Train Travels

A journey by train was the best part of our summer vacations and as a family, we looked forward to it every year. The destination was always the home of an uncle or aunt, and I can recall so many wonderful moments spent in their company. Later, we started adding one more destinations, a temple visit or a tourist hill station. But still, the most exciting part, was the train journey itself. How I miss them! 

For my family, arriving at the railway station in time, would be an understatement. The reality is that we would reach the Tatanagar Railway Station, in Jamshedpur much ahead of time. Trains were never known to arrive or leave early, invariably they were late. But still we would be there an hour before schedule. 

The next, was to go through the booking list. We always used to have our tickets reserved months in advance, however, until we saw our names on the list, we were never sure. The chart used to be pasted outside the compartment in the last moment, as the train trudged into the platform.

That's when we came to know our bogie number. One had to jostle and elbow ones way in order to get our bags and baggage inside. To ease matters, sometimes we would hire a coolie, who would miraculously appear and get our bags inside. 

Then we had to find our seat, almost always occupied by an unreserved traveller. After having proved to him/her that the seat was allotted to us, we had to get down to the business of securing our luggage under the seats and tying them all up with a chain and lock. Then we would sit down and wait for the whistle. That would confirm we were on our way. As soon as the whistle reached our ears, the see-offers would deplane in hordes and finally we could have a look at our our co passengers. 

It would take some time to warm up to our co passengers. But once, you became friendly, it was only a matter of time, till one started exchanging life stories and meals. Children would get together to play, adults too would chat away the journeys, play cards or regale one another with amusing experiences. 

Another aspect of train travel which I enjoyed was the meals. We would carry home made food for the first day of our journey. So would most of the other passengers as we always had to travel at least two nights and three days. The Gujaratis and Punjabis got lip smacking food. But the best of all was that which we had on station platforms. Poories and aloo was our favourite. I can still remember the delectable taste of the food we got in Rourkela station! There were many other snacks we would enjoy, depending on the state the train passed through.

And, sometimes, we would meet people who have now been forgotten but whose interesting anecdotes have remained with us. We traveled with one such family, and as the train chugged past Morena, they shared the experience of their uncle, a doctor by profession. Morena used to be a dacoits den in the Chambal valley. Their uncle, who was a doctor, was blindfolded at gun point and taken deep into the ravines, where he was sworn to secrecy for treating the King of the Bandits. He became their lucky mascot and would often undertake the treacherous journey, partly out of fear and party out of a false sense of helping mankind. The kind doctor lived to share a vignette from his exciting life. 

On our train journey from Bangalore to Hospet, the train came to sudden halt in the middle of nowhere, very early in the morning. It was not yet dawn. We observed 2 Korean gentlemen, in official gear, looking at their watches, and getting ready to alight. We wondered why they were eager to get off and they told us that their watch showed they had reached Vijayanagar, the station connecting Jindal Steel Works, where they had been deputed. It took us a while to explain that Indian Railways rarely maintained time and that we had another two hours to go. They were first time travellers and agreed to wait against their will. They must have learnt to take good advice when they got it. 

At another journey, our co passenger was a large irritable lady. But once we had settled down, we were shocked to hear her frightening story : Her husband, a travelling executive had been robbed at gunpoint by miscreants travelling as friendly copassengers. It was an immense  loss in terms of cash, which he could never repay. Depressed he killed himself. For her, a train journey has always been traumatic and trusting co passengers, even more painful. 

I'll never forget my visit to Baba Dham, the holy shrine in Deogarh, Bihar. After having sought the blessings of Baba Bholenath, we were on our way back home. It had been a long winding and tedious journey and as soon as we boarded the train from Deogarh, I fell asleep. I woke up suddenly, something seemed amiss. There was an eerie silence broken by screams and shouting in the compartment. I sat upright in the middle berth. A young man kept calling out to me, "Bhabiji, Bhabiji, get down". He was already hiding under the lower berth.  My husband was crouching and so were most of the other passengers. The young man continued screaming, "Bhabiji, you are too brave! Please duck before you are hit".

Only then did I understand the enormity of the situation. I saw two armed guards of the Railway Protection Force and they were pulling down all the shutters and the train was screeching to a halt. We heard gun shots and the policemen were returning fire and a pitched battle was going on. The armed bandits, hiding somewhere in the dark, were firing indiscriminately at a moving train. This time, a failed mission. Finally the all clear signal sounded and normalcy returned. 

These are just a few of the incidents which come to my mind, as Bharat introduces a new series of super fast trains connecting Metros. I'm sure the journey will be immensely comfortable but definitely less adventurous!