My Journey on Indian Railways– Tragic and Dramatic

Indian Railways!!!… There was once a time when I loved travelling by train… The beautiful countryside view, specialty of cities for their food and chatting with strangers… It was fun indeed… But my recent past experience with the Indian Railways has been intensely horrible… Situation had become so pathetic that I used to pinch myself after getting down at the destination to realize if I had really travelled all the way by this train and reached here…  First instance… Journey from Pune to Nasik…

Actually at that time around 5 or 6 years back, we didn’t have any direct trains from Pune to Nasik… The best way to commute was by Bus… But the fare was pretty high and since we were living life of Somalians as students, we used to grab every opportunity to save some money so that we can buy some extra “Vada Pavs” , for a movie and Party when we get back to Pune… ;) !!! Anyways so this was a journey when I and my three friends decided to go home by train one day…  We had to board two trains, one from Pune to Kalyan and then from Kalyan to Nasik. We had not booked our tickets and we were already running late… With great difficulty we managed the tickets and since ours was a general ticket and the bogie was at the end of the platform we ran like horses as the train started moving. But, there was also a donkey in the race…

One of my friends had brought his antique Baba Aalam ki Peti… A heavy suitcase with handle broken… three of us got into the running train but the friend with suitcase was left behind… Just when he was about to board the train his suitcase fell down and his hidden treasure was all out … The treasure inside can be best described by the Brand Dixcy or VIP… Actually I didn’t pay much heed to it since I was already frustrated that the train was moving and one of our Gang members has not boarded the train yet and his entire luggage is scattered on the floor… Then I got down the train helped pack the suitcase and without actually locking it we both carried it and handed the bag to one of our friends in the train and then we both somehow managed to get inside the running train once again… After getting into the train we laughed our lungs out at the situation which we thought perhaps would be the last in our lives… But I had many more to come after that and I didn’t really realize it at that moment… :( 

Journey No. 2, from Hyderabad to my Native place… I had booked tickets under Tatkal quota and was going to my native place after a really long time. Just on the day of journey there was a presentation of all us GETs (Graduate Engg. Trainees). It was kind of unscheduled but I couldn’t escape that. So I informed my HR that I have a train in the evening and need to give my presentation first so that after completing it I could move and catch my train.

Everything was set and just as I was about to give my presentation our Quality manager came forward and said he too had to move early for his train and wanted his quality guys to finish up with the presentation. I had no choice but to see the watch ticking and waiting for those guys to finish the presentation. Finally with blood boiling inside my body, I went up to give the presentation. I didn’t really have time and finished the 20 minutes presentation in 5 minutes mentioning that all the slides are self explanatory and didn’t require any explanation and that too with sky high confidence. I could see the entire management and others sitting there with a look I guess must be thinking, “Has this guy invented a new theory that we don’t understand?” But who cares I had to catch my train first. There is no need to mention that I had scored the least marks on that day. I still had 1 hour and station was 35Kms from the office. I had a hope that I might reach station on time. I had hired a direct Auto to station and even agreed to pay him 50 bucks extra. The Auto went zooming and now we had 15 minutes time, station was 1Km away. But time khota tha and we were caught in traffic. I waited 5 minutes or so waiting for the traffic to clear. Thinking that this is of no use I got down paid the Auto Driver and ran like a dog this time whose tail has been tied to burning crackers. At last I reached the Station.  

The train was supposed to come along Platform 1 but when I went there I couldn’t see any train. I waited there to catch my breath putting all the 3 bags down and then sat down thinking about the train. I needed to know if the train has already left or not. A policeman was passing by and I asked him,” Sir, Vishakha Express abhi tak aayi nahi? Mere ko usme jaana tha.” The policeman looked at me from top to bottom as if scanning me for something. He replied in his typical Hyderabadi accent,” Kya Miyaan, phone kayku nahi kiya tum?  Gadi rok ke rakhta tha na maii.”. It was like rubbing the salt on my wounds but I really liked his sense of humor ;) . I had missed my train. With great disappointment I came back home, my train gone, money wasted and also the holidays I thought. But luckily I got another train the next morning and was able to go to my Native place happily… J

I am sure Indian Railways has earned a good profit all this time mostly because I was there to pay for the entire journey and still sit on the platform after the train is gone. Journey from Hyderabad to my native place was one such incidence and again this is not the only. Will add some more of my experience with Indian Railways in the future next posts where things turned out to be more tragic and dramatic … ;)