Why Malleswaram Railway Station Still Feels Like Home

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Malleswaram Railway Station — a place that never felt like “just” a station. A few months ago, someone forwarded me a video of an elderly lady speaking about the charm of Malleswaram Railway Station. She mentioned how, whenever her children visit Bangalore from Canada, one ritual remains unchanged. Her son insists on visiting the station, picking up idly from Raghavendra Stores, and eating it right there on the platform. I smiled when I heard that, because for many of us who grew up in Malleswaram, the railway station was never just a transit point. It was a quiet witness to our growing up. Even now, if I close my eyes, I can hear the metallic rhythm of trains slowing into the platform, the echo of announcements bouncing off the tiled roof, the smoky sweetness of roasted maize drifting from the bridge, and the soft warmth of idlies wrapped in paper from Raghavendra Stores. The station was never silent — but it always felt peaceful. For nearly a decade, ...
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Bath from the bucket!!!

What a strange title right! In the middle of nowhere, somebody talks about buckets and bath. Yep, I am watching the Karachi match, and unfortunately after Ganguly's dismissal, and a mini collapse triggered almost everytime you see the Indian batting, I thought I will try to complete my blog entry which I have been thinking of for quite some time.

As I entered into the bathroom yet another time, my frustrations were gradually increasing. The confined space within the bath tub was troubling me like hell. The 2 feet by 6 feet bathtub with an overhanging shower is such a pain. One gets the feel of skiing in the bathroom. The luxury of space in Indian bathrooms is such a treat. Filling up the bucket with hot water and splashing it on your body with that little mug is something I really miss here. The typical sound of glug-glug of the mug hitting the water, without worrying about the water going out of the bathtub (there is no such concept there anyway) and splashing the water in any direction is something people do not realise here. I really don't understand why bathrooms are so confined here? Rather, why are the bathtubs reduced to miniscule particles! That's when I was thinking, just imagine a person coming from the village who takes his daily bath by the Cauvery, and has to take bath in bathrooms in cities. I can really put myself in his place, except that I am in the second degree of elevation.

Never realised that one day I would be writing a blog on Indian bathrooms and a bucketful of water will gain such prominence in my life!

Comments

  1. AnonymousFebruary 8, 2006 at 6:54 PM

    Hey Dude.. :-) seems you are missing your bathroom at Malleswaram !! :-))))) Just to add to what you said... These people even do not have an outlet hole in the bathroom. Incase you split water outside... man you need to swipe it clean. :-) It was the same in Germany, Remember??? :-))) They will never get the pleasure of Indian toilets. Forget it.

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  2. AnonymousFebruary 15, 2006 at 3:08 AM

    My God ! what all u miss out there ! phew...

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