Saturday, November 14, 2009

My First Love --{@ Indian Railways!!

Indian Railways- a tribute to my first Crush!
Indian Railways nahi dekha toh kya dekha???





The first thing that probably drew me crazy as a young bird were trains, and may be for all those who stayed in Calcutta (not Kolkatta for me, I prefer this always..jo karna hai karlo), and had there maternal homes in the likes of Ahmedabad & Mumbai. All those young kids, whose grand Mas stays in the royal Indian deserts. In all, Indian Railways connect you far & better. India ,a country of many lives; a country of geographical disparities.



The 'dhachak-dhachak' sound of the moving train, passing by fast train at a platform, stil drives me crazy!
 M proudly a guy, like many others, who have sat in almost all formats of the Indian Railways, whether SL Class, AC-3, AC2, Rajdhani express, Shatabdi, even the Toy-train from Shimla to Kalka, The locals from Goregaon to Churchgate(I never miss a chance to purposely strap-hang in the Mumbai suburbans whenever I'm there, even if I have no reason to do so) but m still on...& will be on till I go on.



(Clicked by me during Morning Tea near AbuRoad in Delhi-Ahmedabad Rajdhani running at a monster speed)



This time around while I was going to Pune from Ahmedabad in 'Ahmd-Pune Holiday Special', I tried stopping myself from standing on the gates of the bogie every now & then. I just couldn't stop myself even I tried hard. just kept saying myself - "Shashi! Grow Up Dude, you have been doing this from 6th Grade, when u queerly befooled everyone to stand on the doors!" Grow Up!! But noting stopped me from doing what I was doing. I just didnt wanted to be felt embarrassed in front of a young fille, whom I just clavered! She was a beauty to watch, just like any other girl, I love to chit-chat with!




As a kid when I was in Calcutta, my favourite train obviosuly were fast Howrah- Dadar(Geetanjali Express), Howrah-Ahmedabad(slow, always late)..I just dont get it, why are all trains from & to Howrah are always late? Then, when we shifted to Wardha,  found my favourites as Nagpur-Mumbai (Vidharbha Express); always clean and on time train, Nagpur-Ahmedabad(Prerna Express), I dont know if it still reaches Amedabad at 2 am!



Then Jaipur came into picture, and I was left with no other choice then Jaipur-Mysore Express,. What I loved about this route is the terrains it passes through after Bhopal.



Just brought my love into short terms to make it look sweet!


My years at Engineering after we shifted basse to Ahmedabad were restricted to Buses, just buses! Cripes!! stil, they didnt take the place of my favourite mode of transport. My first Love! My last Love!!



Each & every guy, who stays with his parents away form his/her cousins, masi-mama, nana-nani, dada-dadi, obviously would agree wit the feeling they get when one its in the train!




Have grown seeing stations grow big.. Have grown seen people talking to others in the compartments, discussing Cricket, next station, latest! Grown up seeing, Chaiwalla, Kulads came in, papercups... It still rocks!!



I'm proud to be a dynamic part of the ever-growing Indian Railways, the largest & most organised Railway network globally.



Airways have now become cheaper, People are flying, But the charm of Railways in India can never be beaten. I tried them too, but Railways, the most affordable, the most comfortable, the most organised, the most bonnie mode!






I sometimes find people telling me, like a senior of mine from Haryana- 'yeh mera pehla time hai train mein bethen ka' or 'yaara, aaj tak train mein nahi betha!"... Jesus! not to blame them. If sumone lives with family, or members of their family stay close to their town or city, obviously missed the fun, the charm!



Its connects India geographically. India, land of beauty can be best captured by Indian Trains. My classmates at school were mostly sons/daughters of employees of Lloyds Steel ind. Ltd, Wardha, where my Pa was even working. We knew what it meant when we had summer breaks! Everyone with their parents were away from their family ties, only we in the colony, this was our family!








So, when I would tell Dhanesh, I'm going to Ahmedabad or Mumbai, he would be glad telling me about back-waters of kerala. Soumya would tell me about the life in Cuttack, his village & Bubhaneshwar in Orissa. Wardha guys woud envy us then. He he! Then there was Navneet, who while playing cricket talk about Chennai. Everyone..everyone in a festive mood! And the journey began from Railways! "Which train be, Dhanesh?", which stations?? It was fun!




And, how can I forget, Soumya taking me to Wardha junction during junior colleges, where after few days, every Samosa selling vendors knew us by name! (He He).. and just after our AISSE exams in X, Soumya taking me to the railways tracks next to our colony, from where the South-bound trains from North would go! We would, on a hot day, sit on the Rail-track leading to Lloyds yard (because obviosuly no rain would go from there as it wasn't a main-line)..and look at blietkrieg runnig trains from North to South & South to North!



I'm out of words & expressions, there is sooo much to boast about my experiences and talk about Trains! So much to gasconade!
Its the bag full of fun right from age 1 to age 23! Every trip in the train is a story by itself, a new expirience in itself! Every station always new. All the trips are stored in my brain-waves, and I will cherish it all my life!



Dude, India mein reh ke isse experience nahi kiya, toh kya kiya??














Disclaimer:Few images have been uploaded from the search.




3 comments:

sunni said...

nice piece again shashi :) but you know railway is not so all-india as you would expect it to be. my own experience with train journeys are very limited. so am enjoying all the train journey i could not take reading about your journeys...

Shashi Shekhar Vyas said...

@ Sunita: Thanx again! I'm glad u going through my blogs, though u urself write soo good!! Thank you for encouraging me!! :)

Pratik Sharma said...

That was one hell of a good blog man....
know what!!!!
Your blog remind me of my fav author----Chetan Bhagat.
No i am not flattering you broo..
Your writing are very simple yet witty like his...
Way to go mann...
Cheerss..........