I felt colder than usual and this woke me up from my short afternoon nap. Pushing my head up, I looked through the big window of my Side Lower berth. The sky was getting darker with clouds on the eastern side and the slant evening Sun rays were falling on the trees and the hills around turning everything orange. It was a wonderful sight against the clouded backdrop, as the train rushed past at a pretty good speed. I adjusted and pulled up my blanket, to feel warmer.
That’s a full one night and one day spent on this journey on the Rajdhani Express. There was 12 hours more to go before I reached Delhi. That is one more night to spend. The travel is of 33 hrs from Bangalore to Delhi. I can’t recall the last time I had travelled this far in train. Ever since I started working in Bangalore, I had been making trips only in flights, because of the far lesser time taken and also for saving my earned leaves :) But now was different, the increased air fares took priority and I opted for a smarter choice.
I sat up and started observing the stations outside. Most of them were familiar while some names sounded new, probably new ones or maybe I forgot. I remembered my childhood days when I used to wait eagerly for the Summer vacation and the travel by train. It took 42-odd hours of journey to our native place in A.P. I used to stick myself to the window and watch all the stations go past. I had even memorized the names and timings of the places that went by: the ‘Petha’ at Agra, city of Jhansi, the tunnels through the Vindhya-Satpura soon after Bhopal, the fields of Oranges near Nagpur, the almost 120 degree turn at Wardha, where there was a chance to count the total number of coaches, dinner station of Balharshah, bifurcation of the train at Kazipet, the reverse run and a diesel engine pull after Vijayawada, the 2.5 km long bridge over river Godavari. . . . . .wow !! I feel nostalgic :) Things were more or less the same, but it was a different experience every year.
I felt like going through the same period once again this afternoon, as I looked out of the window and watched stations like Pandurna, Betul, Maramjhiri, Chichonda go by. I wonder how many of you reading this, recognize the stations I talked about :) These are towns between Nagpur and Bhopal on one of the main railway lines connecting North to the South of India. The
I pushed aside the curtains to look inside the coach and noticed all around. Two small kids were reading one my favourite childhood books : ‘Champak’ :) Someone shouted over in Kannada in the cabin beside, while the couple in front of me conversed in Marathi on when will the train arrive at their station and smiled at a mom scolding her kids in Punjabi. It doesn’t end here :) There were two army men too, who talked in Telugu, as a cell phone started ringing ‘Alay Payuthe’ somewhere at the end of the coach. I am not exaggerating the scene, indeed there were people from different parts of India in the same compartment.
I smiled to myself. “Indian Railways: bringing people closer, for 150+ years” :) Somewhere in that statement, lied some truth !
The Rajdhani Express trains were meant to connect the the state capitals with New Delhi. A completely air conditioned train with three classes 3A, 2A and 1A. The ticket fare includes meals and snacks too. I was sitting in the 3A that accommodates 72 passengers. I had boarded the train at 8 in the night. After dinner, I slept good, only to wake up at 6 in the morning. I felt like all day was spent in eating and resting. Believe me, it’s different when you have food included in the ticket price and you are continuously served :) It was bread slices with jam & butter along with two veg cutlets and 2 pieces of finger chips for breakfast at 8, with dip-tea. And for lunch, it was alu-matar, moong dal, chapati, rice, curd, salad and ice cream for lunch :) Just as this stuff was settling down in my tummy, it was snacks time :D a sandwich and lime juice. Wow .. whatever happened to my diet consciousness, I was already expecting a rasagulla for dessert in the dinner :P Even the paid meals in other trains are not of this quality. Of course, I was sitting in one of the best trains of Indian Railways fleet and the difference was obvious.
I switched to a different song on my iPod and slipped back into the blanket with thoughts about this experience on the long journey train. No seat belts, no overhead luggage, no heavy cost on your pocket. A full 2 Nights / 1 Day spent in luxury on the Rajdhani Express !
