The Great Indian Rail Adventure
They say there are two kinds of travellers: the ones who have been to India and the ones who haven’t. And among the former, there are two subtypes: the ones who love it and the ones who won’t come back. Ever.
Incredible India
Everyone has a unique picture of India. The Taj Mahal. Tigers, elephants and snake charmers. A nation of one billion people of which millions live in poverty. Home to Gandhi,Lakshmi Mittal, Aishwarya Rai and Bollywood. The world’s largest democracy. A land of a hundred languages and thousand cultures. Where unity in diversity seems to be the status quo. Incredible India is indeed a mini-universe by itself.
No traveller to India can share the same experience even if they share the same itinerary. One of the best ways to experience the heart and soul of India is to travel by train. As your train traverses the country, you can watch landscapes, cultures, languages, people, cuisine, weather and human expressions change in front of your eyes within minutes, if not hours.
Travel in AC coaches is more comfortable, but the real action is in the Sleeper coaches with open windows. That’s your real window to India.
Sensory Kaleidoscope
If you observe carefully, every railway station will tell you what’s in store for you in the city, town or village. The station at the holy city of Varanasi is designed like a temple where holy men, sacred cows, and irreverent monkeys roam at free will. The Victorian beauty of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus in Mumbai reminds you of India’s colonial past and vibrant history. New Delhi railway station can be as crazy as it gets with trains leaving every other minute connecting the capital city to every nook and cranny of India.
At the Old Delhi railway station, you can get a ticket from a tout even when they tell you at ticket couner that the train is running full and you can’t get a seat on it.
When you travel through the Konkan Railway line in the South West, you not only see nature in its most resplendent glory, but also the indomitable spirit of men who cut tunnels and built bridges over some of the most rugged terrain in India.
You can feel the electrifying pulse and resilient spirit of Mumbai, India’s buzzing metropolis in the West, when you ride in the crowded local trains that transport millions daily.
I enjoy taking friends I meet during my journeys to the Perumon railway bridge across Lake in Kerala. When you sail across the idyllic lake, it’s hard to believe that years ago a train fell into its placid waters taking over 100 souls with it.
Then there’s a beautiful tree on a platform at Madurai Junction where you can sit under and watch railway-running crews take in and out their charges with so much grace.
Indian Railways traverses some of the most diverse and breathtaking geographical terrain in India. I find my heart thudding with excitement as my train clatters over the Krishna River en route to Vijayawada, down in the South. I think of the dacoits that once plagued the area as my train crosses the Chambal River in the North in the middle of the night.
In January, when your train cautiously runs across a mustard fields and past toiling farmers, you feel you are in the real India, where over 70% of the population lives in villages.
Igatpuri in Western India is where you would head to if you want to see monsoons in their full glory during June. A trek along the Thull Ghats is what I recommend if you want a quiet tryst with nature.
If you have a thing for numbers, try counting the thousands of stars in the night sky as the 2619 Matsyagandha Express leaves Udupi. A fascinating experience, to say the least..
A Billion Faces
You will come across mendicants, vendors, booksellers, palm readers, holy men, suited train ticket examiners, ticketless travellers, disabled people, child labourers, and singers to entertain you on Indian trains. Sometimes even masseurs. Or animal trainers like the affable Anjin at Renigunta who will try selling you his pet rhesus macaque monkey for Rs 20.
Occasionally you will find a genial railway employee who will treat you to the most amazing Chole (boiled lentils) and give you a fine lesson in the local history, like a gentleman I met in Jhansi. Once in a blue moon, you will meet a locomotive driver (called loco pilot) who will let you in his driving cab and allow you to take a picture with his train. You can’t help but feel like Casey Jones. As your train leaves the suburbs of Mumbai, you will find a couple of friendly kids who will run along the train and wave at you with joy.
Sometimes you will find a gang of guys having swigs of rum at the doorway and will gladly offer you a drink. A bunch of college students will be singing songs and causing general mirth. These days, you will find a lot of executives working on their laptops, as many long-distance trains offer laptop charging. In local trains in Kerala, you will find daily commuters debating local politics as well as Obama’s approval ratings.
