Chennai - Brindavan Express
This story starts in Chennai. I had been to Chennai for a day on some official work. A room was booked for me by the company in a nice hotel.
I arrived in Chennai on Friday morning at around 6:30. Went to the hotel and freshened up and left for the official work at 10:00. Completed the work successfully and was back in the Hotel room by 12:30 in the afternoon. I was booked on a Volvo sleeper bound to Bangalore at night 11.
Now, this is where everything starts. I had my lunch ( a very good one at that) and came back to my room and slept at around 3:30. As all good (or bad) things start, I overslept and woke up at exactly 11 in the night. Now, the place from where the bus starts was about 45 mins from the hotel and I knew that I couldn’t make it to the bus. So, went and talked to the manager of the Hotel. The person kindly informed me that I can’t get any private buses at that time. Also, the government buses would end by 12:00 and it would be tough to get a seat on a Friday night. The other alternative for me was to catch the train at early morning. I decided for the later course and went to sleep (again).
Got up early in the morning and arrived at the railway station at about 5:30. I knew from the hotel manager that the Shatabdi express bound for Bangalore left at 6:00 and the next train ‘Brindavan Express’ left at 7:15. My goal was to attain a seat in the Shatabdhi. Unfortunately (or, was it fortunately?), there were no tickets available on the Shatabdhi and the Brindavan Express was also fully booked. At the reservation counter, they suggested me to try for a “Open Ticket” in the Brindavan Express. I being a complete novice in terms of train, stood in a queue and got a open ticket on the Brindavan Express. The first thing that amazed me was the price. The ticket price was Rs. 100 …. Whereas the price in the AC coaches were around 600 – 650, the price of a ticket in the General compartment was just Rs. 100. I never knew that the Indian govt provided such low cost facilities for travelers.
Now, with the ticket in hand, I started my search for the Platform number. Nothing on the ticket made any sense to me and I approached the Enquiry counter and enquired the person about the platform number. The person gave me an all knowing smile and said “No platform number. Keep watching boards.” I was truly amazed by this and stood with a mass of people and started looking at the Electronic boards for about half hour. Got a cup of Coffee Day Coffee for Rs. 7 and stood sipping my coffee with the greatest pleasure. At about 6:45, the platform number was announced as No. 11 and a whole lot of people rushed towards that platform and among them, was me.
My travel experience in trains is very less (very very less). It had been over an year since in traveled in a train (my last train travel was from Mangalore to Maharastra on the Mathsyagandha Express via the Konkan railways). And the most important fact was that, I had never traveled in a General compartment before. I had plans of taking a flight back to Bangalore. But, the curiosity within me got the better of me (It also may have been the low ticket cost). I arrived at platform 11 and to my great dismay, the train had not arrived yet. Being the exploratory person, I traversed the entire length of the platform( which was about a quarter kilometer). And just when I was at the wrong end, the train arrived and by the time I reached the other end of the platform, the General compartment was full. No Seats left!!!!
I stood on the platform and contemplated for some time “should I board the train or should I look at some other means of transport”. I finally decided that standing for 6 hours should be possible, especially after quite so many trekking expeditions (although, it had been over 9 months since my last trek). With this decision, I boarded the General compartment and found a place to Stand near the doors. This was to be my haven for the next 6 hours.
The journey started without any hiccups and soon the train left the railway station and was pushing through the country side. My thoughts were mainly about the persons standing next to me, who varied in language, color and creed. I was constantly monitoring the actions of three kids, who seemed to have blossomed a taste for supari and were chewing it continuously.
At the second stop (I don’t remember the station name), the doorway of the compartment was suddenly flooded with sacks and bags. As three women rushed in through the compartment doorway and started scolding everyone to make way for their luggage. I also noticed 4 young kids with these three women. They were so busy with arranging the luggage that, they forgot another person who had to board the train with them. My tamil being weak, could not understand who the person was, exactly. Once the train started moving and the women looked up from heir luggage, they finally realized that someone was left behind. And, this is where I saw Mobile Communication come into the rescue.
One of the kids removed a mobile phone from his pocket and called up the person, who was left behind on the platform. It came as no surprise that some of the luggage was also left behind. Anyway, one of the ladies shouted into the mobile phone that they will be getting down in the next stop and the person should catch up. This is where my thoughts turned into the age before the Mobile revolution stepped into India. If there was no mobile, then the whole situation would have turned into a big chaos with lots of rhona – dhona. This makes us appreciate the advancement in technology (do I really think so?). Anyway, one of the ladies and her kid got down in the next stop. The two remaining ladies with the three kids and lots of luggage occupied most of the area around the doorway (they occupied about 4 x 3 ft of area). By this time, I was getting a bit tired of standing in a single position. I tried a bit of moving around and settled back to my comfortable standing pose.
The three kids (2 boys, one aged around 10 and the other around 4 – 5 … one girl, aged around 1 year) were pretty quite throughout the journey. They made their usual noise, but, it was way too less compared to the noise that I am used to. As the journey continued, i was truly amazed by the way the two ladies and the children handled themselves. They made themselves quite comfortable in the space available and even had their lunch with cool ease. I recollected that even when we have a huge house, we are never satisfied with the space we have. We always carve for more.
The Journey became a bit tedious, when the number of people getting in became more than the number of people getting out. At one point of time, i was stuck b/w all those people and couldn't even move my legs a bit. After about 5 hours of the journey, my legs finally started paining. Without breakfast, standing in the train for nearly 5 hours isn't the best deal. And, the stress finally started catching up on me. The worst thing was that i couldn't move around ... i had to even keep an eye on my baggage (which was just a medium sized bag). So, the best i could do in such a situation was to concentrate on what others were talking. Well, i did learn quite a few things.
I finally got a seat when the train reached KR Puram. So, the last half hour of the journey was spent by sitting near a window and wondering about the railway tracks (hihi ... i always seem to find a new subject).
This story starts in Chennai