Pampered Memories

Certain  memories never fade with time. For me, one such memory is seeing Rajiv Gandhi for the first time at Kota Maidan, Kannur, during an election campaign in the 1980s. I had gone there with my mother, an ardent Congress sympathiser, carrying a VIP pass from her relative, which allowed us to sit near to the stage and see him up close. I was a high school student then. Like many young Malayalis of that time, I was gradually drawn into politics through newspapers, magazines, and the strong current of left-oriented thoughts. Yet, that morning was not merely about politics. It was about emotion, excitement, and the arrival of a young leader, the interim Prime Minister, who had captured the imagination of the nation. There was an energy in the crowd that is difficult to describe today. People waited for hours just to catch a glimpse of him. When he finally arrived, dressed in his simple white kurta-pyjama, the ground erupted with cheers. To many, Rajiv Gandhi represented youth, moder...

After many years, I travelled once again from Chennai to Kannur in the  Madras–Mangalore Mail. The coaches are modern, enhanced interiors with brighter lighting and larger windows but  most passengers travel in silence with earphones plugged in.  As the train slowly rolled out of Puratchi Thalaivar Dr. M.G. Ramachandran Central Railway Station, something deep inside me awakened. I was suddenly taken back to 1988 ; to my student days in Madras, when this very train was proudly known as the legendary No.1 Madras–Mangalore Mail. The  Mangalore–Madras Mail was originally known as Train No. 1 making it one of the very first and most prestigious trains of the old Madras Railway Company. Even the name carried dignity. “No.1 Mail.” Back then, Chennai was Madras and Madras Central  station in the evenings had a world of its own. For those who travelled through Madras Central in the 1980s and 90s , the central station was not merely a place to catch a train. The sight of ...