I Love The Railways.
By Rummuser. Filed in Uncategorized |
My love affair with the railways started when I was just a wee lad of five or six years when our uncle used to visit us from upcountry by train and bring with him stories of his journey. My first trip by a train was in a train like this.
That trip was when I was nine years old and took me with my uncle and aunt with whom I was then living, from Madras (now known as Chennai) to Bombay (now known as Mumbai), where my parents were living. It took all of two nights and a full day of wonderful travel and I can still remember the journey as though it was just yesterday. Subsequently, I have made many train journeys, but the first one sticks out in my memory for being the most memorable. The particular smell of the railway, the coal fired engines, the peculiar noises made by the running wagons, the noise and bustle of Indian railway stations, the outside of the railway stations with its attendant rickshaws or tongas or bullock carts, all are part of my growing up process and experiences, which sadly many young people now a days do not have access to.
In the beginning of my sales career, I had to undertake almost all my journeys by train and in those days, the early sixties, we normally traveled by over night trains and stayed at either the railway retiring rooms or just used the waiting rooms to bathe, change and work the market during the day only to catch another train in the evening. The nodal point of most of my travels used to be railway stations and I got quite friendly with many waiting room attendants, station masters and other staff members.
My mother used to worry about my running to catch a train and falling or have other accidents and once I started to fly, I used to joke with her that I will not try and catch a running plane or jump of a flying one.
There are many stories that I can write about individual journeys, some thrilling, some funny and some tragic. Each etched in my memory like as though it happened yesterday. I have used the metaphor of friends made in a train journey to be forgotten after the journey in many of my training programmes. I have also used some of the things that I had observed during journeys to illustrate some point or the other.
So, when I come across anything about railways, it always gets me nostalgic as this article in the Economist did. I just could not write about my own fascination with steam engines and the railways till I have been reminded to by my friend Sandeep, who too is a railway buff.
Most of Indian railways use Diesel or Electric engines like the one shown above, now a days and almost all our steam engines have been mothballed or sent off to the Railway Museum in New Delhi. The site is worth a visit to those interested in the railways.
The Indian Railways is one of those positive legacies left behind by the British which has survived, been expanded and now part of the life line of modern India. I for one, would prefer to travel by train whenever I can spare the time. I love the railway food, the tea, the vendors and just about everything else. I still love everything about it and take great pleasure in just watching trains go when I am stuck at a level crossing or from the top of a bridge over a railway line. I love to receive and send off people from the Pune Railway station. I am hooked to the smells!
I am sure that there are others there who have similar affinity to the railways and look forward to some interesting sharing from them.
Thursday, May 21st 2009 at 21:52 |
Rummy, I may have my #’s wrong! How did you pick up on that. Was it my “smile”?
Rummuser Reply:
May 22nd, 2009 at 09:16
Elementary dear Gail. Intuition. The smile helped of course!
Friday, May 22nd 2009 at 03:26 |
Jean Browman–Cheerful Monk´s last blog post..Beginning With the End in Mind
Rummuser Reply:
May 22nd, 2009 at 09:16
I am glad.
Friday, May 22nd 2009 at 03:27 |
I am very happy to see your first post on train travel, Mr. R. Looking forward to many more.
Traveling by train in India is a rare pleasure – especially in winter. Traveling by train in summer can be hellacious though. Unfortunately, the era of steam engine travel is over, all across the world. I still hope to travel by the little steam engine pulled train that goes up to Darjeeling, though! I have visited the Railway Museum in Delhi, many years ago, and hope to do so again in the near future.
I hope many such Percys and Henrys are built in the future (as mentioned in the Economist magazine)
Sandeep Gupta´s last blog post..Music: The Million Dollar Quartet
Rummuser Reply:
May 22nd, 2009 at 09:15
Hold you breath. Come they will.
Friday, May 22nd 2009 at 04:47 |
Great of you to share your memories of train travel with your readers. I used to take the train from my home in Montana to family in Minnesota…The upper car had glass windows and provided beautiful views of the landscape. Your memories brought up warm memories for me. Thanks!
Renee´s last blog post..No Panic Necessary!
Rummuser Reply:
May 22nd, 2009 at 09:15
Train travel anywhere in the world is fascinating and you get to see a lot of the countryside as there is little else to do! I am glad that you found the post interesting.
Friday, May 22nd 2009 at 06:10 |
My mother once wrote E.B. White (famous American writer….do you know of him?) about a wonderful train ride we took in Kenya. She knew that he, too, loved trains. So I’m now in possession of his wonderful letter back. Yes, trains are magical. Journeys that have enough slowness to them, with the opportunity to see the land, to dream, and to chat with fellow travelers: very special.
