More stations which have a cricket connection

Continuing from this earlier piece:

Stations which have a cricket connection

The Test venues which have stations named after them include Lord’s (no longer in existence) and the Oval:

In India we have these small suburban stations at Eden Gardens and Chepauk. Both are relatively new, probably dating from the 1990s:

Note the Hindi spelling for “Cheppakkam”,one of the numerous Hindi signs you will find in Chennai with transliteration from Tamil (e.g. Chennai Kotte, Chennai Kodikarai). In contrast, the English, Bengali and Hindi signs all match at Eden Garden.

You would know of stations named Kohli, Sachin and Amla which have nothing to do with the cricketers concerned. But here are two stations which do refer to the states connected with these princely captains:

Pataudi is a rather small place in Haryana, and the locality around the station is better known as Hailey Mandi.

Vizianagaram is a somewhat larger town and important station in northern Andhra Pradesh, though “Vizzy” remained a prince as he was the second son and did not become the ruler. However, Iftekhar Ali Khan and his son Mansur Ali Khan did hold the title of Nawab of Pataudi.

Women’s cricket gets its due here, although it is doubtful if Mumbai-born Smriti Mandhana has anything to do with this place near Kanpur:

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There are other people with connections to cricket whose names include place names. One was the one-Test player the Yuvraj of Patiala, also known as Yadavindra Singh. Patiala is not one of the larger cities of Punjab but is somehow well known, possibly because of the Patiala Peg* which was said to be devised by one of the rulers. Then there was Raj Singh Dungarpur, who was from the royal family of a small state now in Rajasthan.

• See the explanation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peg_(unit)
• The Yuvraj’s son, Amarinder Singh, was the Chief Minister of Punjab in recent years.

Tail piece: There is even one which reminds you of an English cricketer of long ago:

The opposing captains in the England vs India Test series were G.O.B. “Gubby” Allen and the Maharajkumar of Vizianagaram, better known as “Vizzy”.

Travels through the unseen railways of Kolkata

The Kolkata circular railway is one of the least known suburban rail systems of the country. It has little coverage in timetables and elsewhere. It was hastily patched together from existing suburban lines, disused dock lines and freight lines besides a new link to the airport which is little used. To begin with, here is a 2010 map which may give the general orientation:

If you were to start your journey at Ballygunge and proceeded west (anticlockwise), this is what it would look like. Note the comments along each station (including a few PJs and historical notes):

No Sealdah? There is a reason.

For variety, you can divert from the “circle” at Dum Dum and travel on the still more obscure line to the airport:

Here are some pictures along the route, taken on 8 Apr 2015:

The starting point of Ballygunge. Note the crow perched on the loudspeaker.

While changing trains at Majerhat.

Along the Hooghly.

Further along the Hooghly. Below there are various stations along the way:

Tala is where many of the rakes for trains from Kolkata Terminus are stabled.

(This is at Kolkata terminus, where the trip to Bangladesh begins.)

A few short videos along the way can be seen here: Apart from the trip along the Hooghly we also cover the large rust belt towards the airport.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLpnX2Gw1sU-H9aMWhNlnP1rv3wVvKcBCW

Several longer clips of this route by others can be found on Youtube.

Jessore Road has its place in history with this piece of poetry by American poet Allen Ginsberg written during the tragic events of 1971, though I suppose he was referring to a place in Bangladesh rather than this suburb of Kolkata:

http://www.everyday-beat.org/ginsberg/poems/jessore.txt

Hope that has inspired you to travel along the little known byways of your city.

Update: The information given above was correct in March 2015. In the 2020s the branch to Biman Bandar was closed, so this and Jessore Road went off the map. Dum Dum Cantt ceased to be a junction. The path will now be used for a new metro line. It had not been opened by November 2022.