Feelings of a train journey!
It is a great feeling when one embarks on a long journey by train in India! The bogeys are neat and clean, the toilets are always dry and with water in the taps and flush. The smell of steel rubbing on steel coupled with the general smell of a lot of muck generated by a large number of people congregating and disbursing every day!
Those of you who have ever undertaken a train journey will remember all that.
Of course, I am talking of all those who undertake journeys by the third class in olden days and second class, these days! These classes have a fraternity of their own and a kindness to all thith who travel by trains! I am one of such travellers. And I still like to travel by the second class! This is the most humane class in the train.
The general compartment in this category is still better, but....but... the number of those in these classes have gone up to the extent, getting a sitting seat itself is a great effort, these days!
Earlier, I had traveled in this class on a long journey from Kerala to the distant Gohati in Assam, which in itself, was a bravado! I did it in five days in four trains. Now, all that has changed! Gohati has changed to Gouhathi. There is a direct train involving less number of days. In those days, I changed trains in Madras of the day, then Howrah of the day, New Bongaigaon of the day and landed in the great great Gohati.
Then my journeys for a long time was between Kerala and Delhi.
Now, I travel mostly between Chennai (my olden Madras) .. and my Thrissur.
The feeling once I get in is to get diwdat Thrissur. I thought most of the travellers had similar feelings. Almost all the travellers waited for the TTE, the Travelling Ticket Examiner to come and go! Once he checked our ticket, we go to sleep. If we get a good sleep, one get up at Thrissur and that is it! I have done the journey. Not always. Even though, most of the people slept through this journey, at times one is awakened due to a long stop or the train getting unduly delayed...!
It is a great feeling when one embarks on a long journey by train in India! The bogeys are neat and clean, the toilets are always dry and with water in the taps and flush. The smell of steel rubbing on steel coupled with the general smell of a lot of muck generated by a large number of people congregating and disbursing every day!
Those of you who have ever undertaken a train journey will remember all that.
Of course, I am talking of all those who undertake journeys by the third class in olden days and second class, these days! These classes have a fraternity of their own and a kindness to all thith who travel by trains! I am one of such travellers. And I still like to travel by the second class! This is the most humane class in the train.
The general compartment in this category is still better, but....but... the number of those in these classes have gone up to the extent, getting a sitting seat itself is a great effort, these days!
Earlier, I had traveled in this class on a long journey from Kerala to the distant Gohati in Assam, which in itself, was a bravado! I did it in five days in four trains. Now, all that has changed! Gohati has changed to Gouhathi. There is a direct train involving less number of days. In those days, I changed trains in Madras of the day, then Howrah of the day, New Bongaigaon of the day and landed in the great great Gohati.
Then my journeys for a long time was between Kerala and Delhi.
Now, I travel mostly between Chennai (my olden Madras) .. and my Thrissur.
The feeling once I get in is to get diwdat Thrissur. I thought most of the travellers had similar feelings. Almost all the travellers waited for the TTE, the Travelling Ticket Examiner to come and go! Once he checked our ticket, we go to sleep. If we get a good sleep, one get up at Thrissur and that is it! I have done the journey. Not always. Even though, most of the people slept through this journey, at times one is awakened due to a long stop or the train getting unduly delayed...!
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