Jody´s last blog post..Rats
Rummuser Reply:
May 22nd, 2009 at 09:14
If you are talking about E B White who wrote children’s books, yes I know of him.
The reply from him must be priceless! Care to share in your blog? Should be interesting.
Friday, May 22nd 2009 at 07:47 |
I fell in love with train travel living in Japan, but I bet it is much different from India of the 1960′s – or even today.
Locally, the California environmentalists insist we should have trains, but then fight to have no more than two story construction within several kilometers of the train station, because that would spoil the view!
Looney´s last blog post..
Rummuser Reply:
May 22nd, 2009 at 09:12
Our urban railway systems in Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkatta and Chennai are absolutely mindblowing in the service they render to local commuters. Mumbai particularly is an amazing phenomenon. You have got to experience it to believe it. I shall try and post another article on Mumbai’s suburban train service with some photographs.
Friday, May 22nd 2009 at 08:34 |
I was about to have my 4th child when visiting my parents. My husband had to go back for his job & we were building a house at the time. My mother said I needed to have the baby there because my due date was due. When Baby was a week old, we bought a picnic basket to carry her. (Still have it after 43 years.)
Then we traveled across most of the USA by train. We slept on the floor of the train. At a stop I went to get food & left the kids with a nun on the platform. The oldest boy (age 7) was platinum blond, the baby almost black hair. (Same father- Other two were in-between that in hair color.) The nun was probably worried I might not come back. She could see no father!
I LOVE train rides. Only other one I took was traveling around Mexico with husband & his mother.
Rummuser Reply:
May 22nd, 2009 at 09:10
Why did you have to sleep on the floor of the train? May be worth a full blog post! Care to write a guest post?
bikehikebabe Reply:
May 22nd, 2009 at 10:28
This was in 1963 in the USA where we didn’t have so many people. I only remember a couple of other people in the car. I don’t think there were sleeper cars on this train. If there were, it was free not to use them. We’ve slept in tents on the ground a 100 times.
I remember coming back from abroad & lying in the isle of an airport, so sick, I didn’t care who stepped on me.
Rummuser Reply:
May 22nd, 2009 at 21:56
You really must blog about your experiences. They are absolutely fascinating.
bikehikebabe Reply:
May 22nd, 2009 at 23:16
My life is boring. It’s WORK,WORK,WORK. I have the ambition to do it all, but not the energy anymore.
Rummuser Reply:
May 24th, 2009 at 17:19
Okay. Understood. I shall do the dirty work and write if you give me the outlines!
Friday, May 22nd 2009 at 08:38 |
We have a wonderful Train museum in Sacramento California. I have been there a few times, and I always enjoyed most going inside the dining car they have on display.
http://www.csrmf.org/default.asp
Delirious´s last blog post..Ding Dong The Witch is Dead
Rummuser Reply:
May 22nd, 2009 at 09:09
There are super fast trains between Mumbai and Pune which also have dining cars, which are favourite places for me too!
Friday, May 22nd 2009 at 13:10 |
Gosh it is years since I traveled by train. This post brought back memories to warm my heart!
Grannymar´s last blog post..Jumping Jerusalem
Rummuser Reply:
May 22nd, 2009 at 21:55
More on the way by and by.
Friday, May 22nd 2009 at 16:20 |
I traveled across Australia on the train in mid-summer. It was so hot that the tracks buckled, and we had to wait in mid-trip for them to be repaired. I got tired of watching kankaroos outside the window for 2 days.(it wasn’t that bad) Trains are a great way to travel! Rummy. when to come to the USA, take that trsin under the ocean. I hear the sights are great!
Rummuser Reply:
May 22nd, 2009 at 21:54
Will take your advise Gail. Except that the US establishment is unlikely to give me a visa due to my beard!
Friday, May 22nd 2009 at 16:27 |
Sorry Rummy, I submitted before I corrected my spelling. I was reading Conrad’s present posting and am not seeing straight.
Rummuser Reply:
May 22nd, 2009 at 21:53
Yes, Conrad’s posts can have that effect. No need to apologize. I fully understand.
Friday, May 22nd 2009 at 20:19 |
Ramana, you have touched a chord and brought back memories of childhood. I may not have travelled as extensively by rail as you have, yet each of those journeys taken annually are an affair to remember. The anticipation for journey to commence, after the torrid and anxious wait for school results (normally disastrous!), the packing and re-packing of just the two pairs of shorts & shirts and the toothbrush (you used a pair of clothes and the toothbrush every day!). Finally, on the day of travel the aroma of the tiffin carrier being packed to see you through two days & a night. To this day I have that nostalgic train journey menu very often – “Dahi-Bhat” with “tadka”, the dry “Aloo picnic bhaji” and mango pickles.
