Subscribe to Desicritics
A Train Journey in India
Dr Bhaskar Dasgupta
While in India, I took a trip from Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh, the most populous state in India to Bhopal and the capital of Madhya Pradesh, the biggest state in India. Strangely enough, despite these superlatives, these two state capitals were historically not that well served via transport. This train itself is of recent provenance. Is it because both cities are more bureaucratic and more politically driven rather than driven by industry?
Anyway, instead of taking two flights, we usually take this overnight train. The only regret is that the earthenware kullar's cups are no longer to be seen anywhere on this journey. What's the fun of travelling on trains without having tea in a kullar and slurping it loudly and dunking Parle G or Marie biscuits in it? Sometimes modernity is a bummer.
This was an overnight train as you can see. The A1 sign is an indicator that the coach is an air-conditioned car and you can see the serial number of the coach. You might be able to see the berth numbers stenciled above the window as well. The windows are darkened to keep the cabin cool in the sweltering Indian plains, even in winter.
One very interesting aspect that I have noticed around Indian railway stations is the prevalence of advertisements relating to STDs. Lucknow station was no stranger, with a giant bill-board right outside the entrance of the station, proudly advertising medical services to treat all kinds of sexual medical problems. Is that because railway stations are population hot spots or because they are anonymous? But then, we do not then find them at bus stations. Curious, I am not sure why that is the case.
The railways are the major arteries through which goods flow across India. Whether packed in cardboard boxes or well packed in wooden boxes, they will go across India on these steel arteries of India.
On the left, you will see the familiar reservation charts. At one point in time, when there still was no or very little computerization, these charts usually would have a huge huddle around them, everybody trying to make sure that what was printed on their tickets is what is being shown on the reservation charts. One good thing about automated reservations, I guess, is that the scrum is absent.
Mind you, that list was also great when I was young, you could check out the, erm, potential scene in the train. Many an interesting assignation have matured from that glance at the bogie reservation chart. And here's a train on the right pulling into the station, while I am talking about pulling of a different kind.
Here's one of the fun parts of travelling on the railways, you get to purchase lovely books. Incidentally, the red book in the shop window has been authored by the lady wife. Many authors and characters were introduced to me via AH Wheeler, Alfred Hitchcock, Hardy Boys, Agatha Christie, PG Wodehouse, RK Narayan, Nick Carter, and so on and so forth.
And then you have the rather usual sight of people sleeping on the platform (on the left) or outside the railway station on the pavement (on the right). It was December, and it quite cold. You can see from the clothes that people are wearing, shawls, sweaters, jumpers, scarves and the lot. And now you see people sleeping outside in the cold, on the freezing floor, and all covered up. They don't even mind the cacophony around them, peacefully sleeping through the night.
In the morning and deep inside MP territory and you start to have a typical winter landscape. After harvesting the kharif crop, the fields are then planted with the rabi crop. The trees in this region are generally very thorny, they have to be, because the poxy goats rage all over the place.
Another aspect of these trees is that they actually do not have much wood inside them given their size. Which is another reason for their survival, otherwise they would be cut down for firewood. Finally, these trees are quite happy with near drought conditions, content to grow with a minuscule amount of water. As you can see from the picture on the right, this is going over one of the major rivers in MP and it is already down way below the pillars. In the monsoon time, the water would be half way up the pillars.
Passing a small town. Fairly typical mixture of mud houses and brick construction, without much imagination either in the architecture, straight up and down, boxy construction. Although as one can see on the above bottom right photograph, the fact that a tree is growing in the middle of the house is never a problem.
One can see the entire life being played across those balconies, whether its being given a bath, or sitting and studying, or drying clothes or the tragedy of Indian countryside, plastic bags littering the ground.
See this small stream, filthy, covered with scum, the banks covered with those poxy plastic bags. What can you say about them but to sigh?
We usually do not have a problem in keeping our temples clean and tidy. Whether it is a huge white washed temple like the one on the left or a tiny tiny temple at the base of a tree in a cow-dung washed courtyard on the right, those are well maintained, clean and looking pure. But look closely at the place just outside the low boundary hump of the picture on the right, the ubiquitous plastic bags littering the floor. Absolutely an eyesore.
