Where few trains stop.

[Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi]

You may think that this lonely little railway station is somewhere out there in the hinterland — one of those bleak little stops that express trains pass by in a whizz.

In fact, Sarojini Market station is only a short stroll from the teeming market by the same name, in the heart of chaotic Delhi. Seven city trains stop here daily on weekdays. But the ticket master says there are not more than about 200 passengers on any single day.

Here at the station, The Delhi Walla finds solitude, far from the madding city crowd. My daily meditation session could just as easily be on this deserted platform overrun with weeds and pigeons scrambling on the tin roof.

The high point, of course, is the actual arrival of a train.

There is no public announcement.

The powerful echo of a train on the tracks resonates in the quiet station and intimates you long before the locomotive chugs in.

You’d never hear these seductive sounds at a busy terminus overrun with noise. I recommend visiting this station simply for the thrill of that sound. And for its poetic seclusion, of course.

A lonely platform in a teeming locality

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