#365DaysOfWriting — Day Three

Good morning, world! So far, so good — I’ve reached Day Three without any trouble.

Last evening, I dropped my father at the Lokmanya Tilak Terminus. He was travelling by the Duronto Express to Kerala. I spent quite a bit of time there, and realised a few things.

One is that I believe almost every railway station in India is a microcosm of the country itself.

You’ll find people from every state, every district, every profession, and almost every strata of society. There’s also a stray dog or two, and a few cats looking for scraps (or looking for a scrap). There’s the enquiry counter, where no one stands in a line, and everyone asks questions at the same time — but each question is answered without fail. The ticket counters have folks who are more interested in chatting with each other than giving out tickets on time, but when they do, they do it with a smile (I’m not sure if THAT is a regular occurrence). There’s also the ‘Rail Aahar’ canteen, where half the items on the menu aren’t available. I had a half-decent chicken biryani, while dad had an egg biryani. An India within India — Indiaception, maybe? But I suppose that’s also true with Indian cities, at least the metros.

Secondly, I believe there must be some magic in travelling by train.

The last time I travelled was five years ago (with dad only, to Kerala). Right from my childhood, I’ve always looked at trains as long pythons, snaking through acres and acres of land. And passengers are all children, sitting on the python and having an absolute whale of a time. It does take a lot of time, sure, and nowadays the no-frill airlines’ fares are almost at the same level as a First Class AC ticket, but I believe if you have the time, do travel by train. That’s when you probably see India at her most beautiful.

Finally, the railways is an area where I have seen a lot of development in the last year or so.

The Lokmanya Tilak Terminus was in shambles as early as 5 years ago — at least it seems more organised now, given that most of the construction has taken place. Also a lot of good ground for parking. Our Railway Minister, Mr. Suresh Prabhu (a Chartered Accountant, my father keeps reminding me, as he’s a CA himself) is also embracing digital, with a Twitter helpline and an ever-improving IRCTC app — I booked my father’s tickets from there.

There was another mode of transport I travelled by last night — the Metro. It has cut down travel time by an exponential amount, and has made commuting across the east and west of Mumbai comfortable.

Slowly but surely, our railways are seeing #AchcheDin.

I’ll gather my train of thoughts and depart for now. My next destination — Day Four.