Grand Central Terminal: A Short Story

Grand Central Terminal: A photo series by Sudarshan Mondal

Inside the walls of this enormous structure of Grand Central Terminal, life happens every day, and probably the same way it is going for year after year. Certain things never change, such as relative socio-economical conditions, how we perceive emotions, interpersonal relationships over the years. Almost all events of life are visible even in a single day among the thousands of unknown strangers. Time advances, technology improves, overall economic growth sustains, but the relative social gaps do not change over time. The ratio of rich & poor, patterns of people’s living standards, the interpersonal behavior do not change over time. Also, in a broader aspect, it is irrespective of geographic location. I can not prove it obviously, but I leave it to you to think about it.

Here is a photo series on Grand Central Terminal. View on YouTube (Time: 3:54 min) with a piece of excellent music.

A Few Photographs I took inside the Station

Here, in a few selected images, the goal is to delineate human conditions, interpersonal relationships, and phases of emotions in the faces of absolute strangers roaming in the Grand Central Terminal.

A little kid is learning his first walk, young couples are having their romantic time, whereas another couple is having some sort of melancholic discussion, some are singles – do not have any partners, and apparently they are looking for someone desperately, techies (read as IT guys) have their job to do while they are in transit. And a newly married bride is having little lone time while her husband is out for calling a taxi. A homeless old man is taking a tight sleep in the corner of this palace-like structure, and others have taken corners to take little rest for some time until a police officer gives a visit, a chef is having little off time while working – all are happening under the same roof.

We all are same

How different it would be if you stand inside a railway station of an Asian busiest terminal, for example, Howrah Railway Station, West Bengal, India, and watch only the human behavioral aspects, patterns of interpersonal relationships, and relative socio-economical conditions. I bet you would realize that we are all fundamentally the same across the world. I believe that human behavior is the same in a given situation.

Grand Central Station is “the world’s loveliest station” as described by travel magazine Travel + Leisure in its October 2011 survey, and is “the world’s number six most visited tourist attraction” bringing in approximately 21,600,000 visitors annually.

Grand Central Terminal is a railroad terminal at 42nd Street and Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States. It is the largest such facility in the world by the number of platforms with 44 serving 67 tracks along with them. They are on two levels, both below ground, with 41 tracks on the upper level and 26 on the lower, though the total number of tracks along with platforms and in rail yards exceeds 100. The terminal covers an area of 48 acres.

Although the terminal has been properly called “Grand Central Terminal” since 1913, many people continue to refer to it as “Grand Central Station,” the name of the previous rail station on the same site, and of the U.S. Post Office station next door, which is not part of the terminal.

Similar blogpost on Howrah Station, you might like it. Please have a look.

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