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, ...

What a wild swing

I am not talking about the elegant backhand crosscourt winner from Federer's racquet. I am talking about the discussion I had with a bunch of guys here. It all started over a plate of bhel puri and pani puri. We started with the serials - Ramayana and Mahabharata about how the country used to come to a standstill during these episodes. There were other serials that caught our attention - Chandrakanta, Mungeri Lal, He-Man(Remember! Masters of the Universe), Reporter, Superhit Muqabala (DD Metro) and others. We also wondered how DD Metro was launched amidst a lot of fanfare. At a time when we were living with only one channel, it was a great relief to get another one. We then went on to the advertisements - Nirma, Pepsi, Coke, Wheel, Zandu Balm, fevicol and so on. The Pepsi advertisement taken in a rustic outlook with street children playing cricket and drinking pepsi from the cyclewalah selling pepsi, and wearing Sachin masks was voted as the best pepsi advertisement till date. I also remember when I saw the advertisement for the first time, as the children were removing the masks, at one point of time, Sachin reveals his identity by removing the mask. That got me out of the chair. It was superbly done with fantastic song rendition by Raghuvir Yadav. This then took us on to the state of affairs of the Indian cricket team, with discussions on Tendulkar's current form. Is Tendulkar a match winner or not? Why he could not be a good captain? Whether Rahul Dravid had got the credit he deserves? Ganguly's sad position today though he was the best leader at one point of time was discussed. Why we have Yuvraj, Kaif and Bhajji in the team? Obviously, Thanks to Ganguly! Then it went on to movies, and how Lagaan was truly an entertaining movie thanks to the cricket in the movie. We then decided that we would watch Lagaan and then wind up for the night!

So, the bottomline is that if you sit back for a discussion, you just have no idea where it starts and how it ends!

Comments

  1. 'khol ke bandhan thod ke thaalein yeh dil maange more...'

    good enough to be made the theme song for the NEW INDIA

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