I had this in my long-pending list of posts to be published. A trigger in the whatsapp group and here it goes!
I want to recollect fond memories of the first (and probably a few early) meet-up with fellow railfans. How and where it happened, and a recollection of interesting traits and incidents.
With a family of railfans, right from my thatha, peripa, appa, chithappa, younger brother and cousins, railfanning passion was nothing new to me. It was part and parcel of life :) Getting to know and realising that railfanning is a passion by itself, a hobby that others seriously pursue was an eye-opener for me (like how it dawned on all other fellow railfans on one fine day!). My travel companion and fellow railfan during childhood was my younger brother Anand. From the days when we used to play with toy trains at our home to fighting for the window seat in a train journey to mugging up timetables, he was the first ardent railfan I grew up with. We used to eagerly await Appa buying us the Timetable every year. We used to ponder over exotic tables of the MG lines in the North, SCR area. Somehow, he got a special affection for the stations Renigunta and Guntakal - they used to appear in a lot of tables and had a number of trains with interesting new names passing through them. Mugging up tables was a serious business. We would never know whether we know 7 table or 8 table by-heart, but will list down all stations in the timetables as though we are in a memory skill competition. The passion still continues and we still exchange rail notes when we get to bump on each other even now. Having grew up only around MG trains, travelling in a BG train (be it Brindavan or Saptagiri or the unit to TI/ TRL) was the one we used to really look out for.
I did not have any fellow railfans in school or in my articleship firm. Having entered 10th standard, the passion took a back-seat as I had to concentrate on studies. Nevertheless, spotting trains at the Bazaar Road gate in Saidapet was a daily affair enroute school.
The passion was brought back to life when I joined office and accidentally discovered that one of my colleagues, R. Aravind and his younger brother also shared this crazy hobby. This was the time when I had an internet connection at home and guess what, the first google search I did was 'Indian Railways' :) I happened to join the official online discussion forum of IR where a wealth of information, especially on technical aspects, was there as a treasure trove. This photo's link that was shared in the IRDF forum pulled me into the ocean of the Indian Railways Fan Club (IRFCA). I got connected with some 5000 fellow railfans across the globe through their Yahoo Groups and rest is history :)
All along then, the railfan in me was restricted to online discussions and in person discussions with Aravind. This guy will require one full post for himself, so I am skipping this part.
Then came Orkut as the first mass social media along with me buying a camera. I discovered that I can make friends online, meet up fellow railfans and take photos and videos of my favourite trains. This really opened the flood gates.
I took a few photos during my 2005 December trip to Mysore and had them uploaded to the IRFCA gallery. My first ever interaction with stranger railfan was a phone call with Gowrisankar in mid-2006. He was happy to meet a fellow railfan as well and asked me to join a send-off meeting for Dr. Vrijlesh at Central. He was supposed to take Charminar on that Sunday. Gowri was running late that day and he asked to meet a person called Sridhar Joshi, who will be near the loco on PF9. Got to meet Sridhar Joshi, Poochi Venkat and Vrij on that evening.
Gowri has been a strong pillar of support from that Day 1. He has been along with me all through the ups and downs during the last 11 years. I am glad to be part of his life as well - it was a natural bonding as we both were commerce graduates (which is a rarity among railfans) and had lots of stories from our articleship days. He is the only railfan who has scolded me the most :) the right that he takes to scold me during arguments is to be seen to be believed!!
Sridhar Joshi (popularly known as Gawdappa for the Madras gang) has always been 'Sridhar' or 'Sridhar Joshi' or 'SJ' to all others, but always 'Joshi' to me from that Day 1. My initial impression was that he was rough and tough. He turned out to be totally otherwise... the way he takes care of people during trips and the way he ensures that the family bonding is there among railfans - taking that one step further to see that our families are inter-connected as well, is beyond explanation. The young gen values him as a 'Gawdappa', for me he is a valued mentor. I have learned a lot from him on how to deal with the babudom. Which switch is for which light. Someone who sees railfanning beyond just a camera lens.
