on the side upper berth woke up from her sleep. She got down and asked me, ‘Trichy thandiyacha?’ which meant have we crossed Trichy? This was more than enough for the all passengers to laugh out aloud. Having felt embarrassed she looked out of the window to find out that we were still at Melmaruvathur at 07.40 A.M. She now started to enjoy the atmosphere inside and understood why everyone laughed.

The rest of the journey remained uneventful. We reached Villupuram around 08.50 A.M where we had our breakfast. Our aunt expected us to be in Madurai for breakfast but now we had doubts of even reaching Madurai for lunch. Soon, calls started to pour in from different quarters to know about our whereabouts. We just told everyone that our train was delayed badly and that we were near Trichy. In fact, Trichy was a good 150 km away. Looking at the speed at which we were travelling we lost hopes of reaching Madurai for lunch. We bought our lunch from one of the platform vendors at Trichy Junction. Our journey came to an end when we finally pulled into platform 2 of Madurai Junction at 02.50 P.M.

As we headed outside, announcements were made for the arrival of the Chennai Egmore- Guruvayur Express in the next thirty minutes. This train departed from Chennai Egmore at 07.40 A.M the same morning !!!

Both of us looked each other and had a hearty laugh before we took an auto to our aunt’s home. Greg Anderson said that, “Focus on the journey, not the destination. Joy is found not in finishing an activity but in doing it.” I realized how true it is! It is those twelve hours (07.30 P.M on 10 Jan 2014 to 07.30 A.M on 11 Jan 2014) that remains afresh and has given me the motivation to pen down this travelogue after a gap of about half a decade. Though years have passed by, I feel like having completed this journey only about a week ago. 

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