Toy train rides in Bengaluru's Cubbon Park and other tales

Growing up near Bengaluru East Station, the sight and sound of approaching trains would ignite our fascination, and my brothers and I would scamper up the slope adjoining the railway fencing for a glimpse of the passing behemoths.

My sons, too, inherited this fascination.  In their childhood, they were also infatuated with trains.

My younger son was so obsessed that if anyone asked him about his future aspirations, he would gleefully declare, "An engine driver!" Train whistles thrilled him to bits. Even after the last train left, his restless desire lingered, and his constant, irritating question, "When is the next train coming?" grated on my nerves. As soon as he heard the distant whistle of an approaching train, he would insist that we retrace our steps. The travails of parenting!

Train-train, but obviously, was their favourite childhood game, filled with the clatter of pretend carriages and the sounds of whistles.

On his first birthday, my older son received a toy train set from his paternal granduncle. Because of my children's fascination with trains, we'd go to Bengaluru's Cubbon Park on weekends to ride the Puttani Express, a toy train. Never satisfied with a single ride, the kids would force me to buy tickets for another joy ride. The allure of distant train journeys intensified as they grew older.

I also remember another toy train aficionado, a customer at the bank where I worked collected miniature train models. He owned an impressive collection of electronic train toys, and devoted a significant portion of his income to importing rare and detailed train models from Germany, each a miniature work of art. However, he found accommodating and maintaining them a genuine challenge. Over ten years have passed, and I'm curious about the size of his collection now. My sons, now grown up, have grown out of their passion for trains, but sometimes when I hear a train whistle, the memories of those days come rushing back.

NJ Ravi Chander, Bengaluru