Sangeetha Vallat, a seeker of stories, is the author of Platform Ticket (Penguin Random House, 2025), a memoir of her ticketing days in the Railways. She is passionate about books, travel, friends and conversations. After a memorable career spanning fourteen years in the Indian Railways, she now lives in Dubai with her husband. Her short stories feature in several anthologies and online journals. Vallat’s next, a biography of a helicopter pilot, a Vir Chakra recipient, will be published in Feb 2026. 

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Amita Basu in Conversation with Author Sangeetha Vallat

Even now, I like to call myself a reader rather than a writer. Books have always been a part of my life. 

AB: At Bangalore Literature Festival in December 2023, I watched you pitch Platform Ticket at LitMart. (LitMart is a platform for aspiring writers to pitch their ideas to a ‘jury’ of publishing industry professionals. ‘Jurists’ express interest in pitches that capture their attention; sometimes, this results in publication.) 

Your pitch was made in a conversational tone, and your manner was vivacious as always. Many of your fellow pitchers used presentations, artwork, and other aids. You did not. ‘The jury’ of publishers and agents responded enthusiastically to your pitch. 

Tell us how you approached pitching. 

SV: Thank you for being there when I pitched, I appreciate the support. 

As soon as I received the confirmation mail from the LitMart, I decided I would take the simple way, ‘talk about my book.’ I am a technical noob, so if I had to use audiovisuals or a PowerPoint presentation, I was sure to fumble. For a second in my fondness for drama I wondered if I should play out a few important bits of my book, but then chances of it falling flat and making a fool of myself stopped me from choosing that path. I knew my strength was in talking, the verbal expression.  I could start a conversation with anyone, pull them into chatting, engage their attention, thus I began to write a 3-minute pitch. 

None of the initial drafts were satisfactory, that’s when a dear friend suggested – think why you are the right person to tell this story and write the pitch. And then I wrote the one that dazzled the audience. I am quite good at memorising, my rote learning in school helped me memorise the pitch, and my inherent acting skills aided in honing them and present it in a way that sounded naturally effective. 

Another aspect that played a huge part in my successful pitching was that I wasn’t aware of the judges. As you know there was an issue with the microphone and no one announced or introduced the judges. Perhaps if I had known that editors and literary agents were seated, I might have trembled. Moreover, I was thrilled to be there, grateful for the opportunity and didn’t have anything to lose. When I sent out my sample chapter to the LitMart, I told my friends who pushed me to submit, “I am not ready to be a published author. I have to learn a lot, read more to write better before I get my book out.” A friend said, “OK, so you don’t have anything to lose, just submit and continue your process.” Basically, I submitted and went ahead to finish the manuscript. 

AB: Penguin Random House (PRH) published Platform Ticket. What was this process like? Did you get an agent, or did you decide not to, since you already had a publisher? 

SV: My publishing journey with PRH has been an excellent experience, smooth sailing… Touch wood. The pitch event was on Dec 3 2023, and from Dec 6, I received email enquiries from all the judges seated there. I ended my pitch by issuing a ‘platform ticket’ to the people in the front row. It was my friend’s idea and she sent me the old card ticket format which we printed with my details like a visiting card, glued it to a thin cardboard sheet, and cut them as tickets. Before I reached my seat after pitching, a literary agent, a top one at that, texted his interest in my MS. 

For the next week, I was sending sample chapters to the publishing houses and the agent. Three publishers offered deals and as I had already crossed halfway without an agent, I went ahead and signed a deal with PRH on Mar 31 2024. Platform Ticket opened for pre-orders on Amazon by 27 Feb 2025. 

AB: What was the process of drafting, revising, and editing the book like, in terms of your relationship with editors and others at PRH? What is your relationship with deadlines – that archnemesis of writers?

SV: Right from the time I reached home after pitching, I began editing the MS. I must have read the MS at least a dozen times! So much so that I almost memorised parts of it. 

