Jan 12, 2008
Trains always remind me of my train journey to office during my HSBC days. I used to live in West Mambalam, Chennai and office was in Rajaji Salai (parry's corner) in Beach road. The mambalam station being 5 minutes from home (lesser if you walk fast) all I needed to do is come out of home, walk a few metres and then climb the stairs and get down on to the platform. It was a comfortable ride most of the times as I used to get a seat, even if a seat was not available I used to stand on the pathway and watch all the oldies chat about anything and everything. I was well updated on the chennai happenings just listening to them. Mostly it was the government employees in Rajaji Salai as well as the passengers who read the morning newspaper.
It was quite interesting to travel by Train to work. It used to take 30-40 mins in the morning depending on signals being clear and I used to get down in the last station which was opposite to HSBC Building. A historical building which I now understand has been sold for a whopping 42 crores!
Evening train rides were always crowded. I still remember my night ride once when I assisted Cheque Collection Unit in processing a huge pending I left home at 5:30 am train and slept missing our mambalam station. I was woken up by the sound of Aeroplanes to find myself near the airport station. I got down and came back in another train to reach home around 6:30am. I slept for an hour and left immediately to be at office again at 8 am. Good hard working days they were!
On Sundays, I used to use the train pass to just move from station to station reading the newspapers. Train pass was very cheap. I used to pay around INR 130 for a monthly pass. It's a nice feeling to recollect those days. Little money but lots of pleasure.
Life at it's best!
