A great many Indian film directors and Urdu fictionists have used the railway station as an important point of reference in their stories. It's a remarkable metaphor for life's transitory or fleeting nature. The waiting room visited by people belonging to different strata of society, the station master's chamber with that ever-present black telephone, the railway tracks littered with all kinds of things, the platforms that never have a dull moment and a big clock above them hinting at the temporal nature of everyday routine... all symbolise life at its truest.

Ignore the digital boards that indicate trains' arrival and departure times or the marbled floor at Karachi's Cantt Railway Station. Be there, and you'll feel as if things have been the same from the time the invention of steam locomotives revolutionised commuting. The operative word here is 'feel'.

Modern facilities, like fast-food eateries, have today become a part of the railway journey, but boarding, or alighting from, a train still fills you with ineffable excitement. To boot, the room of the station manager (the word 'master' has fallen prey to modern times) of Cantt Railway Station Bashir Ahmed has that same old jet black telephone placed on the right side of his table. For some odd reason the oft-quoted French phrase deja vu springs to mind.

Khyber Mail has just halted to a stop. It's 9am. A bunch of coolies (porters) rush towards the train trying to convince passengers they can carry their luggage safe and sound to their cars. Nazir Shah is one of them. More than 60 years old, he's been a coolie for the last 40 years. It's but natural he likes being here.

It's a pretty sturdy building. It hasn't changed a bit. Nothing has happened to it, and hopefully nothing will, says Nazir.

Shakir Zaidi, a ticket collector, says sometimes repair work is undertaken for a minor chipping or breaking. On the whole the situation is not worrisome.

Besides, it appears that the upkeep of the structure isn't the responsibility of those who make trains go up and down the track, which is why station manager Bashir Amhed says there's an engineering department that looks into matters related to the maintenance of the main building.

However, if you view the station from a distance, you can't help but mutter to yourself that the paint (off-whitish) on the façade, leaving the middle pedimented portion, looks a little odd. Then theirs is this issue of litter...

In the latter half of the 19th century, officials of the Public Works Department architected some key structures. The Cantonment Railway Station of Karachi was one of them. It was built in 1898 and is not a grand building. Having classical elements, its middle section has Renaissance entryways and Roman arches with a triangular pediment on top. Also noticeable are the two ends with Romanesque gables.

Architect Yasmin Lari says The Cantonment Railway Station represents the advent of the railways in Pakistan, with the Karachi-Kotri line being the first railway link in the country. Bartle Frere, who was the governor of Bombay, inaugurated it at the fag end of the 19th century. At the time it was not as big a station. The reason why the whole area around it is important with reference to heritage is because it tells us how the city of Karachi developed with the passage of time. It's part of our history, and a significant one at that.

The building is comparatively simple in design, but has good proportions. What needs to be done though is that the entire vicinity should be cleaned up. It's time we started the process of cleaning historical buildings. If there's pollution around any old structure, its stone will get affected. Not caring for the surroundings clearly points to the apathy and indifference not only towards a particular edifice but also towards the city. There's no reason for us to have filthy environment. We must develop ownership of the city, says Ms Lari.

The architect's concerns hold weight, because in January this year water spurting out of clogged sewers at the parking lot caused a fair amount of inconvenience to the people.

This reminds one of the bubonic plague that originated in Central Asia and hit Bombay and Pune in 1896. It is believed that the disease killed millions in China and India. It was declared an epidemic in Karachi, resulting in very few construction works taking place in the city. The two buildings that were made at that time were the Lady Dufferin Hospital and the Cantonment Railway Station.

It seems that another train is arriving. Nazir Shah has rolled up his sleeves. He looks up at the clock above the platform. It's ticking, like it usually does.