Well it might be kinda boring for you guys to read it but the I thought to make you part of my boredome as I sit here in this duronto express which got delayed thanks to the gujjar dharnas.Anyways As I sit here I can now go back to my first train journey and if I remember it correctly my first train journey was to vaishno devi in jammu , We were travelling in Jhelum express and it reached somewhere around in the afternoon Dad was still in army that time so we stayed in military headquarters.I remember another family travelling with us who had a daughter along with them and who fell from the upper birth with a great thud.My second journey was to Ajmer where we were supposed to go at my bua’s place and I remember I had drunk so much of khus khus that even my crap got green in colour. Sounds awfully beautiful doesn’t it ? As years went by and I grew up I was fascinated by train travels and there in grade 7 I remember sitting in Goa express on my way to pune to see my sister who was pursuing engineering. That was the first time I spent like more than 24 hours in a train . I remember being scared in the night when the train used to stop in the middle of nowhere and praying to god that it would just start moving.Grade 9 saw saw me moving from delhi to Bombay in rajdhani , from there to goa and back again to Bombay from where we went again to Aurangabad and returned to Bombay and ginally to the national capital.Grade saw my first alone journey to ajmer in shatabdi and grade 11 saw me moving from Amritsar to delhi in another shatabdi.Wait for 2 more years and I remember moving with one of best friends to pune that too in sleeper class. We met another guy on the train who was a guitarist himself and we sat there on the train doing nothing but playing guitars , talking about sex and how girlfriends are the most irritating people on this planet. While returning from pune me and my friend got really bored and we played ludo to pass some time . It was then that I tried to open up the pouch of letchup and by mistake I squeezed and some part of the ketchup it landed straight on an elederly gentleman’s bald head.Third year saw me travelling for the first time in a sleeper class to pune and guess what ? I ended up drinking from the trains pantry . Oh and I forgot we also had a college tour to mount abu which had nothing special except for the fact that we were drinking vodka in the bathroom and smoking cigarettes till police came and we remember throwing it away . Coming back to third year I remember the college trip to jodhpur and it was winters and I remember sleeping in the sleeping bag which was too cozy for my liking. Now as I sit here today on my probably the longest of my journeys I remember the three train journeys in the span of a month and this is my fourth one shunting between delhi and pune .
What I feel about Indian trains is the amount of excitement and fun that people tend to have in trains . They are mostly on holidays and they make sure that they have a lot of fun . Indian railiways is the best example of probably the classic Indian middle class struggle and yet how they manage to do it with a smile on their face . They are ever so helpful yet they are able to make their way out . Every time a train stops at a particular station the entire train gets down to treat themselves to tea and some local snacks . Certain hawkers get on the train to sell the local fruits , sweets , snacks and some other stuff which might be important on a train except a freaking matchbox. I remember the time I was going back to delhi , I forgot my matchbox and I spent an entire day getting down at stations trying to ask for a matchbox . Finally some other smoker took pity on my and gifted me that pack of matchbox. Though it is of no special significance I still carry it and have now labeled it as my emergency matchbox. The example of the matchbox I feel throws light on the fact that Indian railways and Indian culture are both interconnected and you get to see and observe a lot of people around . There will be early risers who will get up at 5 am to to their daily routine their will be late risers in the day who will find it hard to go about their daily routines and then there will be people like me who will me the intermediate connect between the two . I tend to have a lot of fun during these train journeys and I am always on the lookout of observing people , getting to know them , getting to know their tastes and all . I wonder if you people also feel like it
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