Malgudi Railway Station, by public transport.

From Shimoga, I travelled to Malgudi, the fictional village made famous by the novels of R.K. Narayan. The real name of the village is Arasalu.

Had an early breakfast and headed to the bus station.

Took a bus going to Hosanagara. 

Got down at Arasalu. The ticket was ₹48 (60 cents).

The old Arasalu station has been restored and converted to Malgudi Station and....

......Malgudi Museum.

At the entry to the station/museum.

It's a small museum but well kept.

The museum has artefacts and articles mentioned in R.K. Narayan's novels, like this petromax lamp.

A pendulum clock.

Old Bakelite switches.

The main character, Swami.

The ticket counter.

The fare chart.

An old railway coach has been converted to Malgudi Chai.

A cafe.

The entire place (station + museum + cafe) is run by one person, Praveen.

Had a chai in Malgudi Chai. 

Since the next train to Shimoga was after a few hours, I walked to the bus stop and took a bus back to Shimoga.

There is so much that can be done. They can sell special prints of R.K. Narayan's books. They could sell this stamp with a special cover and a cancellation. As a philatelist, I would have loved to buy it. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Azerbaijan - A Caucasus Adventure

 "Do you want to go kiss?", said the young mini-skirted woman. I stared at her. "Only 15 Manat ($10)", she said. I was in Sheki, in the Caucasus mountains of Azerbaijan, close to the border with Georgia.  The trip to Azerbaijan was accidental. My initial plan was to visit Iran. I wanted to use a land border to enter Iran. So, I thought of flying into Baku, Azerbaijan, spending a few days there and then travelling southwards to the border to enter Iran. The reason I wanted to use that border was because it is a notorious border. There were supposedly American, Russian and Iranian intelligence agents and recruiters, money exchange scammers and other unsavoury characters over there. I wanted to see what happens. But my Iranian visa got rejected. I surmise that it was due to the U.S. Green Card stamp in my Indian passport. The rejection letter said that I should apply through a local sponsor in Iran. I do not know a single person in Iran, so that was out of question. Me...
Read more

Shyam's 20 Rules for Indian Travellers

  Paul Theroux’s 10 Rules of Travel listed in his book “Tao of Travel” are well known among  travellers. Though he is my favourite travel writer, I don’t agree with some of them.  Some of the rules are dated and they don’t take care of the idiosyncrasies of Indian  travellers. So, I have come up with my own 20 rules. While they are targetted at Indian  travellers, a lot of them are applicable to travellers from other countries too. Here they are.   1. Never go on a package tour. 2. Travel to a place where you don't get Indian food. 3. Visit the tougher places when you are younger. 4. Always cross using a land border. 5. Stay longer than required in each place. 6. Buy a good guide book. 7. Download offline Google Maps. 8. Read a book by a renowned author of the country you are visiting. 9. Write travel notes everyday while having your evening drink. 10. It's OK to take pictures without you in it. 11. Travel light. 12. Never travel without overseas medical in...
Read more

My First Solo Trip At The Age Of 15

 "Send me a telegram when you reach", said my father. I was planning to travel to another city alone, for the first time in my life. I was 15. My plan was to travel from New Delhi to Chandigarh, stay overnight, and return the next day evening back to home in New Delhi. Though this was to be my first trip alone outside the city, I had been travelling inside Delhi alone for quite some time. At the age of 11, I started travelling from home to the school by public bus, instead of the school bus. My parents could not afford the school bus, it was expensive. From home I used to walk to the bus stop, which used to involve crossing a major road with a lot of traffic. I then used to take either one direct bus or sometimes two buses, with a change of bus to reach the bus stop near my school. From that bus stop to reach the school, I had to cross two major roads. All this I did by myself. At the age of 13, my father bought me an "All Route Bus Pass", which was commonly known a...
Read more