The alarm in my phone went
off and I woke up only to realize it was a Sunday. I had a whole day to spend.
With very little plans for the day, I was sure I would get bored. So I got
ready and headed to Guindy, which is the nearest train station from where I
live and got a 2 way ticket to the Park Station. I had heard from my friends
that the Park was one of the busiest stations and managed a large volume of
people. The Park station was important as the Chennai Central Station, which is
the main train terminus in Chennai, is right opposite to it. The crowd got me
out of the station in no time and before I could realize, I was crossing the
subway and was on the other side of the road, in front of the Chennai Central.
I began by exploring the
Moore Market, which is right next to Central. It is similar to Avenue Road in
Bangalore, where buying and selling of used books is the main business of the
place. Students had thronged the book shops, bargaining hard. As I walked
around Moore Market, I caught a glimpse of the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium before
heading into the bustle of Chennai Central. There was a mob near the bus stand
outside and a queue at the taxi stand. A flight of NCC cadets who seemed to
have just arrived, were loading a truck with their luggage. Travelers had taken
over the ticket counters and the waiting area was packed with people watching TV
commercials. The tea and snacks shops too were thronged.
Amidst all this, I found an
unusual lull on platform number 6. A train just started to Mumbai on the
opposite platform as I entered, and another from Bangalore had just been
emptied on Platform 7. The only people to be seen in sight were the shop
vendors and a few travelers who seemed to have come early. So, in a hope to
kill time I bought an Outlook magazine from Higginbotham’s and occupied an
empty bench on Platform 6. As I read, the sea breeze took over the usually
sultry air making it even more pleasant. Only the railway staff went about
their work and there was no one else to bother me. By afternoon the crowd
gradually increased and I too decided to leave. I walked about for another half
hour and reached the Chennai Fort station. Hoping to get a local train back to
Guindy, I crossed the road and entered the station.
A train whistled at a
distance, so I hurried to the platform and boarded it. It was a train to
Velachery, which is close to Guindy. Thankfully, unlike morning, I got a seat
this time and the train began to move. As I noticed outside, the train stopped
at stations that I had not come across in the morning and I thought the return
route might be different. Without any suspicions, I sat gazing outside as the
train chugged into the Chepauk Station, from where I could catch a glimpse of
the lush green grounds of the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium. On the way to the next
station, all the people seemed to look to my left and I too turned to look.
Outside the window we all caught the vast blue emptiness of the Bay of
Bengal.
Though I catch the scent
quickly, I missed the fact that I had boarded the wrong train this time. All
the subsequent stations were new to me and finally the person next to me
confirmed my mistake. I was supposed to catch a train to Tambaram and not Velachery.
A few others joined our conversation and ultimately I was able to get my doubts
clarified, in the very little Tamil that I can manage. All I had to do was get
down at Velachery and take a bus to Guindy. The readiness of the people to help
me increased my respect for them. As I headed back, I stopped at the Phoneix
Marketcity and picked a few things from Big Bazaar before finally heading home.
