Trains are like second home to us Indians. No matter to what cavernous part of India, we have planned our odyssey, the Indian rail system is always faithful to us. It binds us in one thread and in one soul. The Indian trains along with colligating the whole of India, plays myriad other roles too. In fact it has been doing so since its inception. Right from the pre independence time it has been acting as a unifying bond amalgamating India into one pride.
Undoubtedly travelling in train creates an all staggering aroma with an aplomb opportunity for cultural mix, coaxing the mutual tolerance and acceptance and curtailing to the fallacious social prejudices and taboo.
The train personifies our India. Truly discerning, a single train can simply represent the extended economic strata of our country. The coveted AC first class symbolizes the sophisticated, elite, affluent, reserved urban Indian followed by quite less affluent ones in AC 2 tier for whom luxury and comfort coincides. The latter is followed by the great middle class India in AC 3 tier who by luck or by choice gets sandwiched between the real and the surreal life. This is followed by the common man coach the Sleeper coach. The sleeper coach has the maximum participation and things over here are simple and stark. Last is the Shashi Tharoor’s famous Cattle class aka second class. In this herded second class people are not meant to expect anything exemplifying 37 % of our population below the line of poverty in every way.
So no offence to what class we belong to our little carrier has space for all. We just have to book it in advance because the waiting list is endless and timeless.
From a common man’s point of view, the trains mean a lot to us. It is the one trustworthy ubiquitous comrade. A journey by train is always an awaited one. Amidst all know and how, it has its own self created space in our heart. In this fast running world it offers a time to think, ponder, analyze and plan our dubious life. For many of us it provides us with the time to enjoy our hobby of reading or listening to music etc...
We meet, talk, have tea and snacks, put forward our views, share thoughts and sometimes even start appreciating the person without even the inkling of the person’s identity. That’s the magic of trains and real a taste of India.....
