Indian Friday: A Long Train Journey

My diary, revived from my trip to India back in 2007. This second part details my solo travels during the last three weeks or so.

A Long Train Journey

Thursday 22nd November

Last day in Mysore!  I’m sitting at breakfast enjoying watching the hornbills in the trees.  I think they’re the magpies of the area – never still, always flying around moving all the other birdlife on.  The other treat is at nightfall when the enormous fruitbats come out. Wonder what they’ll have in Tamil Nadu?

Later ….

My train to Thanjavur

I’m now on the train which at 7.20 had just left Bangalore (Mysore 3.45).  Fascinating stuff. The train gets in nearly an hour ahead of departure so we can all sort ourselves out. As I was clearly a Country Cousin (the only European on the train), a man at the station took me in hand.  I hadn’t known I had to ‘check in’, in the manner of an airline passenger. Nor had I identified how to use my ticket to find my seat.  So he helped me – for Rs. 20.

Meanwhile, on the station, everyone got on with life.  A large family spread themselves out on the ground, got out metal plates and canisters of food, and got stuck in.  Some women, like me, headed for the calm of the Ladies’ Waiting Room.  I also made sure I had enough water – a constant feature of life here, buying water.  Not a lifestyle choice, but a necessity, certainly in the towns. Rs. 10-ish in a bottle.  This was all after I’d identified my seat.  I wasn’t about to sit on a hot train unnecessarily for ¾ of an hour.  The train was fairly empty – nobody in my bit of the compartment.

Mysore Station

Eventually though, I took my seat, and the train started, I enjoyed watching the world pass by, and occasionally chai and coffee boys would go by, though I haven’t succumbed yet. Interminable stops at non-official stations.  And then, as darkness fell, I was struck by the low level of lighting in the streets: and then, as we pulled into Bangalore, by the almost nonexistent level of lighting on the station – a real surprise.  Still, now we saw some action.  More tea, coffee and waterboys.  I got some nuts, fearing I would get nothing else, but then, just after that, along comes the offer of meals, veg or non-veg. So I got a veg. option for Rs. 20: rather better value than the Rs. 50 nuts! A foil-wrapped container was filled with fried rice and lots of vegetables – quite good actually – which of course I ate with my fingers – what I could manage.  It was an enormous portion.

Now I’m sharing my compartment with a college lecturer, and a college librarian from Trichy (Tiruchirappalli – which I rather wish I’d visited). Their English is limited, so plenty of room for misunderstanding. By the way, lots of people assume I’m French.  What’s that about?

8.30 p.m.  At yet another station.  Masala dosa and idli man doing his stuff – that sounds good!.  Lots of people have made their beds up, but not us yet.  One young woman got on at Bangalore having had her hands and wrists henna-ed on both sides.  She’s been trying to manage her life handlessly.  Difficult.

One family had produced a three course supper with several dishes on metal plates.  It all looks very good, and now mum has gone to wash up …. Sadly, I can’t find my carefully-packed toothbrush.

At about 9.00 ish, we all got our beds ready: our compartment separates into 2 sets x 3 of beds, then by the windows, 1 x 2.  Up we all jumped ito our bunks and slept, surprisingly.  At 4.00, at Trichy, a lot of people got off, and naturally I slept no more, as I was off at 5.00 at Thanjavur.

Mysore Station

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Author: margaret21

I'm retired and live in North Yorkshire, where I walk , write, volunteer and travel as often as I can.

67 thoughts on “Indian Friday: A Long Train Journey”

  2. Such an enjoyable post. It brought back memories of my journey from Delhi to Patna and the chats with the two men in our sleeper carriage. They were fascinated by our fancy sleeping bags wanting to know how much they cost. We hedged our way around that question!

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      3. I think it was all the ghosts which are there. One really shouldn’t have favourites (and I have many depending on my mood) because everywhere is a privilege to visit, but the Nepali people were lovely, the food was great and the ghosts… What’s your favourite country, you’re clearly well travelled?

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      4. I’m not very well travelled actually, only having been three times outside Europe. The country that unexpectedly stole my heart was Canada, with its majestic wildness, and surprisingly diverse population. ASke me again tomorrow and I’ll have a different answer,

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  5. I’m on tenterhooks, Margaret. Do you suppose India is very different now? I suppose some of it must be but I mostly only know people who’ve done the somewhat protected ‘tour’. I’m glad you did it your way. I believe my friend Gilly (who Jude will remember) did something similar. She was looking for her Indian roots xx

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    1. Oh, to have that kind of purpose must have made it extra-fascinating. India – different? I realy don’t know. I suspect the large metropolises will have changed more than smaller communities. But it won’t be me finding out xx

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  6. Well your train ride sounds much better than all the ones we took. In one ride, a family of 12 snuck on using a ticket for one and somehow never got caught. They also all ended up in our section! Luckily for us, they only stayed for 3 or 4 hours, not the entire journey.

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  7. Another fascinating post…. You really have made these past experiences come alive. When you say you wish you’d been to Trichi, What would you have experienced there?

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    1. It seems to have got a bit of everything, especially temples. On the other hand, I don’t regret Thanjavur, not one bit, mainly thanks to my host there, Which you’ll read about anon.

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  9. I’m enjoying following you Margaret it brings back so many memories. I admire you doing it on your own, I had the support of a group tour. The train system is so well organised,once you’ve worked out their system.

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  12. We’ve only done day time trains in India, and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. We met a lovely couple on one train ride who shared bananas from a huge bunch and had spoke good English so we could chat. They told us some interesting facts about some of the places we passed through, it was like having a local tour guide!

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  13. Your ticket says RAC/1 which means you are the first one in queue to get on to the train if there’s a cancellation (almost certainly guaranteed). That’s why you had to meet the ticket collector and get a seat assigned. If you had a reservation then the seat number would have been printed on your ticket.

    The tickets are cryptic and hard to decipher. In the old days there were time tables you could buy at the station which had (apart from the tables) pages and pages of rules. Once I was on a train without any other reading matter and found the rules quite engrossing.

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  14. Interesting post! Rail travel in India. I’ll have to check with my kiddos if they travel by train or auto when they return for a visit. My sole reference to travel by train in India is from the movie ‘Lion.’ Your trip describes it well.

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  15. Thank you for inviting us into this beautifully captured memory, Margaret. Your diary brings the moment to life vividly. I have been considering the idea of journaling and diaries. There’s something profoundly important about keeping memories alive through diaries. They hold not only the details of where we were, but who we were at that moment in time. Revisiting these pages brings back places that may have changed, people who have moved on, and lives that have quietly continued. It’s a gentle reminder of how layered our journeys truly are.

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      1. I know exactly what you mean, Margaret. Today, my sister and I were going through my mother’s things, now that she has moved into long-term care. There is a poignancy in seeing the postcards and letters that she received from her children and grandchildren – all neatly put into a special box. It was a reminder to me, that even the duller days have a special beauty!!! Sending hugs!

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      2. I know what you mean. This morning I woke up early, and went out for a walk not long after dawn. The day was so fresh and new that this familiar walk also seemed fresh and new. I should remember it somewhere in a few well-chosen words. Hugs to you too!

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  19. I’m pleasantly surprised by a train in India which wasn’t packed with bodies as we are generally shown in the media. Different category of ticket maybe? Nonetheless, I’d be wary of attempting this with a companion, let alone solo!

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  23. we’ve been watching the latest series of Race across the World which had many sections in India. I was very impressed by the trains they caught – they looked in better condition than many I see on British lines

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