PRH editing began in August 2024. We had only 2 rounds of revision/edits. It was fairly an easy process. PRH retained my voice and hardly asked me to change much. Just a few developmental edits and punctuation changes. One in August and another in December. I had 21 days to submit my edits and I always emailed it within 15 days. My editor, Deepthi Talwar, answered all my queries, serious, silly, everything within seconds of receiving an email. 

I am someone who doesn’t usually waits till the last minute, I work overtime and submit my projects well before time, because it pricks me like a thorn until I get it done with, blame it on my star sign, Virgo!  

AB: In Platform Ticket, you discuss having always been an avid reader. Was this your first time writing a project of this length? 

SV: Yes, this is my first full-length project. I have dabbled in short fiction and blog posts since 2018. Even now, I like to call myself a reader rather than a writer. Books have always been a part of my life. 

The idea of this book was actually not mine. I am blessed with great friends and it was a writer peer who observed that many of my short fiction had an element of railways in it, trains, station platform were in the background. She suggested that I write a book about my experiences in railways, as I had worked for 14 years in Indian Railways. Fiction, world-building was too much work, I felt writing nonfiction was easier. 

When I thought of it as a full-length book, it intimidated me as I hadn’t written any single piece lengthier than 3500 words until then. I approached this project as chapters, one story based on a theme at a time. But none of these were planned or seriously thought about, organically I began it this way. Now, after all these days, when I dissect my process, I learnt about my writing process. 

Platform Ticket was written in 2.5 months. I took more time in calling up friends and colleagues to collect their anecdotes. I noted these on a book as they spoke on the phone and later typed them. Sometimes I had call again because I couldn’t decipher my notes! 

Not everyone remembered details or incidents, I had to slowly coax their brain into action, stimulate their memory, chat about my experiences and then they came out with their stories. 

Platform Ticket was written in 2.5 months. I took more time in calling up friends and colleagues to collect their anecdotes. I noted these on a book as they spoke on the phone and later typed them. Sometimes I had call again because I couldn’t decipher my notes! 

AB: You strike me as quite an outgoing person. Did the necessary solitude of the writing process challenge you? 

SV: On some days, I wrote for an hour, other days I sat through typing for 5 hours at a stretch until my eyes began to water. No luxury of solitude or quietness, I mostly typed amidst the sounds from the TV, cooker whistles, my mom and hubby chatting and trying to get my attention… 

Well, I was mentally in another plane, nothing distracted me from my typing. It was like I had to get it all out, the words were tumbling out of me! I actually enjoyed this, the frenzied writing/typing and every time I edited the manuscript and reached the last pages, I invariably wept. I couldn’t believe that I had written this. I was surprised I could remember so many details, I was in awe of my friends/colleagues’ experiences. I was satisfied in bringing out their stories.  

AB: As a memoir, your book features, of course, numerous real-life characters. Some of these characters are quite famous; others are ordinary private individuals. Some characters are named; others are not. How did you go about deciding whom to name and whom to leave anonymous (or whom to pseudonymise)? Sometimes, even the names of the station you were posted at during a particular incident is not mentioned: I’m curious about the reason for this. 

SV: Ahh, I detest assigning names to my characters. In my earlier short fiction, I used only pronouns. So here in Platform Ticket, most names have been changed other than the famous personalities. All my friends barring a few have been given fictitious names. Thoughtfully, I worked on their names, it wasn’t random names, I gave a combination name of their spouses, children or sometimes their passion. 

There is a person whom I have named Illayaraja (a popular music director in Southern India, we all worship actually) in my book who annoys us friends with his Smules (Smule is a karaoke platform), or this character Balaguru, a friend whose nickname is Guru and I added his son’s name to it. Like that every name has a meaning to our group of friends, my batchmates whom I met in class 11 and we are all still friends, tied under a WA group! 

I didn’t name my colleagues or the stations I worked because some of them are still working there, I didn’t want to compromise their privacy. Although I have placed enough clues in the book to guess the station if you know the geography of the places. Some readers have guessed the stations correctly. 

I did inform the people who are featured in the book and received their oral permissions. I trust in the bond of friendship. Many were happy to be included and their lives recorded for posterity. PRH legal team did not advise me specifically about this issue. 

