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While reading Monisha Rajesh’s terrific train travelogue “Around India in 80 trains”, I went back to all the train journeys I’ve made in my childhood. Rajesh’s book romanticises the chaos, excitement, haphazardness and thrill that only an Indian train journey can provide. What is true for life, is true for an Indian train journey too – there are no guarantees. Your ticket may get confirmed, or you might be waitlisted and would have to travel with an RAC ticket. The train might be on time when you leave for the station, but chance are you’ll reach the station and the barely audible announcement will tell you that your train is 2 hours late. You will carry your luggage and make your way to platform number 12 only to be told that the train will now be coming on platform number 6 instead. The platforms will seem like a timeline of advertising in india And nobody will know for sure where the coach will stop. We’ve accepted this uncertainty as part of the travel by train experience. There are some things we will not have control over. But whatever we can control, we do with extra care. Take luggage for instance. There is no 20 kilos weight limit. You can almost carry your 2bhk home into the train with slight variations. Achaars, water thermos, packets of puffed rice, blankets, radio sets and a range of other useless and useful things that tuck themselves conveniently in those huge metal trunks and suitcases that are counted every 5 minutes and secured by chains and locks. Whoever said that the journey, not the destination was important was not thinking about travelling in India. Here, we will adjust five people in one berth in a sleeper class train bogey. As an advertiser I think, that’s 5 impressions for the price of one for my advertising agency. We will fit 12 people in a tiny maruti 800. A family of five will easily balance themselves on a scooter or motorcycle. We have people crossing the tracks on foot to reach the other platform quickly. The journey, however uncomfortable, is just a means of reaching the destination. The railways are a microcosm of the India we live in- where the palace on wheels and garibraths coexist, where chai and conversation flow freely and no matter how crowded it gets, everyone’s welcome.
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