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.

North-East!! Connection Needed!

Folks, do you know the capital of Lakshadeep?


Ever thought about going to Manipur to witness the eye-catching beauty?


Ever thought about Andaman's coral-reefs(rather than the Oz ones) aside remembering it for Tsunami, instead of the ones near Australian island? 


Ever..ever thought of hitting Dzukou Valley for a break? Its beautiful! These are our assets too..
But why don't we mostly think about them? Because we don't get to hear them..even talk about them. No News channels actually throw lights to what is happening in N-E, in Lakshadeep, in Andaman, Leh, Ladakh, apart from a natural disaster or some elections. Not even a weather report! Big Boss mein yeh hua, Dhoni ki nayi hair-style.


Tibet's spiritual leader Dalai Lama's visit to Arunachal makes news, because this is where China is involved. But how many really know 'Tawang' is the district in Arunachal Pradesh, which China calls it disputed & demands it as there land??

 

"Boss, whats the seat number you are alloted with?..Mine says 14" - I ask a guy finding him on seat number 14.  "Mines 14 too" -he replies. "Cripes! these bus wallas, I told them I wanted a window seat, they played foul again"- I think hacked off  by this act.

Going up to the driver I tell him, how can he give two persons the same seat? "kya bhaiya, uske goddi mein bethun kya jaake?"

"Sir, why dont u take up 13, next to 14"- he responds calmly.

"I obviosuly will have to.. "-my brainwaves suggests! I return back to the row & make myself comfortable on 13. "Hi..dis is Shashi" -I smile & greet my fellow. He poping his eyes out of his long hair, anyone would guess out, He from North-Eastern India with his chinese cast.

"Hey, my name is Bijju"- he replies.
"You must be from North-East? your looks suggest so"

"Ha ha..Yeah..I'm..M from Manipur".

 "Thts cool, so what u doing here in Pune studying or working?"

"Well, M studying M.A from Pune Univ." " What do u do? u working here?"

"No I work in Ahmedabad, just came to spend my weekend with pals, they have benn calling for long"

"Great, Ahmedabad is a great place, I studied in Baroda, M.S. University"..I love that place"

"And what about Manipur? Don't u go there?"

"I do..but its 3 years since I have been there..Its far..have no good educational instiutes, We have to come to other parts of the country for career."

This just reminds me of all the North-eastern people I get to meet, same woes! This small conversation just fizzed my brain-waves when I was listening to an Indo-China debate on NDTV.

North-Eastern India comprises of 7 states (also known as the seven sisters): Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Manipur, and Nagaland. North-Eastern people and the place itself seems very beautiful to be in! India has got so much in it after all! It's almost a new place to be in. But, still... this part of the country is always spoken off by insurgencies, tensions between Central Govt. & states & ethnic groups.

Our government always has an habit of not working! If some one just would care enough about the Tourism & development of almost every part of country.. this nation would obviosuly be a better place to be in.

What does the Govt. really needs to act on? Just developing infrastrucure; mapping infrastrucutre in a way that it gets well connected to rest part of the country. I haven't seen a train or heard of  as usch as rfequemt flights going to Imphal or Gangtok! It's really demoralisisng! The place is boosted with so much of green nature and stuffs!

The reason for growing insurgency & rebel in India is lack of care for people in that part.. whether its growing maoists in W.B or Jharkand..they are what they are because of ill-treatment catered to them.

North-East always seems unexplored. It always seems u being to a new world! How can we forget & be proud that this part of the country is ours??

Its a de-facto that out government from then to now, has actually never worked... every Indian pays tax( India is the 2nd populous country in the world), we got pleanty of money then, N-E pays tax too, like Mumbai, Delhi, Ahmedabad or Hyderabad does, then why isnt sum1 actually concernd about linking N-E to the rest of India?

If Britons could do it then, why can't we now? And then we talk about being High-tech. Instead of thinking about landing on moon(LoL)..why dont we actually thinking about linking every part of the country into main-stream?

Are the terrains leading to North-East as difficult? Leave North-East aside, why isnt Rajasthan well-connected bywith railways? Why is there a meter-gauge leading to Bikaner from Jaipur? (and that too the Britishers made it), why isn't railways connecting every part of Maharashtra? Why are we running out of roads in M.P.? Why are some parts of Orissa still living in dark-ages? Why a mineral-rich state like Chattisgarh has unemployment & poverty? Why isn't anything done for farmers in Vidharbha, considering India still relies on Agro and despite the fact that Gujarat, which was considered a non - cotton growing zone, is now able to cultivate cotton ( beacuse of some hard work shown by the ministry and the planning of farmers there) more than Vidharbha where farmers are comitting sucidies? These look big problems, which in real they aren't, only just a glimse & few things in place..and we are actually out of it!

China, which we obviously take up as villian, has actually brought Tibet into the main-stream Chinese map. Reason? they brought railways & roadways to Tibet. WHY IS INDIA NOT WELL CONNECTED? India accuses the China of sponsoring regional tensions, and we know how China is eyeing our few beautious North-Eastern states that lies on it's borders, and we will be to blame ourselves if everything isnt okay, because we havent ever ourselves cared about everything that we have. Because we have it, we dont realize it's importance. Indian and state governments' concerted effort to raise the living standards of the people in these regions have started.  However, militancy still exists within the region. Among the rebellions in the area are Tripura Rebellion and Assam Conflict. We cannot blame any one else, How can we? Our Govt. keeps ignoring & passing buck, and the mole turns a hole.

I atleast believe, we can actually start thinking & be proud of a rich North-Eastern India which actually belongs to us!

Proud to be an Indian!