Much cherished visits to Kerala by the erstwhile 1081/82

Travel by 1081 DOWN for a 6 year old in 1980s

Railfanning has developed as hobby in me from my yesteryear journeys from Mumbai to Kerala. In the late 1980s, when Jayanti Janata Express or 1081/82 was the train to Kerala, I used to insist my parents to board from Victoria Terminus (VT). As going beyond Matunga meant seeing a lot of maroon coaches (Gaonwalli Gaadi as I used to refer to them) .The exciting walk from Suburban to Mainline platforms holding the water bottles(flask styled) and Dad making his extra effort to carry the wheel less Suitcases still gives me goose bumps. I always wanted to find a job at Bombay - Fort area so that I could travel to VT and enjoy the sights. Luckily, later on, I was employed at Taj President and enjoyed awesome rides to CST for more than 5 years. 1081 was a wonderful train. It got the WCMs and I used to be really scared to look at its monstrous face. The best part was day light journey through the Ghats and reaching Pune for early dinner which was always packed from home. Since journeys were always in October (Diwali Chutti) or summer vacations, the next day was going to be a warm and super hot journey through arid Andhra Pradesh. I used to wake up early to see Gulbarga go past and by the time Raichur arrived, it was time for tea and engines were different. It took me a few years to understand why they changed to diesel engines in the night. By 9 am itself the coach would start baking in the summer heat but my eyes would always be peering through the window, so much so that every long train journey led to an ear infection with the dust and heat beating on the face all day and night long. At Guntakal, steam engines were a sight to behold and I faintly remember seeing smaller tracks (meter gauge) enroute too. By Cuddapah, the barren land and non-descript hills with boulder like huge stones in the near distance always kept me puzzled. Late evening as we are approaching Tamilnadu, the enthusiasm in the small kid is slowly going down and he is getting restless to see his native place. The train used to stop at way side stations for long durations and still seemed to be reaching Kerala on time. There was no Samit’s Rail Atlas or Erail or indiarailinfo.com to help me know which is the next station expected, but earlier travels were a hint to foresee the oncoming ones. Running to fill the water bottle at big stations with Dad excited me endlessly. Being able to stroll on an unknown station had its own joys. The second night was longer as we need to sleep early to wake up early to alight at Irinjalakuda (IJK), a wayside station after Thrissur as my paternal house was close to it. That station had low platforms and getting off the train used to be a task in itself. There were no autos, barely one or 2 waiting. Those are the memories of the 1081Down or the current day 16381 crawler.

Return travel by 1082 UP.

Those were the days when boarding a train at Trichur (TCR) were considered no less than a Thrissur Pooram. There were a lot of passengers boarding train to Bombay from TCR but almost all of that were into just 2-3 coaches of the entire rake. It was chaos at its best. This is before e-tickets were born. Those were the days when Bombaywallas were elite and had as much respect as the Gulfwalla. So it was evident that when a Bombaykaaran (Bombaywalla) returned from his native place, half his family accompanied him to the station to bid goodbye. There have been cases where we 3 passengers (mom, dad and me) had almost 10 platform ticket holding uncles and aunts coming to see us off. Needless to say, a paper carton bag was inevitable from each person coming to see you off. So when you left Bombay with 3 bags, you would be returning back with at least 7-8 bags. The coir which is so abundant in Kerala is used to pack them all. I used to hate holding them as it was very itchy to hands on prolonged exposure to tiny soft hands. But, I loved the items inside those cartons. It invariably had (depending upon the season),Coconuts, Cashews, Rice flour, "Pure" Coconut oil from your own in-house mills, tamarind, jackfruit, mangoes and loads of different types of appams and pickles. You cannot say no to anyone.

