If you try to take a leave from an Indian office, or call a friend who is traveling, the most common phrase you will hear is: "I am currently out of station."
The phrase simply means that the person has temporarily traveled outside their home city and is currently not available in town.
Meaning: Traveling away from your home city.
Origin: Derived from 19th-century British Military terminology in India.
Global Equivalents: Out of town, Away on leave, Out of the office.
Grammar Status: It is grammatically accepted strictly as 'Indian English', but is considered completely obsolete in the rest of the world.
Here is a shocking fact: 'Out of Station' is NOT standard international English. If you tell an American or British person that you are 'out of station', they will literally look at you confused and ask, "Which railway station?"
This phrase is a massive relic of the British Raj in India. During the 1800s, British army officers and East India Company officials were posted at specific 'stations' (headquarters) across India. When an officer left his city, he was literally marked as being 'out of his station'. Indians adopted this official military phrase, and we still blindly use it today!
If you are writing a highly professional email to an international client or a global company, you must completely avoid using 'out of station'. Instead, use the perfectly correct global phrases:
It means that a person has temporarily traveled away from their home city for work or vacation and is not physically available locally.
Yes and no. It is perfectly correct and understood in 'Indian English', but it is completely incorrect and confusing in standard American or British English.
'Out of town' is infinitely better and is the universally accepted, standard global English phrase.
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