How did a colonial legacy like that survive so successfully in the most complicated nation in the world, and in time, become a symbol of affordable long – distance journey for , well, everyone who needs affordable journey? It is a question that has baffled me ever since I took my first ride, or at least the first one that I remember – a 5 minute hop and jump that my father arranged for me and my sister, between the two nearest stations. Well, not exactly since that moment – I was barely 6 years old then. But over a number of delightful, interesting, albeit not-so-comfortable turns at it, I had started to ponder about it at some point.
And interesting, they certainly were. Rewind to older times when it took two days and a half to travel from Thrissur to Mumbai (Konkan rail had not entered the minds of populist politicians yet). No wonder then that Mumbai had planted itself in my mind as a city far, far off. The journey was a roller-coaster through various different terrains and climates – through the climatical familiarity of central Kerala to the humid Coimbatore and Salem to the very humid Hyderabad, before somehow coming to its senses and finding its way back on the right track on-course Mumbai. But not before the passengers encountered another range of varied landscapes and atmospheric temperatures. This coupled with the variety of people you met inside the train ensured that there was never a dull moment.
Trains were, of course, the only way to travel long-distance if you were within the boundaries of mainland India. How I envied my cousins abroad who got to fly! Well, to be fair, if you were to embark on a long – distance trip, the planning was not all that different from going on one abroad. Preparations would start days in advance. Everything starts with food: What to cook – suggestions aplenty from those who claimed to have travelled long – distance on trains before and evidently survived on home-cooked food; When and how to cook – the sources would, unfortunately, be the same as before. How to pack: Funnily enough, this is one topic on which everyone has contributed, and no one has got it right. Atleast not completely. On one such journey to attend a wedding, my mother and her sister debated endlessly for weeks on how to carry their gold jewellery on the trip. Why they had to do it is a totally irrelevant question – to them, at least. How they finally managed to safely transport the precious metal over a few hundred kilometers fending off possible theft, kidnap, gangster / mob attack etc. is really beyond the scope of this blog.
I am running away with my imagination here as I have personally not encountered any of those scenarios during any of my train journeys. But, of course, strange things happen in India. And stranger things happen in Indian Railways.
Like the one where my friends and I had to ‘purify’ the berths with (what else) our deodorants after a group of pilgrims left behind ‘prasad’ that had definitely crossed expiry dates. Talk about practicing what you preach!
Or the one where I sat through an entire day without talking a single word to my co-passenger only to realize at the end of the journey that he was my sister’s friend.
Or the many occasions when I had to fight off cockroaches for half the night; and spend the other half cursing the guy snoring off to glory on the berth below.
Or the only time I was ever late for a train. Entering the platform after hearing the final whistle, I had no option but to hop in to the nearest compartment hoping that the barely discernable outstretched hand would grab mine in the most romantic Indian train image of all times. Alas, he was not the Shahrukh Khan figure of my life; but the guard who shouted at me for being late and told me to jump into the next compartment door. So much for life imitating DDLJ.
The Railways represent a lot more than just transportation for the quintessential middle – class Indian. For my grandparents’ generation, I am sure it could have meant a really special journey, as they did not do a lot of frequent long – distance travel back then (it’s an ignorant presumption, of course; as I have never really asked my grandparents about it). For my parents, it meant having fun while travelling long distance comfortably. I don’t think we would ever find a generation that was so much in love with the Indian Railways as they did. Travelling 3 or 4 days at a stretch was nothing at all- because it meant seeing new places (even if it was through the very narrow windows) and meeting new, interesting people. Indeed, they were the originators of ‘Transportation Networking’ a.k.a ‘I am so happy to be on this train that I am determined to spread the joy to everyone on the compartment’. At this point, I am forced to reminisce those mortifying moments travelling with my mother while she doles out the family history to total strangers, who she parts with as ‘next to best friends’ by the end of the journey.
Even for my generation - the last of the quintessential middle-class Indians who have truly experienced the joy, if not comfort, of travelling by Indian Railways through most of their growing-up years - the trains are more than just transportation. They are an uncomfortable mode of transportation that people have to resort to, till they are rich enough to always book a flight, or even better still, purchase a private jet. Social mobility is no longer determined by the compartment of the train you belong to – General, Sleeper, First Class, Second A/C, First A/C and so on – it is determined by the mode of travel.
