Gallans check out an awesome article from Shyam .

The Story of Ernakulam South Railway Station

Hello Kochi’tes. I’m basically from the North of Ernakulam, now  a ‘Gallan’too. I’m back home after spending a week long vacation in Kochi.I’ll tell you the story behind me being a Gallan.

Have had been to Kochi many a times before, and knew exactly how to reach both the railway stations(Town and Junction), be it anywhere from the city. Actually, I thought I knew all the ways to the stations, until the Gallan who dropped me back proved me wrong.

My fellow Gallan friend and myself left from my guest house at ‘Kakanad’ before noon, by around 11:45, towards Ernakulam South railway station ( Ernakulam Junction). On the way we happened to talk about the railway station.Came to know from my fellow Gallan that with six platforms and many major trains originating from, the South railway station(as it is commonly known) is the busiest of all the railway stations in Kerala. My train was scheduled to arrive at 12:45 PM. Although a blessing to the city, I had found it very hectic to reach ‘South’ all the times. After the small traffic blocks after our start, we reached ‘Palarivattom’.

We somehow managed to escape through the Palarivattom block in 15 minutes. After a few gear shifts, reached the biggest traffic block junction of the city, the Kaloor junction. At almost a kilometer before the junction, we had to stop our bike. Rather, we got ‘immersed’ in the block. A junction block that is nowhere near to the junction. It wasn’t a matter of ‘wow’ to me as I’ve seen it almost every time that I’ve been to this city. But this time was different as it was already 12:15 and I started to feel the pressure.we haven’t passed the remaining TWO block prone areas (Ernakulam North over-bridge and ‘Kacheripadi’- M.G.Road area) the pressure started building in me.

I couldn’t keep the tension for myself and told the Gallan riding the bike about it.Now came the actual ‘wow’ moment . He told me that we were on time. “But how?” was the thought that popped up in my mind. I was thrilled to see what he was going to do. After a few minutes, the green signal was on.  I was expecting him to throttle high after the junction. But instead he took a sharp left turn towards the ‘Kaloor-Kdavanthra’ Road (Ain’t I correct, my Gallan friend?).

The Eastern Entry (way) to Ernakulam South Railway Station

We were heading straight through the road towards ‘Kadavanthra’ side. Just after crossing the ‘Kadavanthra’ bridge, we took a right turn. If I’m right, there was a bakery at the junction and a few other shops. And yeah, an auto-rickshaw stand too. The new road was almost empty, even at that time of the day. He kept going straight as I was enjoying the sights of small shops and restaurants on the way. We almost reached a dead end after a few minutes. There were two road ways after it. One was straight, but narrow. The other one was on the left side and was as wide as the one which we just did ride through. We took the left road and again kept going straight. We then took that road on the right and traveled for a very few metres after which I was left all for a huge surprise. I was shocked to see the board reading ‘Ernakulam Junction Railway Station’. Yes, we had just reached the second gateway to the ‘South’, something that was totally new to me. As per that Gallan, not just me,many Kochi’tes don’t know about this entry to the station.

I still can’t understand why people are ignorant about this second entry. With train ticket counters, parking lot, shops, hotels and every other facilities available, I didn’t find anything wrong about this gateway. And for people coming from the ‘Palarivattom’ side, this is the easiest way to the South station, with no traffic blocks after the Kaloor junction. It was 12:35 by then and I was on time.

This fellow Gallan of mine proved to me that Gallans know all about Kochi. Not just that they know, they share it with everyone. A wonderful initiation. Hats off to the entire Gallan team. Oops, how can I say that when I too am a part of it now?? Hehe…

Signing off,
The latest Gallan.

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