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Showing posts from March, 2010

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, ...

The indecisive future

Shashi was distraught. His constant state of misery was forcing him out of his current happiness. It may seem like a paradox, but, that's how he was. If he got a salary hike, he would worry about inflation. If he won a lottery, he would worry about the tax. If he got a promotion at work, he would worry about the extra hours he would have to put in. So, in a way, his worries were endless and as a result, he ended up thinking about his future every single moment. Shashi, like every other individual on this planet, was pummeled by the monotony of daily life, and tried every possible trick in the book to escape from it. Every now and then, he would tell his wife, "I have decided that am going to day trade from today. That's where the money is, and that's as easy as it can get to become a millionaire." His wife would turn a deaf ear to his over the top suggestions, and both of them would head to work, as though nothing ever was spoken between them in the m...