Thursday, June 11, 2009

Off the rails

As a child, it was difficult for me to understand the concept of a railway office being in a place where there are no rail tracks at all. I refused to believe that this building housed a booking office of the Southern Railway, despite the large sign that said so. Even though this was a convenient option to book tickets from, I don't remember my father ever using it; in the days before computers, these 'city booking offices' would only have a limited quota of tickets they could sell - and to where we wanted to go, the quota would only be one-and-a-quarter or some such meaningless number.

I'm not sure when this office shut down, but it seems to bear out my childhood theory that you can't have a railway office too far away from the tracks!

7 comments:

Lowell said...

Is the building not in use now? I think you're right, but perhaps in the future it will get back on track. (Pun intended) :-)

LVISS said...

IS THIS THE ONE AT MOUNT ROAD. THERE WAS THERE LONG AGO WHEN I WAS STUDYING IN ARTS COLLEGE.

Shantaram said...

@ Jacob: With a new metro rail project coming up, they might find themselves close to the tracks, again!

@ lviss: Yes,the same - ever used it?

moochhi said...

i like the old look and feel of the building. i hope they use it well so that it doesn't have to be demolished

Shantaram said...

@ Moochhi: I hope so too. I'm sure they can find some use for it soon.

Unknown said...

Hi
I have once gone in 1976 or 77 with my uncle to do a booking..when they used to give two tickets (shaped like the one the weighing machines at stations still spew out): one for journey and one for reservation..
Ramana

Shantaram said...

@ Ramana: Ah, so it was used, after all ;)

Yes, I remember that concept of one reservation ticket + 'n' number of journey tickets, wasn't it!