AB: ‘Platform Ticket’ is quite fast-paced, with a lot of humour. The natural vivacity and optimism of your voice comes through. Yet the book also deals with the mundaneness of any job, office politics, unreasonable expectations from travellers, misunderstandings between management and staff, colleagues losing children, elder abandonment, and deaths and suicides on the railway tracks. 

What is your attitude to humour, and the need for it in life and in literature?

SV: Platform Ticket is completely me. What you see in the pages is how I was and how I am. I think humour and a sense of awe, curiosity and a desire to experience it all, observation and eye to details, empathy and the quality of looking at events from others’ perspectives, all these are what makes us better humans and in turn better writers. 

While I was working in those shabby office rooms, seated in broken chairs, sweating and with no proper toilets, where lengthy queue of jostling hands yelled for tickets… I was exasperated at certain aspects but I enjoyed my work. I had great friends, I liked listening to the passengers, their stories, their lives. My life wasn’t always hunky dory but everyone had their struggles. Just laugh away the sorrows, count the blessings and go on living. Argh, the ‘agony aunt’ answers in me are cropping up!   

^{Sangeetha’s life at and away from the writer’s desk}

AB: Are there any anecdotes which did not make it into the book but which you’re able to share here? 

SV: PRH and my editor were very accommodating. They never curtailed my word count and accepted everything I submitted. There was this anecdote about my ‘drawing’ skills which the editor felt could be placed elsewhere in the document. I couldn’t find the right place and told her I will maybe use it in another memoir. 

Do you want me to share it here? Or perhaps read it in my book later? Haha. 

It’s just something that happened in my KG class. My class teacher, Sandra miss asked everyone to draw grapes. Everyone in my class drew a decent-looking bunch of grapes, one that had 10 grapes at the top and slowly tapered to 1. Only I was the odd one who drew a page full of unconnected small circles, coloured in green. Sandra miss was puzzled and I explained to her that I have seen grapes like these, my mom always served me grapes in a cup where she had plucked them separately, easy for me to eat. I was a single child, pampered and indulged. Then there was a ‘tiger’ I drew in middle school… it’s better to say that the only thing I can draw is the Amoeba. 

AB: Platform Ticket narrates a huge range of anecdotes over your many years in Indian Railways – from chasing down a passenger’s litter of piglets to analysing the source of a misunderstanding about missing funds. How much were you able to rely on your memory for all these details? Did you keep a diary during those years? 

SV: Absolutely, I relied on my memory. That’s why I have noted in my acknowledgements – “Events as I remember.” 

I never had any idea of becoming an author, so I didn’t take notes. For some details I called my colleagues especially while writing about Tippy. I discussed with Farhan and Ann too about a few things. In my school days, I had an almost photographic memory where I could recall even the doodles on a page, right to every word, comma and period. You know what, when I began writing Platform Ticket, it was as if a movie was switched on and I had to look at the screen and type those down. That’s why on some days I wrote at a stretch for hours because I was unable to switch off the screen. Memories unspooled rapidly in such clarity. Nowadays, I have started to note down my observations, ideas, and dreams too. 

AB: Besides a rich range of colourful anecdotes, the reader gets a great breadth and depth of information about the functioning of the Indian Railways, especially as regards ticketing and the collection of funds. 

SV: While writing this book, I was clear that who would want to read a memoir of an unknown person. Memoirs that were on the market were by popular people. So, I decided to include stories of more unknown people like my friends and colleagues who had so many untold stories of railway working inside them. As I collected anecdotes, I learnt a lot about railways and my people. 

While writing this book, I was clear that who would want to read a memoir of an unknown person. Memoirs that were on the market were by popular people.

AB: How much of this behind-the-scenes activity has changed with digitisation and other technology? 

SV: Life has changed a lot with digitisation and I worked a few years in Computerised Reservations but didn’t work after technological advancements like the UTS happened in suburban ticket counters. I checked with my friends and they all said that working in ticket counters were tougher nowadays as the number of counters had reduced, where 9 counters functioned earlier only 3 were open now. So, work pressure was high and many have opted for voluntary retirement. Fancy mobiles have replaced primitive walkie-talkies, an easier tool for communications, better-designed guards’ cabins are in place. As always, there are brighter sides to development as are downfalls. 

