Monochrome

A freight crosses us (Palanpur-Gandhidham passenger) at high speed at Chhansara on the edge of the Rann of Kutch. We were late by nearly 45 minutes which meant a rather dramatic sunset. (Bharath M)

I've always disliked them being called box "boys". In my eyes, the term boys somehow diminishes the utterly backbreaking and important work they do. Here, one such boy gets ready to sort the heavy trunks. Vijaywada Jn.
(Bharath M)

We've already lost most red-liveried mail coaches, for how many more years will at least this last? Madras.

Don't we all recognize the gleam in this boy's eyes? What are your first ever memories of looking out of the window?

The interminable wait for a late train. At Mahuda Jn in the Coalfields area.

How many times have we glibly dismissed vendors who sell their wares in our coaches? How many times do we make them completely invisible to ourselves? It is good to be reminded that they are people — they laugh and cry and love and get angry just like eve

An Arrival. There’s always a moment before a train arrives when the frenetic activity of a few seconds before stops. The platform is still, there is near silence only broken by the sound of the locomotive and heavy breathing of anticipation. Delhi Cantt.

I asked Ganshyam how many years he’s worked as a signalman. “31 years, sir”, he replied. He now works the cabin at Borawar on the Merta Rd-Phulera section.

It is nearly 11.30am at Sasan Gir. The passenger to Veraval is late.

The marshalling yard in Jolarpettai is quite big. How do the staff traverse it? A preferred way is to footplate - in every sense of the word.

Her face shows a relaxed happiness, but it belies. She was actually calling out to a person she knows to get back on the coach. Their train was leaving the station. He made it, just about. Adra Jn.

The last monthly season pass these students will buy for the narrow gauge train trip to school. Jhilimili.

After taking this photograph, I sat inside these coaches for nearly an hour and wrote. Wrote about magic of the metre gauge, the deliciousness of tea in the town and the utter futility of longing for something that has run its course. Bodinayakannur.

Omkareshwar is a beguiling place, not in the least because the Narmada flows nearby and the trains arrive in spectacular fashion.

All one needs for conversation in railway stations is an empty platform and a silent locomotive. Bangalore Cantt.

One normally doesn’t encounter a dawn in Kuruduwadi when travelling to Bangalore on the Karnataka Express, but extraordinary circumstances can make all sorts of things happen.

At the edge of the Pench reserve, sunsets are spectacular. Especially when viewed from a curving narrow gauge train. Approaching Kukrakhapa on the Nagpur - Chhindwara section.

Simply put — one of the world’s best railway stations. Chennai Central.

These are the things that one will miss when the broad gauge arrives — giant trees, a low platform, a relaxed station and sense of proportion when one frames a scene for future stories. Jhilimili.

The long, overnight trip to Nagpur to retrieve his pension for the month is a successful one for Mr. Deo of Saoner.

He got into the coach in tears. I asked what the matter was. “I just found out my son as died”, he said. Quite possibly the hardest scene I’ve photographed in my life. Sanganer.

Metre gauge made illusions possible and “experienceable”. Here, the Cholan Express skims past Nellikuppam.

Station buildings have fascinated me for long, especially the insides. They said (and say) a lot about what we care for . I don’t know if these beautiful, solid granite pillars that held up Kakinada Port station still exist. A shame if they don’t.

Sometimes all you want on cold North Indian winter mornings are chai and pakoda. Fortunately, Jodhpur obliged that day.

More things that make narrow gauge such an intimate way to travel. How many broad gauge stations have full fledged vegetable markets on their platforms? Umranala.

“Should we board this coach or next?” “Where do you want me to sit?” “We need at least one window, ok?”

Only narrow gauge and Nainpur can conspire to have its busiest time bang in the middle of the day. If you notice closely, all platforms are occupied by departing trains. On the extreme left to Mandla Fort, next to it the Jabalpur Passenger, on the main pl