With Sunday comes the pleasure of reading news paper and with news paper comes fact and on one small section of the newspaper the article said “celebrating 160 years of Indian railways”. The first thought that came to my mind “ten years over”. I remember the last time when Indian Railways celebrated 150 years; I had been to Dadar station to check the vintage steam engine train which rolled out from VT. It zoomed past us and reminded us of everything that was good!! As I see this article today the memories of journeys keep flashing in my mind…the ones that had made great friends and great travel.
I travelled by train when I was three months, I reached the land which I call my own – Bombay. Yes, I share a very old relationship with Indian railways.
My earliest memory of travelling by train was to my home town Ernakulum with my paternal cousins. Our train had been christened by many I presume as we used to call it Jayanti Janta express, the cape express or as found in the site as Kanyakumari express. For me it is still the Jayanti Janta express. Our journey used to take us 36 hours, but what a journey it used to be. The Sahyadri Ghats, Khopoli by evening, food at Pune, marble stone at Shahabad and monkeys at Dharmavaram. Though my favorite of the lot was the Ghats, the hills meant the world to me even then, the lonely trees, the dried up streams and the odd birds. The most interesting part was the station names Guntakal, Zularpet, Gulbarga, Salem used to find it too heavy to speak. We used to reach Zolarpet the following night at 11:30 pm and my cousin would wake us up with his constant chattering Zolarpet Zolarepet Zolarpet…a sense of dismay would fill us as my cousins would drop at Palakkad and we travelled all the way to Ernakulam. The minute our train touched the land of red flags a contagious excitement coupled with initial shyness would fill in and even today as I touch Kerala the same feelings flood me. The train used to travel through the heart of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra, Tamil Nadu and finally Kerala. Since the time they have cut the Ghats and made railway track on them I have abandoned this good old route but the memories of it are as still as fresh as ever.
I remember this one time when S, N, L and me had ventured out on our journey to Kerala all by ourselves we had such a gala time. The only embarrassing moment when was N went and asked the most good looking guy in our coupe “so what are your plans after PhD do you plan to do your engineering”. The urgent thought in our mind was to abandon the train and run away and let people know we are not associated with N anymore. Well all we could do was look through the window and discuss animatedly and pretend as if N does not exist. That is one journey which we still discuss very fondly about 4 girls with 13 bags of luggage for a stay of week. It was a high point of my life coz I believe the travel bug bit us at that time and we ended up loving travelling together after that.
Though the bug bit me in 2002, I didn’t travel until 2007 on my own. This time our chosen destination was Hampi and we travelled via Jayanti Janta express. I felt like a travel guide as I knew most of the stations by heart. Sleep evaded us as we were too excited about Hampi and the adventure ahead. M, G and I kept chatting way into the night. The railway guards had asked to down our shutters along ago as we would be passing one of the most notorious places on our routes, Daund. At 2’oclock we got tired of the shutters and opened it for a breath of fresh air. Our train stopped and we heard muffled voices and G vouched that he saw shadows outside. Well I peeped outside but till date it remains a mystery. We closed down the shutters soon after that and went off to sleep. Our destination was Guntakal and I was like Kareena Kapoor in Jab we Met. Remember the scene where she gets down at Ratlam and kept saying Ratlam. I almost shared the same excitement and kept saying “Guntakal”. Couldn’t believe I was down in Guntakal. We had one of the tasteless idli wada sambar and waved the train good bye. That has been the last time I travelled by Cape express.
Goa, my next destination in 2009 with office gang was one other adventure trip. Even though we booked our train tickets two months in advance our tickets never got confirmed but we managed an RAC on Konkan Kanya. With 21 people aboard, no tickets confirmed, and with a long weekend in the calendar it seemed like the whole of Bombay was headed to their favorite destination. The train was jam packed and you would have to believe me if I say there was no place to move in the 2nd class sleeper compartment. Even after having RAC’s we could not reach our bogies as there were too many people sleeping on the ground. We mustered courage and decided to cross three compartments but had to come back as we realized we were stepping on too many people on the way. Had we learnt rock climbing probably we would have made it to the other side of the compartment? Finally we did what others did sleep on the ground. Had few cockroaches as company but was glad that we got to catch few winks.
When you have friends in tow even the longest of the journeys seems the shortest. Our journey to Coorg in 2010 was marked by fun and pulling each other’s legs. It was a comparatively uneventful journey by the Garib Rath but we had great memories associated with it. We got down at Mangalore station to realize that D has brought down other peoples luggage too. We all had a sheepish grin on our face when the owner spotted our bags amongst ours.
Talking about adventure, my most adventurous trip in the train happened in 2011 when we were travelling to Chakki Bank. I have never travelled in the north by train, for me it was a first time experience. But boy!!! What a experience. I would call south boring but civilized. We were on our vacation to Dalhousie and were to travel to ChakkiBank via the Jammu Tawi express. From the minute we set on the train we realized that the train was stinky, dirty and probably the worst train that we had ever set our foot on. Thank God for the tissues, we kept wiping our seats for 5 mins and would look at white paper turn into black very soon. We somehow managed a few winks to realize that our train was running three to four hours late. But was glad in one way as we were in the centre of Punjab watching the wheat fields go by. Suddenly out of nowhere we could see a bunch of people asking us to pull the chain. As my husband puts it he saw death in my eyes. We realized our engine decided to go on its own without the train. The engine and the train both running at the same speed on the same track in the same direction but separately. Now wouldn’t your eyes pop out!!!
Every journey in train has led me into a state of imagination where I don’t want to come back from. The thoughts soaring, the walkman playing and no mobiles or whatsapp to bug you. Train journeys meant cards, walkmans, tasty food, eagle flasks, middle and upper birth, stinky toilets, the sweepers, tinkle digest, the river (Cauvery, Krishna) and the bridges, the wide expanse of paddy fields, the Sahyadris, the tunnels, the heat, innumerable thoughts, the memories and above all it’s the India that I know.