Now we see some views of a small town railway station. People are waiting for their train, the A shaped water fountain, a normal diesel train engine and one of the electric, green inspection engines. The kids got very excited about it all, apparently it was something to do with Thomas the Tank Engine.
The last photograph is very evocative to me personally. That is the other end of a train, also called as the brake or guard van. These vans contain a very Spartan bed which is the living and working quarters for the train guard. He is usually accompanied by his trunk (see that white box thing in the front), which has his name and home station stenciled on it. And they have three flags, white, red and green.
In the days where radio communications was not yet there (not that that exists right now, curiously enough, some guards communicate with each other, their train drivers, and signallers using their own mobile phones, funny, no?), they would use these flags to communicate with the driver or track repairmen or signallers. You can still see the guards, standing at the end, with a flapping flag held in their hands, when the train passes a signal box. It was also called as a brake van because in certain old trains, the chap would help the train's control by utilising the brakes on the brake van.
When I was a little boy, I once thought of having that as a career, what a great job, to be able to travel across the world, see great views, get to sit and read and not too much of the great unwashed herd bothering you way back in the train. Hmmm, perhaps I should explore this idea again! :)
And here are two cheeky monkeys inside the train, swinging around like little chimps.
Approaching Bhopal Station and noticing the familiar sight of a bunch of young boys playing cricket in the tiny space between two train tracks. The fact that it is between a drain and two train tracks, one side is full of rubbish, backed by a pile of earth, no matter, have flat piece of land, will play cricket. Chak de India indeed.
And another train approaching on the track next to us, passengers and hawkers looking forward to disembarking on the platform.
We pass the bastis just before train station. I have some rather sad memories of that place. Every time I pass that area, I am reminded of a monkey which survived that tragedy and I still remember its weeping eyes. Ever seen a monkey mutely weep and cry? It is not good. The area is a wretched area and dirt poor as evidenced by the shanty houses.
Anyway, on the better and bigger things. The end of the journey is in sight.
You will see one of those yellow big signs at the end of every railway platform, which announces the station in Hindi, English and the local language (in this case, Urdu). Got down, got a coolie (porter) who has got couple of suitcases on his head. What I find incongruous is the sight of an electronic clock and coolies. In the day and age where we have electronic devices and the lot, we are still relying on sheer physical labour. Finally we are now going down the platform and then down the steps to where my parents were waiting for us.
I cannot think of a better way to travel around in India than by rail. Wonderful time.
Technorati Tags: India, Transportation
A Train Journey in India
RSS:
- Subscribe to RSS 2.0 feeds for:
- » Comments on this article
- » Culture
- » Culture: Travel
- » Culture: Photography
- » Desicritics.org articles by Dr Bhaskar Dasgupta
- » All Review articles
- » All Desicritics.org articles
mbjesq
URL
August 20, 2008
04:11 PM
Chai in a kullar? Not likely. These days, it is rare to get real chai at all. Instead, chai-wallahs hawk tea-bags soaking in milky water in flimsy plastic cups. The advent of "dip-tea" sales is as horrendous in culinary terms as the use of single-use plastic cups (invariably littered to the tracks by inconsiderate passengers) are to the environment. Just another example of the eclipse of discerning taste in contemporary India.
commonsense
August 20, 2008
07:25 PM
the problem is that despite the horrors of railway chai, most people still buy it, just for the pleasure of exlaiming "b-chod, garam paani hai"!
smallsquirrel
August 20, 2008
08:23 PM
I dunno what a kullar is, but every time I went on long journeys on a train I got my chai from a dude with a huge-assed metal container. it was proper masala chai, milky and strong and piping hot.
oh those familiar repetitive songs of the wallahs "kappi! kappi! chai! tomatar sooooooooup!"
the soup is from powder, but the coffee was filter coffee, at least it was between goa and bangalore. between mumbai and goa the coffee was shite but I cannot tell you how many boonda and other chaats I ate! my local friends were all saying "oh my god stop, you'll get sick!" but I never did!
temporal
URL
August 20, 2008
10:11 PM
brought back memories
:)
used to practically live in them...mostly rajdhani and shatabdi...thanks to indrail!
ss:
kullar is a clay pot
biodegrdeable!
commonsense
August 20, 2008
10:18 PM
SS,
The refrain in northern india is a very nasal and piercing:
"Chaaaei, chaaaei, chaaei garam!! Chaaaei, chaaaei, chaaaei..."
