My Life, Unfiltered
I am Sangeetha Vallat—a seeker of stories, deeply passionate about books, travel, friendships, and conversations. After a memorable fourteen-year journey with the Indian Railways, I detrained and boarded the flight to Dubai with my husband. My short stories have been published in numerous anthologies and online journals. Platform Ticket, published by Penguin Random House, is my debut nonfiction memoir, chronicling my ticketing days in the railways.
Platform Ticket
Most of us have travelled by train and experienced true India- sharing food and stories with co-travellers or reaching the platform only to see the train depart with a merry whistle. We have been in a queue for tickets, digging through our wallets for exact change and grumbling about the slow clerk. Have you ever wondered what goes on in the minds of the clerks, whose deadpan faces peek through the grilled counter, mechanically issuing tickets to faraway places while being rooted to their seats?
Grab a PLATFORM TICKET for a joyride -A behind-the-scenes glimpse at the lifeline of our country.
Recent Posts
Tiny Shoes, Big Steps: School Beginnings and Brave Goodbyes
A few weeks ago, I chatted with 2 of my cousins whose young children had just started their school life. Memories unspooled of my own school beginnings, and I typed this immediately. Yesterday, a cousin from the UK shared details about the education system and the...
AN IRREPLACEABLE LOSS
On August 17, 2025, our Vallat family lost a valuable member. Like the first time I began writing after letting my Achan go, writing this piece for FB is my way of dealing with grief. We had been praying continuously to all the Gods possible since July 21, the day she...
THE VISA GAMES: PASSPORT, PLEASE…
I began typing this blog post in my head while I waited inside the US Consulate for the Visa interview on Jun 17. Of course, the actual typing happened much later. THE VISA GAMES: PASSPORT, PLEASE… A year ago, on a Saturday, Sujith announced that we would apply...
THE FINAL BOARDING CALL
This short story was first published in the Mean Pepper Vine journal in their July 2023 issue. The idea for this story percolated when I heard a news article about a woman whose husband's dead body was accompanying her in the cargo of the aeroplane. On...
HOW I WENT FROM RAPUNZEL TO MOWGLI
I wrote this blog post in August 2018 under the title Bad Hair Day(s). My haircut saga continues, and in 2021, I published a version of this in The Short Humour Site (UK), retitled as My Imperfect Look. Quite recently, I had another visit to the salon, and my...
TO TEACH OR NOT TO TEACH
This was a blog post I wrote in August 2019. Teacher’s Day was around the corner, and I was feeling nostalgic about the calling I had misread. Dedicated to all the outstanding educators. TO TEACH OR NOT TO TEACH. I, too, had a dream, an ambition during...