Railway Diaries Random rants by Rajiv

Railway Diaries – Musings

The rain-cooled breeze is kissing my face and turning it colder by the second as I look at the green fields pass-by. Mushroom-shaped trees randomly dotting them. The rhythmic thak-thak-thak of the metal wheels leaving one piece of rail for another below seems like a melody to my ears now. The pattern only broken by the blares of the occasional trains rushing from the opposite side. The monsoon clouds above have only grown thicker and darker with each passing hour. It seems a thunder-shower is inevitable. The small and big towns showing-up on this side of the window and that also have started to acknowledge the approaching night; the lights have come-up.

doodhsagar trek greenery
Watching the world pass-by

Sitting by the window and seeing the world pass-by is something I have come to love over time, ever-since I have started to take trains more and more.

It’s completely dark now but thanks to the bright moonlight, I can still see the dark clouds reaching for the curved hill-tops. It is only a matter of time before the heavens open-up, I feel. The already cold breeze will become even colder then.

It has been hours since darkness set-in, even more since I boarded. Half-a-day actually, but no hawkers have shown-up and it has now become tougher to try to keep my hunger pangs in control only with a steady supply of water, which thankfully I am carrying. Ruchi had asked me to carry with me at-least something to eat before I board the train but I had ignored her. I should not have.

I had thought, during all my past train-journeys that I had been on (which were far and few), never food was that last thing that I had to look for. Thanks to the omnipresent food-hawkers. They had always facilitated a constant supply of eatables of all sorts. And irrespective of whether I was hungry or not, I remember I hardly stopped stuffing myself with food of every variety. From munchies to my most favourite jhal-muris to ground-nuts to eggs to biriyani and what not.

Today however seems to be completely different, unlike those journeys which used to be gastronomical riots. Today it seems, I would have to make do with this cold biriyani!

Good night!!

7 thoughts on “Railway Diaries – Musings”

  1. You know… your now a poet… your described everything so beautifully…. real it is but perhaps you don’t mind … a train poem by Robert Frost but I like your write up… the towns are acknowledging the coming of night through lights… I like reading your stuff because I can feel things… sights and sounds and also amused once a while how you get lost in greenery… I wish I had these love for trains, would have if they are cleaner I guess, have to have bath after train journeys for that weird train smell is inevitable and the food is bad too… never have Biryani in train… and if you’re in Bangalore try out chef Harpals restaurant somewhere in MG road area I think and if you want please blog about it…

    And here is the train poem for you the travel fakir who is grounded in life too… good day

    Faster than fairies, faster than witches,
    Bridges and houses, hedges and ditches;
    And charging along like troops in a battle,
    All through the meadows the horses and cattle:
    All of the sights of the hill and the plain
    Fly as thick as driving rain;
    And ever again, in the wink of an eye,
    Painted stations whistle by.

    Here is a child who clambers and scrambles,
    All by himself and gathering brambles;
    Here is a tramp who stands and gazes;
    And there is the green for stringing the daisies!
    Here is a cart run away in the road
    Lumping along with man and load;
    And here is a mill and there is a river:
    Each a glimpse and gone for ever!
    Robert Louis Stevenson

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.