Until you buy a kullar just to get rid of the guy. The kullar unfortunately has now been replaced by a wimpy plastic hangover of a cup.
commonsense
August 20, 2008
10:20 PM
BTW BD,
a great piece! Thanks!!
bd
URL
August 21, 2008
12:44 AM
and the bloody plastic cups would crumple and break, invariably spilling some on your trousers or on the table/floor. Disgusting thing. Sometimes modernity can be a bummer! :)
but yes, those times of getting "chaia chai" or "kapi"....
Passberby
August 21, 2008
06:06 AM
Yeah! Here we have an article written by an NRI/Desi-Origin who probably is disconnected with his London environs and then romanticises and accepts India proper with its filth and all. And the posts above only reaffirm this - bouts of nostalgia for what you left behind. If drinking kullar chai & traveling by train in india is so awesome an experience then why dont you all move back to India? Yeah! I did'nt think so!
And while we are at it why don't we ask a resident desi to post his comments/nostalgia on rail travel in India. Odds are it will be the opposite of the paeans sung here!
smallsquirrel
August 21, 2008
06:52 AM
passerby.. WTF? hey, I waxed nostalgic about my train journeys WHILE I WAS LIVING IN INDIA.
get over yourself. if you hate india so much then leave, it's probably best rid of you.
or better yet, why don't you stop jawing and try fixing some of the things that bother you.
Ayan Roy
August 21, 2008
07:07 AM
"And while we are at it why don't we ask a resident desi to post his comments/nostalgia on rail travel in India. Odds are it will be the opposite of the paeans sung here!"
Sorry to disappoint you Mr./Ms./whatever "Passberby", as a fully resident Desi, I have to say that I have a lot of positive nostalgic sentiments about journeys and escapades on the Indian Railways. I used to be crazy about trains when I was a kid, and wanted the train journeys to be as long as possible. My mother is testimony to the fuss and the scenes I used to create when the train would finally reach our destination and we would have to leave the bogie.
And I can say with a lot of confidence that I am not the sole resident Desi who has a fondness for the Indian Railways. There are plenty of others like me; heck, there is a large club of train lovers right here in Bangalore. Why don't you check out irfca.org for yourself and see the levels of love, craze and devotion for Indian trains and train journeys??
I just loved sitting at the window of the 2nd Class sleeper bogies and looking out to see the passing villages, hills, tunnels forests, towns, bridges, rivers, children waving at the trains, Stations, other trains, engines, railway tracks coming together and branching away, the electric poles; counting kilometer stones, and matching names of small quaint village stations on the gigantic Newman's Bradshaw Time Table (which sadly somehow got lost); and also counting the stars and trying to spot the band of the milky way at night when the skies were clear.
Even though with age the fascination, craze and wonder for trains and train journeys has reduced, I still hanker for a long train journey.
However, there are things which do bug me a lot, like the state of the toilets in general in most 2nd Class Sleepers; the levels of cleanliness inside the bogies (I remember curiously observing a rat scurrying up and down the floor in the bogie of the Rajdhani AC 3 tier about 8 years back); people spitting and littering inside the bogie put me off big time. Unfortunately I cannot control these factors myself.
But these negatives are pushed aside by the positive sentiments cause my mind is diverted to more exciting things, like looking out of the window.
Since my childhood, I have had one crazy wish; to be in the driver's cabin in the engine and drive a train myself :-)
Deepti Lamba
URL
August 21, 2008
07:46 AM
I still love trains. If there was a straight one that went from Bangalore to Delhi I'd take it. I want to take the train through the Ghats as well or through Rajasthan.
I love train food, always have- the evening chai and cake, the morning tea and omelets and not to mention the dinner.
Trains give me a chance to look, reflect and even relax. Air rides are a pain especially with antsy children.
Ayan Roy
August 21, 2008
08:30 AM
@Deepti - "If there was a straight one that went from Bangalore to Delhi I'd take it."
Well, here you are:
1. 2430/2429 Rajdhani Express: H.Nizamuddin to/from Bangalore City
2. 2627/2628 Karnataka Express: Bangalore City to/from New Delhi R.S.
