Romancing the rail

Rail travel has become rather sterile and unromantic with the advent of air-conditioned Rajdhanis and Shatabdis. Rarely do we get to see the green countryside or the towns whizzing by. I have had my share of lovely train journeys that have left an indelible mark.

It was a biennial feature to catch the Grand Trunk express from New Delhi to Madras (now Chennai) on the way to Bangalore for my school summer vacation. Preparation would start well in advance and my dad would go early morning to the railway station to book our tickets. Those days it was not always possible to get confirmation for onward journeys from intermediate stations. Till we reached Madras Central we would not know whether we had confirmed berths on the Bangalore Mail.

The journey would be in peak summer so our first class compartment would become pretty warm half way through. At Nagpur station we would order for a large block of ice that would be kept under the seat to bring down the temperature. As a standard practice my mother would also buy a box full of delicious Nagpur oranges.

Invariably on these journeys I would somehow end up falling sick by the time we reached Bangalore. In successive years I had measles, chicken pox and mumps respectively.

It was an interesting experience to go to Srinagar those days. We would catch the train to Pathankot and then take the Dakota flight to Srinagar. That aircraft did not have the power to fly over the mountains so it was a scary experience flying through the valley till we landed. Our return journey was by bus from Srinagar to Jammu.

I ate curd rice at one of the highest altitudes at a dhaba in a place called Rambhan. At Jammu we caught the train to Delhi. The sleeper berths were different than what we have now. They were comparatively wider along the two sides of the compartment.

With apologies to the supporters of the Darjeeling and Nilgiri toy trains, the most scenic rail journey I have been on in India is from Kalka to Simla. After hogging on freshly made puri and sabzi at the station platform I caught the Railcar which was slightly bigger than a bus. Half way through we stopped at one of the quaintest railway stations at Barog.

It was very British in its architecture and we had a delicious breakfast in the dining hall served by a bearer in an all white livery complete with turban. As the train neared Simla, it started to snow. I managed to reach my hotel before the road got blocked.

Internationally, I would put right on top the train journey my wife and I took from Interlaken to Jungfraujoch, the highest railway station in Europe. It is a unique cogwheel train that passes through the Eiger tunnel and gives a beautiful view of several glaciers.
I have not been on an overnight train journey for several years now, what with airlines offering more attractive fares for long journeys. But, the experience is not the same.