BUZZ, LULL AND DULL

 LULL, DULL AND BUZZ

If we desire observing all the three, undoubtedly the best destination is a railway station. I choose to carefully call it a ‘station’, not a junction. Junctions invariably stay nearly active through the best part of a 24 hour schedule. Any railway station of a medium-sized town would readily satisfy the components in the title of the write-up. When each of them comes into play, it is complete; lull, dull or buzz reaches its full in a short time. As if under a magic spell, the system draws itself into a shell only to re-emerge to life after a few minutes or hours.  It is interesting that the whole army of men who attend to various functions in the territory quickly disappear; except some tea stall every other kiosk stays shut till minutes before the arrival of a train. As if responding to a providential dictate, they resume respective duties by opening the stall, moving the luggage cart, news paper vendor boys and tea/coffee sellers move briskly.

In a medium sized town if we visit the railway station, we find airy platform, the lone resident being a lazy dog stretching all limbs in deep slumber at 11.00 am, with no sign of human life around. Around the station superintendent’s chamber, some voice is heard –but no visible person. We wonder who would take care of operations with every possible door shut and no whisper of life; we are to board our train at 11.35 am with only hope from a consoling mention: train no 11626 RT [meaning running to time or right time] for that day.  With barely 7 minutes to go a voice says ‘Kandasamy, 626 blocked. From nowhere a stocky man emerges and gives a long bell ending in 3 hits.

Slowly shops on that platform open; Stocky Kandasamy slips into trousers and moves to the far end of the platform, just after the second bell of 3 strokes. So far only some three of us were on the platform; now some thirty people of varying family sizes are trickling in and soon the number touches 50+. One person in red vest [obviously a porter] collects the luggage from behind a bench and leads two people to the prospective spot from where they can board the coach on which their accommodation is reserved.

In minutes the train moves in making the place busy of buzz with people running in either direction to locate their compartment. The vendors keep running too, shouting out the product they sell. Enough passengers alight from the train and try to move out with luggage and children dragged along. Do you think one can have a safe exit from the station into the town? It is near noon now and hot Sun compels people to look for some transport. Before the people take a decision, the operators –drivers of taxis or auto rickshaws line up clogging the exit and try to snatch some luggage so that the owner merely follows suit and that way they can catch hold of the forenoon’s chance.

 Meanwhile the train had left and the entire platform has dropped into silence and would be so for the next 3 hours or so after which a passenger train to south would arrive bringing some life. Even then the ‘life’ would be just partial, as shops would not open till late evening and passengers generally do not buy anything as they get to the town. There is lull in the platform, dullness descends on the entry of the station with a lone auto rickshaw parked under the neem tree.  The place looks deserted right up to the main road where one or two fruit stalls are left open.

Life looks rather sedate till around 6.00 pm or so where up on at least  4 express trains bound to Chennai would bring life and cheer with each train drawing up 70 people or so daily. It is the evenings in such stations that witness real buzz. The trains returning from Chennai complete their schedule between 4.30 and 5.30 am in the dawn hours. Only transport workers congregate hoping for some business. The station looks dull till 9.00 am when commuters move out in local train for neighbouring town for work.  Thus a moderate station witnesses degrees of activity every single day. 

Prof. K. Raman