3. 2629/2630 Karnataka Sampark Kranti Express: Yeshwantpur R.S. to/from Hazrat Nizamuddin R.S.
Deepti Lamba
URL
August 21, 2008
11:40 AM
Oh Goody!! I may plan a nice October trip back to sultry Delhi via the train. Thanks Ayan:)
kerty
August 21, 2008
12:55 PM
Railway gives a typical roadside view of India and it is so uniformly unappealing - even as a young, I dreaded train travel and much preferred travel by bus and car, and now by plane. I used to call them shit corridors of India - as train toilets dumped the shit right on its tracts, plus slums grown on both sides of tracts use the tracts as open air toliets - whenever I traveled by train, they were the first welcoming window view of any urban area in the morning.
Oh, the jostling to get inside the train car, ruthlessly pushing babies and women aside, fighting with coolies to make your way in, shameless manuvering to get the coveted seat, elbowing the fellow passengers to make a standing or seating room, and once one gets the seat, acting like they have won the war and now own that area of the train exclusively - In the age of easy reservations, people may not relate to days of second class travels without reservations - if you can get in the train car, you are eligible to travel, and if you can't, your ticket is no good, perhaps try some other train. It was do or die, survival of the meanest.
In the days of coal and disel engines, the whole train and train stations would have distinct stench that made eating in the train to be a horrible experience - especially when one learnt of those tea stalls often using water from toilets and other dubious sources.
Each train station tried to carve few unique food specialities and that was the main window to world of fast foods outside local fares for most people - people swapped stories of their favorite things and they lapped them up and eagerly looked for their favorite train stations - But I could never enjoy any food sold on train stations - I got by mostly on fruits, for I would not trust anything else sold there. The sight of those young children, I could not tell if they were begging or pleading to sell. And there was no escape from those deformed and handicapped beggers that roamed from coach to coach who had made those trains their home. For many, it provided the first encounter with the India's poverty and depravity and its magnitude. India looked different looking from a window of a moving train.
Chandra
August 21, 2008
12:57 PM
Seriously, I did not realise that a train journey can be so sexy. I used to travel by General class from Pune to New Delhi many eons ago. This is to meet my future wife. There was no other way because Air tickets were unaffordable and the odds of getting a reservation was very low (not even 2nd sleeper) on short notice. I would never wish to travel that way again, it is dreadful. You have no place to sit (most of the times)and the only way you could sit/sleep was by laying paper on the floor or by climbing onto the baggage holders on the side. The lights would never be shut in the night and you had vendors coming and out all teh time. Donot even ask how they traversed over so many people on the floor. The most exciting part of the journey was when the guy who sold the mastaram series of desi porn boarded the train. I cannot recall the cost of each book but it sold really well.
Since those days I have never travelled by GC again but i can recall a train journey on Dakshin from New Delhi. I think this was in 2003. The whole train was boarded in MP by goons from the BJP. It was a dreadful experience as we had to put up with the noise by drunkards the entire night. Not one railway constabulary staff or TCs attempted to stop them.
The best railway journey I have experienced is the journey from Visakhapatnam to my home district of Koraput in Orissa. It takes about 7 hours through green forests, 50 odd tunnels and small waterfalls. The best time to visit this place is in the rainy season.
bd
URL
August 21, 2008
01:20 PM
kerty, # 14 your shit corridors reminds me of that scene in "Annie gives it to those ones", where the architect proposes to grow vegetables along the sides of the tracks. He says, Yaar, we have fertiliser, urea, water and everything, perfect growing conditions!
I am sorry you found your train journeys so horrible. Its amazing how two people can see the same thing and react differently, no?
bd
URL
August 21, 2008
01:23 PM
Chandra #15. me and my future wife travelled on a train overnight, sitting on the floor in front of the toilets in the unreserved bogie. It was a very interesting journey. I would not call it sexy, but that strange mixture of romance and very high stench has been indelibly inked in my memory.
Also, in the 80's, there was a tv series on trains. I think they showed a north to south trip and then east to west. Nassiruddin Shah? It was brilliant!
bd
URL
August 21, 2008
01:25 PM
passerby, #8, thank you for your comments.
bd
URL
August 21, 2008
01:28 PM
Ayan, that website is amazing, and thank you for your nice comments.
