New Delhi railway station! I’ve been to all of the long distance train stations in bombay, VT, Bandra, LTT, but I have never seen a mass of humanity that I saw at 5 am at the New Delhi railway station (probably because of its proximity to UP, Bihar ). It is very easy to discount the effect Indian Railways has on the masses, looking at the way the budget airlines are taking on New India. Indian Railways is still as relevant today as it was in 1947.
The railways is certainly not efficient. Taking 34 hours to do the trip from Bangalore to Delhi in its premier (and thereby fastest) trains is certainly not the most efficient method. Especially when at times the airfare is lesser than the train fare. But it probably is the most enjoyable way. A three hour flight is decidedly an impersonal one. It is certainly an impatient one, and you can see that the moment it ends with long queues of passengers in a hurry to get out of the aircraft. On the other hand a 34 hr journey is long enough to overcome the initial awkwardness, get to know facets of your fellow passengers which they choose to share.
When I planned this vacation, people thought it was weird that wanted to go by train as opposed to by air. I feel vindicated at this moment. This is the third day I am in a train and I don’t feel like I have wasted a moment. It was my belief that the train journey would be an important part of the vacation, one of its most enjoyable experience, and it holds true. After this one, I have the toy train from Kalka to Shimla and then at the fag end of the trip is the last one, the return from Delhi to Bangalore. And at this moment in time, I feel the train journeys have achieved their objectives
1 response so far ↓
1 aamod // Sep 15, 2009 at 10:01 am
Also relating to your post on Pastimes[http://www.thegianis.in/bangalore/blog/2008/07/13/pastimes-and-such/], a thing you can do is check out http://www.irfca.org/ and do some railtrips. I’m sure you’d love it true Indian style!
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