TCR had 3 platforms (even today it has only 3 operational ones. 4th is being built far from the other 3, something like the Virar Platform 8. My maternal house was close to TCR and returning back was never from IJK but from TCR. It was like my mom's bidhai yet again, every year. All uncles, aunts, granny and neighbouring people used to assemble at my maternal house as we said good bye to them. The auto ride to the station was like travelling in vendor compartment with the entire luggage. Mom would have become sombre and as we cross the tracks from PF 1 to Pf 2. I would be the first one to be transported across the tracks with the water bottle. I was the custodian of that important piece of luggage. After every single piece is brought to the platform with the touring platform ticket holding relatives and friends, another round of fun and frolic continued till the Bell and PAS announcement is made for the anticipated arrival of our 1082UP. South of TCR in the far horizon is a curve. So you could hear/see the chugging as it curved and came closer. Heartbeats start beating faster. I am told sternly by mom to hold her hands at all times and luggage will be the responsibility of accompanying uncles. As the train enters, all hell breaks loose. It’s the survival of the fittest and we make it to our seats and await the luggage to come in. One by one, through the commotion, every uncle who entered carried 2 packs and mom would be extra keen in telling them to get off soon. The commotion inside the train at a perfect afternoon in Kerala is humid, full of clamour and continues till we leave the station.

As the engine hoots are heard, sad faces moves towards the windows, on both sides. Departing gift comes in the form of a Cadbury Gems packet from one of my favourite uncle which would make my day. Mom would be crying till Wadakancheri and Me & Dad won't gather any courage to disturb her. We knew time was the best healer. The coach would have been baked already by now and the big question is how everyone accommodates the luggage. During the day, Upper Berth (UB) and Side Upper (Su) do render some help but at night it’s all laid out between 2 Lower Berths (LB).I wait to see the biggest river of Kerala being crossed,"Bharatapuzha" as we head towards the Nilagiri hills beyond Palghat Jn (Palakkad Jn now).I used to love Coimbatore (CBE) for its ultra modern looks of the city. There used to be Flyovers and RUBs close to the station. It was a huge city even then. As Erode arrived, dinner was unpacked and I start relishing the new sun dried Mango Pickle from granny’s kitchen with loads of rice and papaddam.

In both the journeys, food for 1st night used to be normal rice, papaddam and sambar. Second morning it was Idli for breakfast with dry coconut chutney and lunch and dinner used to be lemon rice. It was time to sleep but I did wake up in between to catch Salem and sometimes even Jolarpettai. Had I ever woken up Dad to visit the loo, it would be Arakkonam Jn, late in the night and he would tell me that we are close to Madras. I always wanted to see Madras the capital of South India. By morning, we would have reached Cuddapah and the same ordeal of heat, dust and weird named stations follow through the day. Now, the temperature inside each coach is good enough to ripe the mangoes and Jackfruit and soon the fragrance would be inclined to start stinking by end of day as even a single rot in the entire coach can ensure that everyone gets to know what’s in your carton.

Guntakal, Mantralayalam Road and Raichur again pass through the day. The slack, this train had meant that we rested at wayside stations for long durations. After Raichur, crawl used to get even more and Wadi Junction as ingrained in my mind as one of our family friends had delivered a baby at Wadi station while she was going to Kerala for delivery. They named the poor girl, Wadimol. After Gulbarga, reaching Solapur took us eternity as we would often wait at the outer. Solapur was also time for dinner and hitting the sack again .The next break in sleep would inevitably happen at Pune Junction in middle of the night. It’s still very early for the morning but I can see our train whiz past stations like Vangani, Badlapur and enter Kalyan Junction. Mom would tell me that after a big tunnel, Thane would come and how true she was. After the tunnel came a bridge and then Thane. We used to take 2 autos back home and then neighbouring Maharashtrian uncle helped Dad to pull the entire extra luggage up the stairs to our elevator less 3rd floor home. I would be waiting for day break to meet my friends and share my jugg jugg gaadi trip. Not many would be interested though. They all went straight to fetch eatables from my mom.

I wish to travel once again on that route in the near future to relive those memories. I know, no one from my family would be interested in accompanying me after the advent of Konkan Railways.