TRAIN TRAVEL AND RAILWAY TERMINAL/JUNCTION

From Sampath’s Desk:

 

TRAIN TRAVEL AND

HUSTLING AND BUSTLING RAILWAY TERMINAL/JUNCTION

 

Trains have undergone many a transformation - Passenger train, Mail Train, Express Trains like Rajdhani Express, Duronto Express, Shatabdi Express, Jan Shatabdi Express, Sampark Kranti Express, Garib Rath Express, Humsafar Express, Kavi Guru Express, Suburban train, Metro train, Rapid train, Special train, Vande Bharat train, et al. So are the passengers. Times have changed and so are the scenes. A train journey in those days was less comfortable but more enjoyable with people around mingling quite freely. ‘Looking through the window' the natural settings and scenes outside was an attractive pastime with an optical feast for all passengers in general and children, in particular. But, today’s train travel is more comfortable with A/C coaches offering a slew of facilities and comforts. However, in the h-fi A/C coaches, with glass windows decorated with curtains, ‘seeing through’ may not be pleasurable, if not altogether possible, especially at night times.

 

As the train makes departure, face-to-face talks among the passengers would begin. There would even be inquiries about the family of the co-passengers. They would even move as close friends or distant relatives without any inhibitions. Some would also offer food to the co-passengers and many used to accept it. Nowadays, it is risky to eat the food or water offered by others, as cheaters are out to make tricks to talk to you sweetly during the daytime, make you unconscious and steal your things, and make good their escape with the booty leaving you in the lurch. Even the Railway authorities insist on passengers not accepting food or water from strangers.

 

Nowadays, passengers don’t mingle with anyone. After entraining, they would either start operating the mobile phone or viewing any tab or other electronic devices. They would remain reticent, unsociable, and standoffish. Even if you persistently try to talk to them, they would reply only in monosyllables. People behave business-like. Many consider talking to others is anathema and below their dignity. The free chitchats we had in those days are conspicuously missing of late. However, a silver lining is that youngsters readily agree to swap their lower berths to elders so that they can climb up to the upper berth to remain undisturbed and aloof conveniently avoiding any interactions with others. 

One of the busiest places is a Railway Terminal/Junction. ‘Chikku-bukku’ sound of trains, the whistling of station-master, blaring of multi-lingual speaker announcements, rattling trolley movements, passengers conversing and making clattering noises, porters flutteringly jostling hither and thither wooing passengers, mobile vendors ululating names of items they sell, etc. are common happenings in railway terminals/junctions. Passengers wait for long hours either in the waiting rooms or on the platform(s) or in any other convenient space, muttering and squirming, with children pestering their parents/elders to know when would their much-awaited heart-throb train arrive?

 

Every railway terminal is host to a minuscule India with people hailing from different regions waiting for their trains and talking in different languages. In the cavernous and gaping gloom of the Railway station, thousands of travelers like brisk bees pour down the hallways; the rustle and crackle noise of their feet, diverse chattering, thudding, banging, screeching noises, etc. make the place unique. Resonations of train movement including howling and hooting make a rapid-heartbeat rhythm for merry-making by adults and children alike.

 

Those waiting to alight from incoming trains would heave a big sigh when the giant rolling carrier majestically crawls into the terminus/junction and halts. Alighting passengers would bid adieu to those inside the train implying “Travelling is like flirting with life. I would like to stay and continue to be you, but alas I have to go; this is my destination station.”

 

Once a train has arrived, there would be ripples in the detrained crowd to rush out of the Railway Station as speedily as possible, like water gushing out on the sluices of the dam/reservoir opened!

 

It is always safer to be at the railway station well in advance of departure time for boarding a train, and for easy and comfortable ‘squeeze-in’ of your luggage. Otherwise, there may be high voltage tension in reaching the right platform at the first instance, and then hurdle-racing in the human thicket towards your bogey besides the inability to find sufficient space for your luggage in the train. Missing the train cannot also be ruled out. I would invariably be in station at least an hour in advance of departure time for comfortable entraining. Needless to say, ‘less luggage’ is the thumb rule for a possible worry-free and comfortable journey!

 

Once, my friend and I had to travel to a place in the North for attending a training course. The train was to leave at 10.00 PM from Chennai Central. Heavy downpours were lashing Chennai for the past couple of days then and it was still heavier on that night. Normally, in Chennai, suburban trains are the best bet for fast movement to reach our destination. In view of the pounding rains, I didn’t take chances. I left home well in advance to reach the Central Railway Station two hours earlier. My friend reached Chromepet Suburban Railway Station to catch a suburban train only to find, not before lapse of considerable time, that suburban train services stood cancelled due to flooding on tracks and other technical snags. After waiting for some time in the station expecting possible resumption of services in a short time which remained elusive for long, he took an auto, which had to leapfrog many hassles en route. Since he didn’t turn up even at 10.00 PM, I became jittery. But to my pleasant surprise, the train didn’t start as scheduled. Thank God, I heaved a big sigh on learning from a speaker announcement that there would be delayed departure. My friend arrived at 10.35 and the train started at 11.00 PM. I chided him for being lethargic and late.

         

The railway is the lifeline of transport and economic activity across the country. Two parallel rails uphold the philosophy of life between man and wife. If one rail were to stray away, life would turn disastrous. Again, true friendship is like two lines of the railway track. Though they might not meet or cross, they always go together. While a teacher trains the mind, the station master minds the train.

 

To quote Paulo Coetho, “Our life is a constant journey, from birth to death. The landscape changes, the people change, our needs change, but the train keeps moving. Life is the train, not the station. And, if you sleep on the train, you will miss your station; if you sleep at the station, you will miss your train! You can control your fate only when you are awake!”

 

Of course, happiness is a great journey. Isn’t?

 

 

R.SAMPATH