This is an offshoot of whatever I had been rambling on my digital media ventlets, that travel is not a journey anymore. We make trips today that fail to become journeys like they used to once; when we travelled by train, and to be more precise when we travelled sleeper class.
Flashes of images that describe my train journeys best are huge tiffin boxes or what we used to call carriers, loaded with food for every meal during the journey. These are the ones who swore by home-food or the ones who believed the pantries in the train served unpalatable food. Then, there were these playing cards and a couple of other board games that my mother used pack for us, apart from the huge stock of maagazines which she used to pack for herself.
My dad was briefly working in Faridabad and Chandigarh when we were kids and since our grandparents were in Chennai and Madurai, our journeys were never less than 48 hours by train. Train was the only option we had, given the resources we had back then and not to mention sleeper class is what we always travelled. The fun with sleeper class coaches are those windows. My brother and I used to constantly fight for the 'window seat' and prayed very ardently before every journey that there be no other kids in our compartment to share those windows with us!
Everytime, my mother left the northern city to take a vaction at her mother's place, there has to be this 'teary eyed scene' of leaving my dad back for the next couple of months. Of course, this scene repeated itself on our journey back, crying about leaving her mother back. Once we boarded, we used to get gifted with a bag of Uncle Chips or Ruffles Lays, a Reader's Digest, a Tinkle, a Gokulam and a Champak from the HigginBothams store at the railway station.
As the train left, began our eat, sleep, play routine. If we travelled from the north to the soutth, then we had those Frooti treats too. Sometimes, my mother used to carry a huge carton of it only to surprise us now and then, whenever we became too unmanageable for her.
The whole highlight of a train journey is it's scope to give us new friends. Friendships that very rarely travel beyond your respective destinations. As I grew up and I realised the rareity and preciousness of train-friends, I decided to click photographs of everyone I befriend on a train. I still have a seperate folder in my computer and small album of hard copies for my train friends. It is small, obviously because as I grew up blame it on our improved finances, change of priorities and lack of time, our train journeys had reduced to almost none at all right now. Even if I did today, sadly, the joys of sticking your head out of an open window in a sleeper class mean nothing to me anymore. I make sure I have a first class coupe or 2-tier berth only so that I can sleep well during the Trip. It is indeed not about the journeys anymore.
3 comments:
Nice one.. many of the old memories brought back :-) agree with all.. except the Uncle Chips part. we used to get a packet of Parle G biscuits, chips are more recent additions.. I belong to 1 generation previous to yours !!!
Yes. Ranjini you are right. Chips were only allowed during such train journeys, else it was a no-no. I was probably the first generation introduced to such branded chips. It was only in the early 90's that all such branding and colourful packaging came in. I remember.
Really enjoyed reading it, especially the 'train friend' thing- really want to be on a train it has been almost a decade since I boarded a train in India
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