Passengers travelling in the Nilgiri Mountain Railway (NMR) from Mettupalayam to Udhagamandalam will no longer hear the songs of the Travelling Ticket Inspector, K. Vally, who was nicknamed the ‘Nightingale of NMR’ for her singing abilities, as she has retired from service recently.
A few years ago, the passengers recorded the songs that she rendered on the train and shared it on social media. The videos went viral and earned her appreciation from various quarters. In September 2018, Ms. Vally received the ‘Everyday Heroes’ award from the Railway Board.
She retired as the Travelling Ticket Inspector upon reaching the age of superannuation (60 years) on April 30. Speaking to The Hindu on Saturday, Ms. Vally said even a week after her retirement, she has been receiving calls from many, even from those who have not heard her singing in-person, to wish her. She is not a trained singer and had taught herself to sing, as many in her family were talented singers, she said.
Ms. Vally has a wide repertoire of songs from Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, Hindi and even the Badaga language that she used to belt out to entertain the passengers. “The train would start from Mettupalayam at 7.10 a.m. and I would finish checking the tickets in all four coaches by the time the train reaches the second stop of Adderly. To keep the passengers entertained until the train reaches Udhagamandalam at noon, I decided to sing for them,” Ms. Vally said. She often used to sing film songs composed by Ilaiyaraaja in Tamil, besides songs from other languages, she said, adding that she also used to sing songs on request from the passengers.
Having started her career as a Class-IV railway staff at Shoranur Junction in Kerala, Ms. Vally said she had 37 years of service by the time she retired, out of which she served as Travelling Ticket Inspector for around seven years.
“She made the travel [in NMR] a memorable experience, not just for passengers but also for railway officials,” said a senior official from the Salem Division of Southern Railway.