The fact that you looked like nothing on earth at the end of the journey didn’t matter – the coal camouflaged & streaked your face, the matted hair with coal particles abounding and the sounds & smells of vendors on each station enroute ! Finally, the unmatched character of the steam engine with its brass parts gleaming.
Today, we live in close proximity to the Delhi-Jaipur railway route and but no passing diesel engine matches the majestic arrogance of a steam engine.
In school there were many boys, either parsis or Anglo-Indians, whose respective fathers were Class I Grade Mail Engine Drivers or Firemen of comparable grade in the GIP Railways on the Bombay-Howrah route! A few of us boarders, including my brother & I, often got invited to their homes in Railway Colonies by turn, and, the kindness of each of the families was always overwhelming. They shared every bit and lived life to the hilt. Each of their modest homes were neat, clean & always polished. Homes looked like a mini rail museum with pieces of well preserved, polished memorabilia displayed. The pride the head of each of the family unmistakeable & displayed in his appointment was evident. This is rarely, if at all, seen in this era of decayed values and sensibilities. The best part of my schooling was in Christ Church “Jubbulpore”, now Jabalpur, where a large Railway Colony exists.
Many thanks Ramana. It indeed was a pleasure to read your piece. Further compliments on the choice of subjects and the way you write.
Rummuser Reply:
May 22nd, 2009 at 21:49
Anil, what a fantastic response. My experience with many railway employees too have been of the best kind and you are right. There was always warmth and affection and the colonies were really very nice places to grow up in as some of my railway brat friends tell me. Jabalpur railway station was one of my favourite places and I used to go there from Bombay by the Howrah Mail via Jabalpur! There were two Howrah Mails, and the other was via Nagpur which also was a great train to travel by.
I also fondly remember my association with Jamalpur. Another wonderful railway town in Bihar. Yes, if I start off about the Indian Railways I can never stop.
Saturday, May 23rd 2009 at 00:56 |
I spent sometime(2 months) in Japan, and I would have to agree, the “bullet trains” are fantastic.
Rummuser Reply:
May 24th, 2009 at 17:18
We are about to introduce equivalents in India shortly!
Sunday, May 24th 2009 at 00:00 |
I am not a big fan of the railways I admit, but I always have fond memmories of the train journies to mysore which were frequent during my childhood. Lately trains just mean backpain and cockroaches. But I always will have the greatest of respect for the Indian railways. They have done such a good job in managing the lifeline of the ordinary traveller!
Ashok´s last blog post..Duck tales
Rummuser Reply:
May 24th, 2009 at 17:16
That is the pity that I talked about. When I was your age, it was the hight of adventure and other friends envied people like me who were salesmen and who could travel the way we did.
Tuesday, June 9th 2009 at 19:11 |
I’ve never been on a train before..how tragic could I be?..lol..But, I really hope one day I could ride one. Especially those bullet trains in Japan.
Rummuser Reply:
June 10th, 2009 at 17:36
You will. I understand that even the USA is contemplating the bullet!
Friday, September 4th 2009 at 19:08 |
Indian railways are great! Testament to that is how hard it is to get a ticket! You have to book weeks in advance. So darn cheap as well… I’ve travelled Sleeper, 2AC and 3AC, and all were great experiences. Met so many decent Indians who were more than willing to share both their food and their stories.
Tuesday, September 29th 2009 at 19:03 |
Wow – Ive always wanted to travel through India. Some of my friends have done it and theyve told me the nature is spectacular. I think a train could be a great (and economical) way to see the country…
Rummuser Reply:
September 29th, 2009 at 20:20
Do that. You will not regret it.
Friday, November 6th 2009 at 17:58 |
I am amused by your fascination about trains. I would want to share my own experience with trains when I was a child. My dad worked for a train company so I basically spent my entire childhood in the company of trains.
India has amazing culture and I want to visit this place which shares my own love affair with trains.
Wednesday, November 11th 2009 at 18:54 |
Hey Rummuser,
Just wanted to mentioned that I did a trip through India midway through last year and was amazed. we did it mainly using bus transport which at times was very inconvenient (no toilet stop for 8 hours) but the country is very picturesque.
Rummuser Reply:
November 13th, 2009 at 10:29
Thank you. Yes, India is very picturesque from afar.