Chennai | A Royapuram guide shows the way to India’s oldest permanent Railway station building and year-round mango ice cream

At Royapuram railway station, a 100-yr-old bench stands, a reminder of the Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway. Aafreen Fathima SK leads a heritage trail to explore the oldest original railway station in India. The Prince of Wales visited in 1875, and the locals were amazed by the train. The St Peter's Church, built in 1826, resembles a boat and is dedicated to the apostles of Jesus. Art Deco houses, the C Kunhiraman General Stores, and the Parsi Anjuman Baug Dharamshala and Fire temple are also explored. Aafreen hopes to show the world the peaceful co-existence of different religions in Royapuram.

At the railway station in Royapuram where the occasional suburban train passes, an unassuming wooden bench stands. A swift swipe of the surface leaves the finger with specks of grey dust. But these particles rest atop a 100-year-old history.

“This century-old bench is from the time of the Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway (MSMR). The Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway, the South Indian Railway and the Mysore State Railway merged to form the Southern Railway,” says Aafreen Fathima SK whose family has been a residents of the area for 10 generations. This curator of a heritage trail through Royapuram, allows us to saunter through the oldest original permanent railway station in Indian history.

Standing outside the last remaining facade of this once-grand railway station built in 1856, Aafreen regales her audience with stories of the time when the first train from Madras Presidency ran all the way to Arcot. Mocking British newspapers said that frightened Indian farmers along the route ran for their life upon seeing a train charging through the tracks for the first time, she says. “The reaction is obvious. They would have never seen a train before,” she says.

Through the building, one can spot several arches of bridges and the famed Madras terrace roof. Hardly any passengers are on the platform. There is barely any activity except that of the occasional train flag off by the station master. This is in stark contrast to events nearly 150 years ago on December 17, 1875, when the Prince of Wales, later Edward VII visited Royapuram. Lights shone like stars and fanfare kept the area awake all night, says Aafreen.

A walk through its streets of today, brings to light other such gems entrenched in two-centuries of lore. Between mouthfuls of mango ice-cream from the legendary C Kunhiraman General Stores, we explore Art Deco houses and find out who Royapuram’s Peter is.

Aafreen’s heritage trail begins at Royapuram’s most iconic landmark, the St Peter’s Church. Built in 1826, this church, is among the few built for the apostles of Jesus Christ. Aafreen says that the church resembles a boat and has always been painted blue and white to represent the sea and the several sea-farers who are a majority of the church-goers here. Although not obviously Gothic in style at first glance (as it lacks the colourful stained glass windows), the arches of the church are modelled after the Strawberry Hill house, a Gothic revival villa , in London, says Aafreen. There is a bell tower and several confessionals. A picture of Mary rests near it. “She is ‘Our lady of safe voyages’ to protect the fisherfolk of the community,” Aafreen says.

“Even those who have lived in Chennai have hardly visited the locality. As someone from the area who has heard the term ‘Royapuram Peter’ used in a derogatory manner, I would like to clarify. The moniker comes from the church. There is no other serious attachment to the term,” she says.