Moods on the move

The different world inside the Dindigul Passenger that chugs in and out of Madurai daily

A survey of this temple city is incomplete without taking into account those people who do not live here but every day walk through its streets and leave their mark.

In the early hours on the platform of Dindigul junction, the travellers on the Madurai-Dindigul Passenger transform an impersonal compartment into a home away from home.

These people share a special bond with Madurai, though they never felt the need to make this city their home.

What connects this odd group of people is that they are ready to make this journey every day. Their train chugs out at 7.55 every morning, ferrying thousands of passengers who fondly call it their mobile home. The women's compartment slowly comes alive as top-rung officers share space with labourers and enter a world rife with spicy gossip and lip-smacking recipes. Conversation ebbs and flows against the chug of the train. The women's zenana transforms into a dining room. The smell of ghee dosas, tomato chutneys, pooris, channa masalas, pongal, and idlis wafts around the compartment.

Satiated, the women make small talk. At Sholavandan, a crowd of construction workers wriggle themselves into the available space. They open their little metal carriers and fill the compartment with the aroma of fried chillies and pickles.

As the train nears the city, the dining room is transformed into a dressing room. Sarees are retied, hair is combed, bindis are put on straight, some women even add a touch of mascara and eyeliner as the train rumbles along. Starched cotton sarees need the help of a deft hand and there are many who are ready to help. Once all that is done, strings of jasmine, the final adornment, are tucked into buns and plaits. Through all this, some women read their books and others remain glued to their ipods, headphones and mobiles.

The return journey is act two in the daily drama. The women who were all decked up as they entered the city have now a look of sheer delight as they sight their friends and settle down for a much-needed pampering of senses before they reach home and take up their household tasks.

The day's happenings are shared as bags are unzipped and vegetables and greens are pulled out. Newspapers are spread and women start chopping vegetables — a mobile kitchen in action.

For Josephine, the next day's duties begin in the evening train. She has been travelling on this route for 16 years and for the past 12 years her son A. Sebastian Ashwin has accompanied her. “This time I use to finish the preparatory work for dinner,” she says, as Sebastian opens his books and begins his homework.

“I have been doing this since my kindergarten days,” he says with a smile. Perhaps he heard the rumble of these wheels even in his mother's womb.

Safe and comfortable journey

Lalitha, who has been travelling for the past 15 years, says that but for this journey, life would be boring. “Bus travel means lot of hassles, unlike a train journey,” she says. She feels the number of coaches should be increased. Earlier, when women commuters were fewer, the Railways allotted almost 80 seats to women. Now the Railways allocate only 40 seats, when the number of women commuters has doubled and tripled.

For Sheela, who has been making this trip for the past six months, it is a learning experience. Recalling the morning's stop at Sholavandan, she says, “Unlike us the daily wage labourers never complain about their lot.”

For Amsavalli and Marudhayee, both in their seventies, train travel is a way to save on expenses. “By travelling in train, we spend less,” says Marudhayee, who begins her day at 4 a.m. Every evening at home, after finishing her household work, she happily packs the night's leftovers for breakfast on the train.

Source - The Hindu Metroplus