Saturday, September 24, 2016

The Train to Mayiladuthurai



The Train to Mayiladuthurai

In Tamil,
“Mayil” = Peafowl (peacock or peahen),
“aadum” = dancing,
“thurai” = place
Mayiladuthurai gets its name from the Mayura or Mayil (peacock) form in which Goddess Parvathi worshipped God Shiva at this place. While previously known by its Sanskrit name Mayuram (and Mayavaram) meaning "peacock town", the town has been recently de-Sanskritized to its Tamil translation Mayiladuthurai as a result of a petition by the Mayuram municipality to the Government of Tamil Nadu in the wake of the Dravidian Movement. The Mayuranathaswami Temple dedicated to Goddess Parvathi is one of the most important Hindu temples in the town. There is a statue depicting Goddess Parvathi in a peahen form worshipping a linga, the symbol of God Shiva to the west of the eastern wall of the temple.



                                                                                                            (Source: Wikipedia)

As the week dawned – (do weeks dawn?) – and I got my instructions to get ready for a train journey, it dawned on me that I had no clue. I donned my thinking cap and thought. Then “thunk!” It sank in. Another secret mission. They should make a list of all missions beforehand and give it to chaps being sent on missions so that chaps don’t get confused when they have to go on missions suddenly. Weak yawn.

Gradually, the details filtered in. I gathered them.

Anyway, to come to the nub or the crux or the rem, there I was, all details committed to memory and torn up, shredded, burnt and flushed so no one will ever know. In secret service parlance it is referred to as “no need to know”. What? Exactly. It will be tough to get anything out of me now. How do you unflush, unburn, unshred or untear something?

I got a pleasant surprise when I sat down and booked my train ticket online. As soon as I entered my age in the space provided, there was a “sproing”, followed by an “aila!” from the computer and then the price of the ticket got halved! Voila!

At the appointed time on the appointed evening, I stood on Platform No. 2 of Bengaluru Cantonment Railway Station, twiddling the shoulder straps of the haversack hoisted behind my back, waiting for the Mysuru-Mailaduthurai Express (My-Mai Express) to arrive.

There was something stabbing me in the back. I opened the haversack and peered in. Ah! It was the steel spoon packed to help me shovel the curd rice in. I pushed it into a corner away from my back and went back to waiting.

This My-Mai Express used to be called Bangalore-Tiruchirapalli Express and ran from Bangalore to Tiruchirapalli (and back, of course). Later, its run was extended up to Thanjavur and it came to be called Bangalore-Thanjavur Express. Still later, someone somewhere somehow decided that the train needs to run more up and more down and stretched its route somewhat at both ends. The result is that it now runs from Mysuru to Mayiladuthurai. And back. Bengaluru City, which started off as the origin and destination station, got pushed down one third of the way from the Mysuru end.

The train arrived on time and I hopped in. Then hopped off. Wrong door. This one said 1 TO 72. My berth was not near this door. I ran to the other door which said 72 TO 1 and jumped in before anyone could say “Mayiladuthurai”. Moving stealthily and quickly, I secured my berth No. 70 near the door by placing my haversack on it. I was allotted the top berth. Top berths for top men. Hah!

The cubicle was empty except for me and another gent. Probably another agent. He didn’t speak much. In fact, he didn’t speak at all. This could be because he was fast asleep. Smart thing to do when you have to get off at half three in the morning.

I quickly opened my dinner box, unpeeled the butter paper wrapped around the butter-pepper sandwich and wolfed it down (wolfed down the sandwich, I mean, not the butter paper), shovelled in the curd rice and vadumanga pickle with the back-stabbing spoon and curled up in my bunker, er, berth. And didn’t sleep one wink. I wanted to, but was afraid I might wake up in Mayiladuthurai.

But I must have nodded off because I was woken up suddenly by some noise. The well-oiled clock in my head read 01:03:27 hours (my head follows the 24-hour system of telling time, starting from 00:00:00), we had reached some station, the train was motionless and there was commotion outside. It seemed like hordes of people were trying to get into our compartment. My sleep was eroded. I heard the word “erode” being bandied about and, using my superior intelligence, was able to guess where we were. Listening to the pandemonium outside, I prepared for the worst eventuality but need not have worried because I was ensconced in my top berth and no one attempted to snatch it away from me. It is rather difficult to snatch top berths away, you see.

Ultimately, a group of four persons, including a tiny kid of about three-and-a-half, barged their way in and triumphantly took possession of the vacant berths below me. Suddenly the compartment had become full and started to tilt ever so slightly towards our end. I lay still and pretended to be sleeping by not opening my mouth. But kept both my ears open. Just in case.