Third in line is (Poochi) Venkat. His name was very popular among railfans with camera during my pre-camera days. The first words I spoke to him were, "Aahaa, so you are that Poochi Venkat - like Andhumani of Dinamalar, your name was more popular that your face! I have finally met you today".
The next big event was getting tagged to my guruji Ashwanth through Orkut. We got to know each other through some interactions in rail related forums in Orkut. We did one trip to Tirupati together - people at home literally fainted when they heard that we just went to Tirupati station and came back without going to any temples and it was intended to be a typical railfanning trip. Ashwanth, during this trip, taught me almost all the technical aspects of railways - the locos, coaches, signalling, operations and everything under the umbrella of IR. He is still my 'guru'.
We got tagged to Krishnakumar S (Jr KK) and we three decided to meet, and not just a meet, take a joy ride in the Pondicherry Passenger to Villupuram Junction; return by Vaigai to Madras. By doing this, we get to travel in trains and have time to discuss about railfanning. Through Orkut, we roped in Vimalakar, Harish, Harish Kumar and Naveen. Vimal is the most jovial railfan I have ever met. He gets angry at times, but not the angry type that makes one feel bad. His characteristic suffix of 'maa' to a sentence is his highlight. Harish is now in US. Harish Kumar stands out as one of the best photographers in Railway photography. The way he sees railway in nature as background and composes his shots is awesome. Naveen is the other name for 'balanced-head'. Never have I seen him involving in a fierce argument. He is quite silent, but his sarcasm (that comes out occasionally) is par excellence. This was one of the first trips that I made with the Madras gang.
I don't exactly remember the sequence of meeting other MAS gang members and hence mentioning them in a random order - restricting it those with whom I have had interactions and bonding beyond just railfanning:
S. Aravind (Lalbagh) - the ultra enthusiastic person as a railfan, who goes into the nuances of gradients, traction and the like.
Aswath (Osboth) - fellow CA, with whom I have had tons and tons of interesting discussions on a variety of topics... brilliant chap.
Aswin - Brilliant Pilanian with response time equivalent to camphor. Astounding vocabulary and presence of mind, coupled with a good sense of wit.
Krishnakumar K (Sr KK) - my initial impression is that he is no less than a 1000-wala saram. The way he uses a nice array of words to scold a blunder that SR or IR does, will always make me laughing with tears from my eyes! I am always 'Thirumalai' to him, and he is always 'helmet' for me.
Krishnan (always with the suffix, Sir) - a walking xx TB external hard disk drive who has xx GB RAM when it comes to retrieving railway facts. I have had a lot of discussions with him on non-rail related topics, especially when I am upset otherwise. He always will ensure that the discussion gets me back re-railed with enthusiasm.
Rakesh Joshi (as SJ calls him, the 'sishyan') - from the first day I met him at Saidapet bus stand when he got down from 47D LSS bus, to this date, he is more a proper sishyan to me :) we have interacted a lot on psychology, astrology, temples, rituals and what not...
Ramkrishnan (Ramki for the entire world) - we share a lot in common. The amazing similarity in the way we think, the way we analyse, our wavelength will always be in perfect sync :) when we get to initiate a discussion, a lot would be understood at the beginning itself, untold!!! I have interacted in equal proportion with his parents as well and what a wonderful hosts they are!
Sampath Kumar - for his elephantine memory and down to earth attitude. His presence of mind and balanced views have always inspired me.
Sriram Karthik - one meeting at his house with his father is enough as a sample on how much we share our common passion. Cool headed knowledgeable chap.
Vasanth and KS Rajagopal - my mentors on database analysis and number crunching. Whatever little I possess on these traits is courtesy inspiration of these two gentlemen (+ Krishnan Sir and Deepak Saravanan 'Deepu').
Disclaimer:
This is the spontaneous post for now, will edit and update when I get more time. As I mentioned earlier, I have restricted it to people in MAS gang with whom I have interacted way more than just railfanning.
