Life at Bangalore rly station

Life at Bangalore rly station
Deccan Herald

It’s 6.50 pm. And the vendors around the City Railway Station are just getting set for another busy evening. From CDs to wallets to woollen caps, the products come across a wide spectrum.

It’s 6.50 pm. And the vendors around the City Railway Station are just getting set for another busy evening. From CDs to wallets to woollen caps, the products come across a wide spectrum.

The market, however, is as makeshift as it can get. Right in front of the entrance to the station, a young man sits on the footpath gorging on his plateful of ghee rice, while another – metres away – urinates on the station wall.

It’s just another day for the passengers who walk in and out of the station. Many of them seem to have come to terms with the situation. “Over the past two or three years, the station surroundings have become extremely unclean. There seems to be no check on the small-time vendors around the station,” says Padmanabhan, a passenger.

With more vendors setting shop on the station fringes, the number of visitors to the neighbourhood areas has increased.

On a visit to the station, Deccan Herald came across four men – in about 20 minutes – who had come by for reasons other than boarding a train or seeing someone off. Many of these walk-in visitors gather around to smoke, spit gutkha all over the place, grab a bite at one of the nearby eateries or hang out in the sub-way close to the station.

The sub-way, a hawkers’ haunt, sports a perpetual bustle in the evenings. As the rush dwindles towards the night, groups of smoking, chatting men take over.

“They may not be a threat to the station’s security but during nights, these groups are a cause of concern for people who don’t take vehicles to go in or come out of the railway station, or the nearby KSRTC bus station,” reasons Narayan, a City-based auditor and regular traveller.

The disregard for hygiene and public etiquette is not entirely a spin-off from the business boom around the station.

A pay-and-use toilet in the station compound doesn’t seem to have made a difference to some passengers, who walk out of the station and urinate on the footpath and station wall. The station lawn, close to the wall, is not beyond access to the passers-by either.

A part of the iron grill fence has been broken. And that explains the number of men on the lawn; some chatting over peanuts and some sleeping on a rubble of plastic, in a drunken state.

High and night to go: Within the station compound, drunkards looking for cover – and a good nap – are a regular sight in the evenings.

While the security men keep vigil close to the building entry points, restrictions don’t seem to matter to those who find space in the lawn and taxi lots.

When Deccan Herald visited the premises, the autorickshaw stand near the pre-paid counter had at least two drunken men in an abusive mood, even as passengers were queuing up at the counter.