Title – Platform Ticket 

Author – Sangeetha Vallat

Genre – Memoir

Publisher – Ebury Press (Penguin Random House

Sangeetha Vallat’s book ‘Platform ticket’ is a heartfelt memoir that gives us a deep understanding and challenges faced by the unsung people who work relentlessly ensuring one of our largest transport systems, Railways, functions efficiently. The language is lucid and the narration is interesting. The accompanying illustrations make the book very delightful. 

Every chapter in the book, aptly named with a platform number, introduces the reader to a variety of incidents and interesting anecdotes during the author’s journey from being a new recruit to an experienced employee. Every page in the book is laced with elements of nostalgia, friendships, wit, humor, adventure and the unavoidable miseries of life.

As a person who always used to enjoy travelling by train, I could relate to several incidents that were narrated in the book. The memoir, rich with the imagery of sights, sounds and smells of a typical Indian railway station, transported me to the railway platform, every time I opened it to read the book.

The efficiency and lightning speed with which the tickets are to be issued, tackling with restless and irate passengers, working during odd shifts in regions with alien language, dealing with headless corpses, theft—the readers get a glimpse of the multitude of challenges that the railway employees encounter during their typical work day. However what makes the read delightful is the language, tone and the wit used by the author to pull the reader into the narrative.

As I read the book I travelled along with Sangeetha —sometimes as her close friend sharing the happenings of a typical work day, sometimes as her colleague eating biriyani or sipping a cup of chai, and sometimes as a passenger striking a conversation while buying tickets at various stations where she was posted. By the end of the book I felt as though I had known her fair enough to call myself as her close friend. 

Another interesting aspect of the book that I resonate with is the author’s anecdotes about some of the strange bonds we develop with unexpected people whom we meet and how we are impacted by them only during their absence. 

Despite being loaded with a plethora of emotions the memoir doesn’t overwhelm the readers. It rather envelopes us with a sense of warmth and makes one reflect on some of the similar incidents/ people that we might have encountered in our lives.

Along with the memoir of her career as a railway employee, Sangeetha also gives us a brief glimpse of her personal life. 

After reading the book I concluded that Sangeetha is a vibrant soul and a great conversationalist who is kind, compassionate, caring, adventurous and adaptable to any situation that life throws at her.

I definitely recommend this heartwarming memoir to everyone. It’s available in Amazon. Click here to purchase.