Musings of A Train Lover
The previous weekend (like all the others) was a pretty lazy one. I woke up late and started my morning routine : Checking my Facebook account.
I had a pop-up which showed me what had happened the same day, a year ago. A feature, Facebook really nailed. Makes you revisit your memories and makes you time travel to those old days.
A year back, I was travelling to Jaipur, from Chennai, by train. A distance of 2300kms, by train: A 33 hr journey.
People thought I was insane and would constantly ask me ‘a couple of hours in a flight would get you there. Why would you want to waste two days of your vacation?’
I would just give them a smile. And the feeble voice in my mind would say ‘perspectives’.
Train journeys are romantic, according to me. The windows would show me a totally different view of the world. And nothing transforms you like a deep reverie, when you stare out the train windows. A world passing by you, sometimes fast, sometimes slow.
Especially in India, where the view outside is nothing short of amazing. I’ve seen the vast countryside, the rivers, the farmers and their cows and bits and pieces of the small cities. The smells (some good, some really bad), the sounds, the sights never cease to amaze me. They make me dream, make my imagination more vivid & bring back to life, things that I’ve long forgotten.
Each train has a unique way of making you fall for it. The slow and rickety ones: for long distances where you can spend hours just staring, ideal for soul-searching & musing on life. The over crowded suburban trains: where there’s no place for a toe, but hawkers somehow squeeze in. The swanky metros: where everybody is just lost in a smartphone, and too busy to notice their stops. There’s a train for everyone.
Trains are also one of the best places to socialise and get to know people. Nothing like a 30 hour train journey for awkward introverts (like me) who eventually give in after a few friendly smiles and end up talking to the neighbours. And the best part? You’ll probably never meet these people again. For all you know, you could portray a totally different life to them, and they wouldn’t even know!
If you are a person who loves meeting new people and getting to know them, this is the place. The bespectacled college nerd trying hard to impress that pretty girl in the next seat, the middle aged couple who keep rattling their luggage and carry huge bags with food enough for the entire bogie, crying babies who magically start crying when you try to sleep, old aunties who somehow manage to steal the lower berths and business travellers who are teleported into their laptops/smartphones, I’ve seen them all. I’ve made a couple of really close friends on my journeys and managed to stay in touch with a few, after so many years.
Train journeys are thrilling. The hills, the narrow bridges with steep falls, the mountains surrounding you, valleys dotted with small houses, the flowing rivers and the floating clouds. They make you seem insignificant. They give you an opportunity to soak in the beauty and bliss of nature.
One of my photographer friends had this to say ‘the photos I’ve taken in moving trains have been better appreciated than the ones taken during my still assignments.’
Food is a crucial part of Indian train journeys and adds on to the awesomeness. It starts right from the ‘Chai Garam’ shouts. The Pazham pori in Palakkad, Puri-dum aloo in Kharagpur, oranges in Nagpur etc. are a few examples. A stark contrast to the cold, inedible food served in airplanes, the food you eat at railways stations/trains just elevates the experience of the train journey.
Ultimately, trains spell freedom. You’re not confined to your seat as you would be in buses or airplanes. Unlike the uncomfortable can’t-stretch, can’t move sleep that you have in airplanes, trains have a way of rocking you to sleep.
If given a choice, I would go for trains every time. You might save time with an airplane, but you’ll lose a lot more if you skip the trains.
Well, isn’t the journey more important than the destination?
