Trains are like second homes for me
Since my childhood, I have loved travelling by train. Trains have always felt like second homes to my family members and me. And probably all those of you who are reading this too. A big reason for my love of trains was that my late father and several relatives worked for the Indian Railways.
When I was very young, my father had a second-class Railway Family pass. After a few years of service, they granted him a first-class pass. My family and my late uncle’s family (who lived in the Railway quarters in Kacheguda) travelled together to Ajmer by a first-class train. We stayed there for three days and nights.
After a few years, my cousin and I (yes, the Kacheguda one) travelled to Ajmer. Once we boarded the train at Kacheguda, we met a group of four guys who too were going to Ajmer. We enjoyed the trip a lot. At the group’s insistence, my cousin and I even visited Jaipur with them. We also visited Amer Palace, which is about half an hour’s drive from Jaipur. And we were lost in the palace as we didn’t take the assistance of a guide, even when he insisted!
Before we reached Amer Palace, the tour operator in the minibus we were travelling in dramatically announced that the marriage of the late Farooq Shaik and Pooja Bhatt was taking place in the Amer Palace. I, out of all people, asked him if it was really true. Then, with a grin, he announced that a film shoot was occurring where the said marriage was taking place.
Cliché as I may sound, cleanliness is next to Godliness!
From my childhood, I was very particular about cleanliness everywhere. And this included trains as well! So, if the train’s toilets were unclean, I would be very hesitant to enter them.
As in other places in our daily lives, we find all sorts of people on the trains. Most people are good and well-behaved, but unfortunately a few are unruly and undisciplined. But overall, the travellers on the trains are okay.
One can enjoy scenic beauty to one’s heart’s content once one boards a train. Kilometres of lush green fields, forests, villages, towns, cities, etc. are all ours, I mean our eyes’, until we get off the trains.
Nearly all train compartments have designated garbage bins. Some travellers are unaware of this. And dirty the compartments. The garbage bins are located near the toilets/washrooms.
Even the toilets in a few trains are biocompostable (bio-digester). These green toilets use technology developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) that utilises anaerobic bacterial culture to decompose human faeces directly beneath train coaches. Thus, the process converts faeces into harmless, disinfected water and odourless gases, eliminating open-track defecation and preventing corrosion of railway tracks.
Another problem has been eliminated in the toilets on the Indian trains. During my childhood, I had heard of a few cases of women delivering their babies and the latter falling from the holes in the toilets onto the railway tracks. There was even a case where a delivery occurred, and luckily the newborn baby was found to be surviving. Now, the toilets have been redesigned so that the holes are very small and no such mishaps occur!
Trains are the birthplaces of love stories, first nights, and …..
An innumerable number of love stories have occurred on trains, immortalised by film songs and sequences from Bollywood, Tollywood, etc. And also, several ‘first nights’ (Suhaag raats) too! All in all, trains are lively components of our lives where one can find the essence of true India. I mean, one can see people of all religions travelling together. Unfortunately, sometimes Indian trains have become scenes of horrid crimes like robberies, lynchings, rapes, etc. We should fight against these crimes together. And always remain vigilant.
Just a few days ago, my eldest sister-in-law’s daughter, who is doing her super speciality course in plastic surgery in Kerala, lost her purse (valued at INR 25,000/-) containing an iPhone 13 and several other valuables while travelling from Kerala to Kadapa by first-class AC. Luckily, she didn’t lose her laptop and a few other items. She had kept her purse below her head while sleeping!
Engineers should never forget their duties!
Recently, I was travelling from Renigunta to Kadapa. And I noticed this in my previous trips too. I don’t understand why the Indian Railway engineers forgot to keep a stand for mobile phone charging. Did they think the passengers could keep the phones on their berths or leave them hanging in mid-air? Maybe they could teach the phones some magic, eh?
One of my co-passengers, who said he was a railway employee, suggested that I could provide feedback to Indian Railways about things like these. Neither did he mention the platform, nor did I bother to ask about it. Maybe he meant online railway platforms (if any) or the feedback forms on the railway stations.
We Indians should be the best in everything good
Trains are the lifelines of any country. Indian Railways is ranked fourth globally by total route length, spanning approximately 70,000 Km. We are the largest railway network in Asia and are ranked second globally in total railway electrification (about 99% complete). With the bullet trains fast approaching, we need to grow in basic etiquette both on and off trains.