Journeying by train

Back in the day, we eagerly looked forward to our summer vacations as this meant a train trip to KGF where my paternal aunt lived with her kin. Our home was within a stone’s throw from the Bangalore East Railway Station and we used the trains bound for Madras (now Chennai) to commute. My father would ensure that it was only a flying visit and we would be back in a day or two.

The trains those days were pulled by a coal-fired steam engine. I remember how the engine was made to ‘warm up’ initially before commencing the journey. As the train chugged out of the station it sent out an enormous amount of smoke into the air. The sound of the locomotive engine and the iron wheels turning on the railroad track excited us and we would watch enthralled as the trains arrived and departed.

Long journeys would inevitably see the passengers’ clothes blackened by the ash produced by the steam engine. It was also amusing to find people make a bee-line for the train to fetch hot water after it screeched to a halt at the stations en route.

As tiny-tots we had great fun travelling by rail and playing on the tracks. We watched with awe as the engine-driver scooped up coal with the aid of a shovel and hurled them into the furnace. My brothers and I would make it a point to grab a window seat and watch the fields, meadows and lakes roll by.

The sight of storks, cranes, pelicans, ducks and other water birds would make us jump from our seats in excitement. Besides, crisscrossing the tracks on our way to school and back every day we also ventured to place coins on the tracks and kept the flattened metal pieces as souvenirs after the trains ran over them.

Unbelievably my better half’ had never undertaken a train journey. Her debut ride on rails was on the toy train — the Puttani Express — that entertains kids at Cubbon Park in Bengaluru. And this came only after our wedlock. She finally got to travel by train when I availed my LTC to holiday in Hyderabad.

I have also had some unpleasant experiences on train. Once a fellow passenger got into a shouting spree with another passenger over a trivial issue. There was another unpleasant moment that I had to endure on a train journey. Initially, the task of reserving my train tickets was entrusted to an agent.

When I boarded the train I was shocked to learn from the TTE that I was holding a cancelled ticket and was asked to deboard. A quick check with my agent revealed the ugly truth — he had cancelled it in error. Stumped by the sudden turn of events but holding my nerves in check, I managed to grease the palm of the official and complete the journey unscathed.