yet again ... getting lost ... then enjoying self-discovery ...

Some of us fast on particular days or during select festivals. On similar lines, how if we can fast when we travel by trains? The benefits are manifold. This goes against our DNA, the market forces and a lot else - especially given that for many of us trains are synonymous with munching and snacking. But I will risk sharing my thoughts on the benefits of this. Grandmothers, mothers, sisters, wives, and those rare specimens of males, who take up the tasks of planning, cooking, packing, and in some cases also delivering the food will be saved all the trouble and hassle. Their lives will be easier and their blood-pressures in check. Those traveling by premium trains , that provide food, can sleep in peace without being handed over trays at regular short intervals. Their bodies that will get little exercise, if at all, during the journeys may not need all the food as well. The space used to heat and store the food can be used by the coach attendants to rest; they will be in a better fram...

Train of Thought This article was published in The EDGE (The Hindu) on 14 th October, 2019. Thanks are due to the team at THE EDGE. We stood, all excited, in front of the school gate. We were to depart for the annual trek with class IX students. Plan was to take a train from Varanasi to Dehradun and then travel by road till the base-camp. Our feet would take us further - up and down the Himalayan paths. One of the parents who had come to see his son off suddenly asked, “ Why are you all travelling by rail? Why does the school not arrange for air travel?” Surprised, and not keen to argue moments before we left for an event many of us had long since awaited, I smiled and responded meekly. The questions, however, kept visiting and re-visiting me once the train began to move and students were enjoying at their assigned berths. Learning opportunities Train travel holds the potential to educate us, about our country, in a manner that few other avenues ca...

Kangra’s Toy Train This piece finds place in the Hindu Sunday Magazine here . The unedited version is placed below. Thanks are due to the team at the Hindu Sunday Magazine.  You can take the train if you want to. But do you have the time? This is the question each of those I had mentioned my intention to take the toy-train had asked. I was at Bir and was keen to take the train to Pathankot. Bir invites with its monasteries and cafes. It also presents a sight which few other places do – that of fellow humans fly like birds. It is the paragliding capital of our country. I was keen to experience what Angus McDonald, the person behind ‘India’s Disappearing Railways: A photographic journey’, had referred to as ‘ The most beautiful railway line in the world ’. To ensure zero confusion and confirm the details, a day prior to the journey, I cycled to Ahju. Ahju lies on the narrow guage line that runs from Joginder Nagar to Pathankot and is the station nearest to Bi...

~ ~ More thoughts from rail journeys Thanks Apurva Bahadur for the images आप की तस्वीरों ने तो रूखे सूखे से शब्दों को जैसे बारिश की मस्ती से भिगो दिया है ~~ Sunsets at the train door are ever endearing, Half moon somehow makes an early appearance, Together, we see the unending and unbothered tracks, The vast openness offers its hand, To walk together and share silences, The green, brown and blue around nod in agreement, Heart gets clearer on what it wants, Like I do on such evenings, I hear, or do I hum, Kahin door jab din dhal jae ~   कहीं दूर जब दिन ढल जाए Image: Apurva Bahadur ~ ~ Moon and stars as if run with the train, While the Trees below, stand still, Their silhouettes darker than the sky, Lights afar, yellow and white, caress poles and roofs, Time floats with the rythm of wheels on tracks, Music that flows into silences, Once in a while, a river changes it all, And remind...

rail gadi . . rail gadi . . aage aage engine bhage . . piche piche gadi . . dhuen udati . . desh dikhati . . chai pilati . . patte khilati . . purani  yaadein phir le aati . . anjano ko dost banati . . dhalte sooraj ki kirne paas laati . . sarson ke khush rango ko beech se kaatti . . nadi pe thar tharte awaaz sunati . waise apni hi dhun pe who gaati . . itna vishaal desh yeh mera . . bus yehi usko samaj paati . . rail gadi . . rail gadi . . Earlier posts on trains Phir se Trains Trains From the rolling tracks Moving on rails Railway musings