Platform 2-3 SBC

Not long ago, when Bangalore city railway station handled much less traffic, Island express and Udyan express, trains to Kerala and Mumbai respectively, originated from platforms back-to-back (2 &3) with a gap of only 30 minutes. Waiting in the platform for either of the trains to start chugging off was a delight and never boring. Majority of the travelers were not Bangalore natives; a bunch of malayalees to Kerala and a bunch of north Indians towards Mumbai.
The travelers to the north enact melodramatic scenes with hugging, caressing the hair and touching the feet of each other. Contrast this with the dullness of the lackluster malayalee traveler on the other side of the platform with rich black hair oiled with coconut oil, resembling characters from Adoor Gopalakrishnan’s award winning films.  The malayalee traveler will be dressed in a lighter shade, sandalwood paste on the forehead, usually with a plastic footwear and a umbrella (courtesy the rains of Kerala); their counter parts however being in colorful dresses, with 2 centimeter sidhoor on the forehead – ready to make it to Ekta Kapoor’s Hindi soap operas. The sight of some expressionless spectacled group of nuns with a basket of grapes (to make wine for next X’mas) is not unusual.
Watching the contrast is not just fun but also a short learning experience on how diverse people are within our country. With train timings revised, one misses this spectacle on platform 2-3 of Bangalore city station enacted daily by different actors oblivious to the fact that this is a rare platform which two diverse cultures share for more than 30 minutes.