Visakhapatnam - some feeble memories -1

The picture that comes to our mind while thinking of a train is its engine. The pitch black cylindrical shaped engine is the trade mark of a train. It makes a loud chugging sound. Makes long and loud siren. Eats coal and drinks water. Above all it spits thick black smoke. There is a beautiful rhyme that narrates a train -generally known as "theevandi". Our childhood imagination about a train always revolved round this rhyme. 


Those days, booking  train tickets was like a Herculean task. My father or his trusted lieutenants used to start from our village well before the day break. The nearest booking station was Ernakulam South Railway station. Tickets were being issued manually and they were in a form of thick small sized cards. By the time we reached the ticket counter, it would be well into the late afternoon. They usually reached back home - mission accomplished- well after the sun set. 


The best way to reach Ernakulam from our village was to first walk around three kilometers to catch a bus. At the finishing point of the bus, there were boat services to Ernakulam. This was arguably one of the most exciting journeys in the world. The boat cruises in the back waters, filled with people from all walks of life. We all had to solely depend on water transport system to see the outer world. All around,we could see only greenery. 

I doubt if there was anything more beautiful than this on  earth. This journey was always a one and a half hour treat to our eyes and minds. Pristine waters, virgin lands, enchanting islands, umpteen number of china nets, tiny wooden boats floating on with a single fisherman in each of them, big wooden boats engaged in mining mud were the most riveting scenes all along this journey. All over the lands, we could see tall and rich coconut trees. 


In the middle of these greenery, there stood small but constructed in traditional architecture houses and the familiar tea shops close to the boat jettys. Looking at the 'vadas', 'puttus' and 'neyyappams' decorated in the almarahs of these tea shops that stimulates a sea in the mouth was a familiar event in every journey.  Even now, there are no much changes to these jaw dropping visuals. But the boat services ceased to operate, thanks to the all out developmental activities and roads and bridges all over.

Preparations for the journey to Visakhapatnam from Olavaipe starts well in advance. There was no direct train to Visakhapatnam from Ernakulam. The train first reaches Madras Central in the morning after running for nearly 24 hours. Then the east bound coaches were detached from the train and dragged to an isolated place in Chennai. These coaches are kept in the yard for nearly 12 hours. In the evening, these coaches are dragged back to the railway station and connected to the Calcutta bound train. 

Here stood the Moore Market once upon a time

Many people get down at Chennai station and take a round of the city. The favourite destination for many of them was the Moore Market close to the railway station. This was a famous market in Chennai that dealt in used goods predominantly. A huge Railway building replaced the market long time back.

The entire journey was like a pilgrimage to Kasi. We had enough time and could afford to take such arduous, painful journeys. The last item in the baggage was a bed roll. The sleeper class was known as second class and the berths were without cushions. Such seats are seen in the unreserved compartments even today. So, bed rolls were an essential part of a journey those days. On the third day of our journey, we reach the Waltair Railway Station. This station is presently known as Visakhapatnam Junction.

I have very faint memories of my life in Visakhapatnam during my childhood (I was born in Visakhapatnam however). Still, a few things are vivid in my memory's canvas. Of course, the first among them was the "theevandi" itself. The monotonous journey had nothing to remember but it did help make good friendships and relations - most of them lasted till the end of the journey however. The compartments used to fill up with the ash flying out from the engine. If we were happened to be in the front compartments, the engine sounds, the siren and above all, the ash used to make the journey a hell.

Another thing I can recollect is the scenes of the "thottis". The manual scavengers were called like this. This was the most derogatory word used in Telugu to describe a person. People were still there to do this job. People took to this job mainly as their traditional job and is rooted in the obnoxious caste system in the society. They visited our toilet twice in a day. Our toilet was also a dry toilet where there was no septic tank or a closet. The human excreta is discharged on the ground itself which was picked by these manual scavengers. They carried a vessel on their head to carry these human wastes. 

I am ashamed to tell this, but that was the reality. There are people to do such odd jobs too. Still I can see so many people entering the manual holes of the sewage system in Chennai city to clean the blockages. We cannot even look at the job they do, though we were also the reason for these types of clogging!


 If manual scavengers were not there in Visakhapatnam, we too would have joined the mass of people who attended their nature's calls right on the road sides. I still remember how the roads of Visakhapatnam- big and small looked. Both sides were always filled with human excreta and it was quiet hard to walk along these roads those days. Even in the broad day light, people were seen sitting on the road sides going about their business.

Everyone cannot ascend to the revolving chairs in the air conditioned glass houses. Everyone cannot stick to the arm chairs. It is not a crime to work hard and achieve great things in life, but everyone is not that lucky to lead a worry-less flashy life.

 Ivory towers will stink if the sweeper does not turn up to clean the trash cans. Dirty linens will pile up if the servant misses a day. Still a servant maid is treated so shabbily by her employer if she is late to come even by a few minutes. Her meager salary is cut for minor lapses.  Don't these people belonging to the lowest strata of the society deserve a better deal?