Train travel has its own charm which cannot be matched by an aeroplane or any other wheels of motion.
The protagonist of this story!
After a long time I got the opportunity to travel by train. I grew up enjoying long journeys by train, where we would traveling for more than 40 hours! In that much time your co-passengers become your friends as well. As you share food, conversation and stories with each other!
Now that I am jobless, I boarded a train called the Yuva Express. Yuva literally translates to youth. A train run for the youth. Which essentially means, a no frills train, zero amenities at a supremely low cost. Low cost goes perfectly with a jobless state of being!
When I got into the train, I realised that this train was cheap in every sense of the word. There was no upkeep and maintenance of the coaches, the rake was in shambles, it was dirty and felt like I had gone 20 years into the past!
Because of the cheap tickets, the train was filled with people from the lower middle income. Which was fun. In daily life one tends to meet people from a similar background. In this 17 hour journey I interacted with people from different walks of life. From youngsters going to a big city for the first time to military personnel going home on leave.
A recurring trend I have noticed is that people with the least are the most willing to share. And my fellow passengers were no different. Each pulling out some tasty treats to share with me over a cup of chai (tea).
My journey from Delhi to Bombay was an overnighter and the air conditioning was set to Antarctica at night and my balls chattered and my teeth froze, or it could have been the other way around!
The ticket checker came around midnight and gave a cursory glance to the surroundings. He wasn't interested in checking tickets, he was only looking for empty seats which he could flog off for a handsome profit to desperate travellers.
The only infuriating aspect of the journey were the tea sellers. Who even at 3am would be yelling 'chai, Chai, CHAI'. Who in the bloody world is interested in drinking tea at that ungodly hour!
The lovely journey came to an end with me prepping up for an even longer bus journey. Let's see how that goes...
*Racing another train. This one in question is an intra-city train, generally called a local. If you look closely you will notice people hanging off the doors on a Sunday morning! *
This is quite close to the coast and fishing boats are a common sight
Apologies for the appalling photo quality. Clicked from a smartphone while sitting in a moving train! Will try to do better next time!