It is therefore, only natural that, for the generation next, trains only mean ‘something that their grandparents did’. It is now officially cool to say that you have never travelled by ‘the train’ in your entire life! They have no idea what they are missing…
And interesting, they certainly were. Rewind to older times when it took two days and a half to travel from Thrissur to Mumbai (Konkan rail had not entered the minds of populist politicians yet). No wonder then that Mumbai had planted itself in my mind as a city far, far off. The journey was a roller-coaster through various different terrains and climates – through the climatical familiarity of central Kerala to the humid Coimbatore and Salem to the very humid Hyderabad, before somehow coming to its senses and finding its way back on the right track on-course Mumbai. But not before the passengers encountered another range of varied landscapes and atmospheric temperatures. This coupled with the variety of people you met inside the train ensured that there was never a dull moment.
Trains were, of course, the only way to travel long-distance if you were within the boundaries of mainland India. How I envied my cousins abroad who got to fly! Well, to be fair, if you were to embark on a long – distance trip, the planning was not all that different from going on one abroad. Preparations would start days in advance. Everything starts with food: What to cook – suggestions aplenty from those who claimed to have travelled long – distance on trains before and evidently survived on home-cooked food; When and how to cook – the sources would, unfortunately, be the same as before. How to pack: Funnily enough, this is one topic on which everyone has contributed, and no one has got it right. Atleast not completely. On one such journey to attend a wedding, my mother and her sister debated endlessly for weeks on how to carry their gold jewellery on the trip. Why they had to do it is a totally irrelevant question – to them, at least. How they finally managed to safely transport the precious metal over a few hundred kilometers fending off possible theft, kidnap, gangster / mob attack etc. is really beyond the scope of this blog.
I am running away with my imagination here as I have personally not encountered any of those scenarios during any of my train journeys. But, of course, strange things happen in India. And stranger things happen in Indian Railways.
Like the one where my friends and I had to ‘purify’ the berths with (what else) our deodorants after a group of pilgrims left behind ‘prasad’ that had definitely crossed expiry dates. Talk about practicing what you preach!
Or the one where I sat through an entire day without talking a single word to my co-passenger only to realize at the end of the journey that he was my sister’s friend.
Or the many occasions when I had to fight off cockroaches for half the night; and spend the other half cursing the guy snoring off to glory on the berth below.
Or the only time I was ever late for a train. Entering the platform after hearing the final whistle, I had no option but to hop in to the nearest compartment hoping that the barely discernable outstretched hand would grab mine in the most romantic Indian train image of all times. Alas, he was not the Shahrukh Khan figure of my life; but the guard who shouted at me for being late and told me to jump into the next compartment door. So much for life imitating DDLJ.
The Railways represent a lot more than just transportation for the quintessential middle – class Indian. For my grandparents’ generation, I am sure it could have meant a really special journey, as they did not do a lot of frequent long – distance travel back then (it’s an ignorant presumption, of course; as I have never really asked my grandparents about it). For my parents, it meant having fun while travelling long distance comfortably. I don’t think we would ever find a generation that was so much in love with the Indian Railways as they did. Travelling 3 or 4 days at a stretch was nothing at all- because it meant seeing new places (even if it was through the very narrow windows) and meeting new, interesting people. Indeed, they were the originators of ‘Transportation Networking’ a.k.a ‘I am so happy to be on this train that I am determined to spread the joy to everyone on the compartment’. At this point, I am forced to reminisce those mortifying moments travelling with my mother while she doles out the family history to total strangers, who she parts with as ‘next to best friends’ by the end of the journey.
Even for my generation - the last of the quintessential middle-class Indians who have truly experienced the joy, if not comfort, of travelling by Indian Railways through most of their growing-up years - the trains are more than just transportation. They are an uncomfortable mode of transportation that people have to resort to, till they are rich enough to always book a flight, or even better still, purchase a private jet. Social mobility is no longer determined by the compartment of the train you belong to – General, Sleeper, First Class, Second A/C, First A/C and so on – it is determined by the mode of travel.
It is therefore, only natural that, for the generation next, trains only mean ‘something that their grandparents did’. It is now officially cool to say that you have never travelled by ‘the train’ in your entire life! They have no idea what they are missing…