I travelled by train when I was three months, I reached the land which I call my own – Bombay. Yes, I share a very old relationship with Indian railways.
My earliest memory of travelling by train was to my home town Ernakulum with my paternal cousins. Our train had been christened by many I presume as we used to call it Jayanti Janta express, the cape express or as found in the site as Kanyakumari express. For me it is still the Jayanti Janta express. Our journey used to take us 36 hours, but what a journey it used to be. The Sahyadri Ghats, Khopoli by evening, food at Pune, marble stone at Shahabad and monkeys at Dharmavaram. Though my favorite of the lot was the Ghats, the hills meant the world to me even then, the lonely trees, the dried up streams and the odd birds. The most interesting part was the station names Guntakal, Zularpet, Gulbarga, Salem used to find it too heavy to speak. We used to reach Zolarpet the following night at 11:30 pm and my cousin would wake us up with his constant chattering Zolarpet Zolarepet Zolarpet…a sense of dismay would fill us as my cousins would drop at Palakkad and we travelled all the way to Ernakulam. The minute our train touched the land of red flags a contagious excitement coupled with initial shyness would fill in and even today as I touch Kerala the same feelings flood me. The train used to travel through the heart of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra, Tamil Nadu and finally Kerala. Since the time they have cut the Ghats and made railway track on them I have abandoned this good old route but the memories of it are as still as fresh as ever.
I remember this one time when S, N, L and me had ventured out on our journey to Kerala all by ourselves we had such a gala time. The only embarrassing moment when was N went and asked the most good looking guy in our coupe “so what are your plans after PhD do you plan to do your engineering”. The urgent thought in our mind was to abandon the train and run away and let people know we are not associated with N anymore. Well all we could do was look through the window and discuss animatedly and pretend as if N does not exist. That is one journey which we still discuss very fondly about 4 girls with 13 bags of luggage for a stay of week. It was a high point of my life coz I believe the travel bug bit us at that time and we ended up loving travelling together after that.
Though the bug bit me in 2002, I didn’t travel until 2007 on my own. This time our chosen destination was Hampi and we travelled via Jayanti Janta express. I felt like a travel guide as I knew most of the stations by heart. Sleep evaded us as we were too excited about Hampi and the adventure ahead. M, G and I kept chatting way into the night. The railway guards had asked to down our shutters along ago as we would be passing one of the most notorious places on our routes, Daund. At 2’oclock we got tired of the shutters and opened it for a breath of fresh air. Our train stopped and we heard muffled voices and G vouched that he saw shadows outside. Well I peeped outside but till date it remains a mystery. We closed down the shutters soon after that and went off to sleep. Our destination was Guntakal and I was like Kareena Kapoor in Jab we Met. Remember the scene where she gets down at Ratlam and kept saying Ratlam. I almost shared the same excitement and kept saying “Guntakal”. Couldn’t believe I was down in Guntakal. We had one of the tasteless idli wada sambar and waved the train good bye. That has been the last time I travelled by Cape express.
Goa, my next destination in 2009 with office gang was one other adventure trip. Even though we booked our train tickets two months in advance our tickets never got confirmed but we managed an RAC on Konkan Kanya. With 21 people aboard, no tickets confirmed, and with a long weekend in the calendar it seemed like the whole of Bombay was headed to their favorite destination. The train was jam packed and you would have to believe me if I say there was no place to move in the 2nd class sleeper compartment. Even after having RAC’s we could not reach our bogies as there were too many people sleeping on the ground. We mustered courage and decided to cross three compartments but had to come back as we realized we were stepping on too many people on the way. Had we learnt rock climbing probably we would have made it to the other side of the compartment? Finally we did what others did sleep on the ground. Had few cockroaches as company but was glad that we got to catch few winks.
When you have friends in tow even the longest of the journeys seems the shortest. Our journey to Coorg in 2010 was marked by fun and pulling each other’s legs. It was a comparatively uneventful journey by the Garib Rath but we had great memories associated with it. We got down at Mangalore station to realize that D has brought down other peoples luggage too. We all had a sheepish grin on our face when the owner spotted our bags amongst ours.
Talking about adventure, my most adventurous trip in the train happened in 2011 when we were travelling to Chakki Bank. I have never travelled in the north by train, for me it was a first time experience. But boy!!! What a experience. I would call south boring but civilized. We were on our vacation to Dalhousie and were to travel to ChakkiBank via the Jammu Tawi express. From the minute we set on the train we realized that the train was stinky, dirty and probably the worst train that we had ever set our foot on. Thank God for the tissues, we kept wiping our seats for 5 mins and would look at white paper turn into black very soon. We somehow managed a few winks to realize that our train was running three to four hours late. But was glad in one way as we were in the centre of Punjab watching the wheat fields go by. Suddenly out of nowhere we could see a bunch of people asking us to pull the chain. As my husband puts it he saw death in my eyes. We realized our engine decided to go on its own without the train. The engine and the train both running at the same speed on the same track in the same direction but separately. Now wouldn’t your eyes pop out!!!
Every journey in train has led me into a state of imagination where I don’t want to come back from. The thoughts soaring, the walkman playing and no mobiles or whatsapp to bug you. Train journeys meant cards, walkmans, tasty food, eagle flasks, middle and upper birth, stinky toilets, the sweepers, tinkle digest, the river (Cauvery, Krishna) and the bridges, the wide expanse of paddy fields, the Sahyadris, the tunnels, the heat, innumerable thoughts, the memories and above all it’s the India that I know.
No comments:
Post a Comment