AB: Did you have to check with Indian Railways about the disclosure of any of this information?

SV: No, I didn’t have to contact Railways as I haven’t revealed any detrimental secrets. In fact, some of the railway people, after reading the book, have said that this should be included in the curriculum in Railway Zonal schools! 

AB: You have made quite monumental efforts in promoting this book – which, in fact, deserves a wide audience. Tell us about your marketing experiences. What conventional and creative avenues have you explored? What are your thoughts on the whys and hows of marketing for writers today – what works and what doesn’t? 

SV: I am much grateful to my publishers and their excellent marketing team that set the ball rolling. The initial thrust propelled the sales. And I have a wonderful bunch of family and friends whose support in promoting Platform Ticket is phenomenal. 

At my book launch in Chennai, I expected a crowd of 50-60 people and most had already ordered the book from Amazon, so I informed the Higginbothams booksellers to carry 30 books to the venue. They came with 60 books and I had 160 plus guests! Higginbothams salesman said that after a long time, they had ‘sold out’ at a book launch. 

On my part, I post regularly on social media about the book, unabashedly, unapologetically talk about my book to strangers. At book stores, I randomly chat with booklovers and end up signing a copy. Both friends and the strangers who have read Platform Ticket have been kind to post a review, recommend and gift a copy to their friends. Most of these new readers are now my friends on Instagram and Facebook. I make friends for life and many of these readers have connected on WhatsApp too. We chat and discuss books, aspirations, sometimes their life stories too. Some of the reviews of Platform Ticket are so beautifully worded that I go boohoo and mushy. 

AB: You’re based now in the United Arab Emirates. Have you felt hampered at all by living abroad while writing and promoting a book set in India?

SV: Yes, if I was in India, I could have visited more bookstores, met more booklovers. I have travelled so many times since the book has come out, and everywhere I travel, I carry my book, click pictures, talk to random people, offer free bookmarks…..marketing is a tiring process but we should never stop it. My overseas sales figure is also pretty decent. 

AB: What has the reaction from your Indian Railways colleagues been like? Have you heard from former colleagues, and/or from current employees of Indian Railways? Has anything surprised you, in general, about the kinds of people who have read and enjoyed Platform Ticket?

SV: Many former colleagues say that I should have called them for more stories. Some want a sequel of railway stories. My colleagues are thanking me for writing the book. 

I am chuffed by the messages I receive from the readers. A reader said, she thought railway job was boring and no fun but after reading my book her idea has changed and she has applied for a railway job. So many children of railway employees have read and enjoyed the book and say they understand their parents better now. Several have said they smiled and thanked the person sitting in the railway ticket counter and carried correct change for purchasing tickets. 

I set out to bring out untold stories of people who make train travel possible and it is heart-warming to note that their stories are now being read. The readers of Platform Ticket say they have become better passengers.   

AB: What can your readers look forward to next? 

SV: I have so many ideas buzzing in my head. I should first discipline them to begin writing my third book. My second book is a biography of an Indian Air Force war veteran, a helicopter pilot. I had fun chatting with the octogenarian and his colleagues, collecting material and writing his life story. This will be out in a few weeks. I want to read the books that are threatening to fall from my bookshelf and then work on my third. Out of the many ideas, I might go with another nonfiction based on my life in the Middle East. An idea for a fiction is also roiling in the cauldron, let’s see which one boils over first. 

About the Interviewer

Amita Basu’s fiction appears or is forthcoming in 90+ venues including The Hemlock, The Penn Review, Bamboo Ridge, Harpur Palate, Funicular, The Bombay Literary Magazine, Hammock, and Indian Literature. Her debut, At Play and Other Stories (Bridge House Press), released in 2025. She’s won the Letter Review Prize and the Ruskin Bond Prize, and been shortlisted for the Coppice Prize and contests at Phoebe and Five Minute Lit. She lives in Auroville, works at a climate action thinktank, and blogs at http://amitabasu.com/

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