The iron arteries of India....
Chaitanya S
August 21, 2008
01:35 PM
BD, "Its amazing how two people can see the same thing and react differently". Very well said ! I've never traveled long distances in India by train (except the Mumbai locals), but I'm sure a person's perception of what lies outside the window could be influenced by which compartment he's traveling in. I've heard first class compartments are a world apart from the second class or general compartments. A guy traveling in first class comfort would be able to appreciate the sights through the window as opposed to the poor soul traveling in the general compartment with all that commotion around.
Chandra
August 21, 2008
01:36 PM
BD, I think it was called Safarnama (?)
bd
URL
August 21, 2008
01:40 PM
#30 Chaitanya, oh! absolutely, no question at all, travelling first or AC is massively different from travelling 2nd or general. But I enjoyed trains back then as well, being a dirt poor refugee's son did not give me many opportunities to travel first, AC, or Second till quite late in my life when I started earning myself.
And frankly, between you and me, when you are a boy teenager, you have more fun in those bogies. Not quite mast ram but quite fun :)
bd
URL
August 21, 2008
01:45 PM
Thanks, Chandra, you might well be right. He was acting as a soldier being posted from one army base to another. And he travels up and down the country. Quite a nice TV serial it was. Strangely enough, I couldnt find it in my quick google search.
Chaitanya S
August 21, 2008
02:03 PM
BD, "when you are a boy teenager, you have more fun in those bogies". After checking my date of birth and slipping out of denial, I've realised that I have missed that proverbial "train" :-(
But I'll definitely try and give it a shot. Better late than never :-)
Ritu
URL
August 21, 2008
05:09 PM
Wonderful post BD. It brings back so many memories. The pictures esp. are wonderful. I have always loved watching wayside stations, small towns, abaondned railway yards, little villages (with the temple), the village ponds and the buffalos in the ponds. It is fascinating to see how the landscape changes from region to region. Train journeys were a wonderful way to discover the Indian countryside.
A group of friends had travelled from Delhi to Bhopal by second class sleeper compartment 10 years back (that was the last time I travelled second class) and it was fun. THe MP countryside is beautiful and lush. What I enjoyed most in those days was sitting on the steps of the train as it chugged down the countryside. The feeling you got when the train went over a bridge is indescribable. Not meant for people with vertigo obviously :)
After migrating to the US I have made a couple of train journeys in India for the sake of making them but they have mostly been by Shatapdi or Rajdhani. I don't think I am going to enjoy the grime of second class any more.
Incidentally Kullhad chai is very much around. Atleast in Shatapdi and Rajdhani. Railways serves the first cup of tea in a khullad. That was Lalu Prasad Yadav's contribution to India railways. I remember the Khullad tea tasted a little salty but had the fragrance of the earth which made it sooooo appealing.
@passerby : This is funny, because the first time I was visiting India after coming to the US, my nostalgia quotient was at an all time high. I had asked my cousin to book a train journey from Bombay to Pune (instead of taking a car as we had planned) and my brother's reaction was exactly the same as yours, book on her on second class, she will not ask for it again! But then he does not have the wanderlust that I do. I would still chose the trip down the western ghats on Deccan Queen on second class. That is the only way you can feel the rain on your face...
A train journey is not merely a method to get from point A to point B. It is much more than that. It is about discovery, reflection, bonding, travelling and observing
Incidentally, I tried a long distance railway journey here in the US as well on Amtrak. It was a great experience. My dream is to do coast to coast by train.
commonsense
August 21, 2008
10:06 PM
as a student of course, i traveled only in "third class", standing all the way for over 12 hours overnight trip. i remember an earthy comment by somebody, on a night when it was more crowded than crowded.
"baaap rey, jaisey boltoo sey kas dihin""
(damn, i feel as if somebody has tightened me up with bolts and screws")
bd
URL
August 22, 2008
12:40 AM
ritu, you reminded me of that great experience as well, sitting on the steps! :) closest you could get to "sitting on the dock all day"....
bolts, eh? CS? sounds like a good explanation, lol
Add your comment
(Or ping: http://desicritics.org/tb/8139)