If the Gods are against you, you will also find the perfect con artist who will swindle you out of your cash, so beware. You may also not know that the sweet-talking family opposite your berth is planning to rob you of your belongings after offering you drug-laced biscuits. (This happens very rarely, of course!)
Flavours Galore
Some of most delicious idlis and vadas I have ever had in my life is at Pollachi Junction. It’s also the same railway station where the stationmaster confiscated my camera for clicking trains without official permission. (He let me go later with a reprimand.)
When you are passing by Agra Cantonment, don’t forget to try some of the local fare such as Aloo Tikki (Potato cutlet) or get packs of Agra Petha (White pumpkin sweet) that make tasty treats.
Fried chicken on the 6345/6346 Netravati Express is better than KFC on any day, I would say. Many stations are renowned for their local culinary delights, better than the regular five-star fare.
Train Talk
Indian Railways is one of the world’slargest railway networks transporting 18 million people every year. Ultra luxury trains like The Palace on Wheels offer you the ultimate comfort ever on rails while ordinary passenger trains will take you closest to the local populace and hinterlands. The Rajdhanis and Shatabdis are known for their top speed and high-quality service. The Garib Raths or Chariots of the Poor, aim to make air-conditioned rail travel within the reach of the common man. You can’t miss the toy trains of the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, Nilgiri Mountain Railway and Kalka-Shimla Railway, regarded as some of the most spectacular UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
And yes, that old joke about an Indian train arriving on the time mentioned in the timetable, albeit 3 days late – that’s a bit stale now. Trains are usually on time, barring minor delays due to unforeseen reasons.
Then there’s the 6317/6318 Himsagar Express, a train of superlatives that runs from Jammu Tawi at the northern tip of India to Kanyakumari in the southern end. Too bad it is a super-crawler, but then it is our very own Trans-Siberian ride.
And don’t be so shocked to see dozens of people cramming into the toilets (there are two kinds – Indian & Western)
and travelling onboard the 2859/2860 Gitanjali Express between Mumbai and Howrah. And for the record, the 2001/2002 Bhopal Shatabdi is the fastest train in India at 150KPH, so we don’t need TGVs as of now.
Enough of the train-talk! If you are ever planning to visit India, travel on Indian Railways and you will be richer for the experience. As for me, I can’t wait to get my IndRail pass soon and discover more of India for a few months at a stretch, just on rails.
Arun Rajagopal is a writer based in Muscat, Sultanate of Oman who wants to live in and out of trains in India for 3 months at a stretch, some day soon. Connect with him on Twitter.
Additional Resources if You Go
- Indian Railways website
- An excellent guide to train travel in India
- Everything else you wanted to know about Indian Railways
- National Geographic Video – The Great Indian Railways
Images by voobie (Taj Mahal), anandii-umesh (Varanasi Station), Charles Haynes (vada), sli4mmy (Nilgiri Mountain)
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July 28th, 2009 at 3:09 pm
everyone says that if you haven’t travel by train in India is like you haven’t visit India
Nice post!
July 28th, 2009 at 4:47 pm
This was a fantastic read, full of detailed information. I now have a sense of being on the rails in India.
July 29th, 2009 at 11:37 pm
I caught one Indian train (Delhi to Jaipur) and it was like a microcosm of life itself – an extraordinary experience full of fascinating people from a volunteer doctor doing superb things for local health to a budding magician who needed a lot more practice.
July 30th, 2009 at 1:48 am
I do plan train travel though India one day. Hopefully, with my daughter, when she’s older. A mother-daughter backpacking trip!
July 31st, 2009 at 1:38 pm
[...] Hayes features an interesting post from Arun Rajagopal on one of the best ways to experience the heart and soul of India—by [...]
November 6th, 2009 at 4:51 pm
Lovely post Arun.
Anyone getting in the mood with that account might like to investigate The Great Circular Indian Railway Challenge at http://gcirc.wordpress.com.
November 19th, 2009 at 12:54 am
nice trip!
December 9th, 2009 at 10:04 am
Well i love travelling by Indian railways. It shows you the country completely and gives you the true Indian experience. It is also probably the best connected network as well. I am a avid traveler and actually run a traveling consultancy website as well. I must say that is you are travelling to India the railways is the best way to see the country in all its glory.