By and by the train chugged off once again and picked up speed. The din died down only slightly. Because the kid, who was secured to one of the middle berths by a printed Erode bed-sheet and the arms of his mother, wanted to get off and run around. He started demanding his rights vociferously but his amma was unmoved. The person I assumed to be his father was hiding under another Erode sheet on the top berth opposite mine. The kid started bawling loudly. I sobbed silently into my pillow. Goodbye, sleep, thou art mist terribly. Pray, when will thou come to mine eyes?

Ultimately and to my great relief, the kid and the mummy appeared to reach some kind of amicable settlement or understanding or truce; a couple of papers were signed and exchanged between them, they shook hands solemnly and went into silent mode. I tried sitting up to give thanks but there was no head room so I did it supine.

The next thing I remembered was that someone was shouting “Yendiru, adutthadu Trichy (wake up, next is Trichy).” I clambered down, slipped on my slip-ons, hitched my haversack and waited. The clock in my head said 03:29:38. Right on time, the train as well as the clock. (I must remember to continue to oil my head regularly.)

Trichy Fort! As I detrained and clambered up the steps of the over-bridge, I got a glimpse of the Rockfort Temple, lit bright. I paused and shot off a quick Namaskaram to my Supreme Commander.

The autorickshaw men of Trichy Fort are a militant lot. I am told that, back in the days of yore, they used to ferry warring soldiers from both camps up and down the fort. They became known for naming the fare and not budging but getting paid by the warring soldiers without demur. This automan wanted eighty rupees to convey me to my lodge. I felt the fare was unreasonable and told him so. He did not budge. I cleverly decided that, if he did not budge, I would, and got going by foot. When the going gets tough, the tough get going and all that sort of thing. After walking for about twenty rupees, I found another auto chap who quoted a more reasonable fare of sixty rupees. I got in and we phut-phutted to the seventy-year old hostelry which was to be my abode for the day.

The watchman at the gate asked me my name. I told him. His eyes opened wide and he opened the gate wide. I walked in, and presented myself at the empty reception. Nothing happened for about a minute. Then a genial gent who turned out to be the third generation owner suddenly materialised through the far wall and asked me my name. I told him. He just nodded and pushed a register towards me and, showing me a blank rectangle, told me to fill it, which I did, with a beautiful three-dots-reducing-to-one “kolam” ( or rangoli, traditional design made by hand from coloured powder, on the ground in front of houses and a popular custom in South India). No, actually, I filled in my name and address. I paid him a grand sum which shall remain confidential. He then made a secret notation in the register and said “1-2-3”. I blinked. This code was not given to me. Then he clarified, “that’s your room number” and I relaxed.  He advised me to “go and relax for some time”. Summoning the watchman, he handed over a key to him. The watchman politely relieved me of my haversack and waited.

It was not yet four o’ clock and still pitch-dark outside. I held the watchman’s hand and he led me to my room, my haversack in his other hand, I couldn’t see if it was the left or the right hand because of the darkness. He opened the door, switched on the tubelight and waited expectantly. I gave him ten rupees and he parked my haversack on the side table. Fair exchange.

After he left the room, I whooped and lay down for a spot of rest.

The lodge has a quaint dining hall, large and pillared. It serves only “tiffin”, no “saappaadu” or meals. There are small individual tables with a stool in front of each. There is also a sign which says “PLEASE PUT THE LEAF INTO THE BIN AFTER USE”.

They make only so many idlis every morning, a sort of a limited steamer service, and since half as many persons had already eaten, two to a person, the idlis were sold out. I had to be content with poori-urulaikizhangu (poori-potato sabji) and dosai-chutney-sambar.

I polished off two poories while my dosai was being manufactured. When it was delivered, I could only stare. It was a huge affair, about a yard in diameter and could easily be unfurled into an umbrella - it was only missing a stick with a handle on one side and spokes on the other. The dosai was reverently folded, re-folded and laid onto my leaf. Sambar and chutney were poured on one side while I tackled it from the opposite side, working my way inwards slowly but surely, all the while careful to ensure that the chutney-sambar dam was not breached. By and by, the leaf became clean. I rolled it up tightly, folded it in the middle and dropped it into the bin dutifully.  A hearty breakfast was finished off in typical style with a tumbler of strong filter kaapi, sakkarai kammi.

Having fortified myself thus, I set off from Trichy Fort on my mission. Which I won’t tell you about, it being a secret mission and all that sort of thing, you know. Suffice it to say that I accomplished a fair degree of confusion. My only regret was that I did not get to have panneer soda, the fizzy rosewater flavoured drink which I’ve had only in Trichy.

The return train journey to base was nothing much to write about, so I won’t write about it. I arrived back in Namma Bengaluru at the crack of dawn and was ferried home in an autorickshaw named “Om Madurai Veeran”.


© Shiva Kumar 2016


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