More than a million people travel by train on a daily basis. It was something very surprising, coming from Banks town in South-West Sydney, Australia. I reached India, my place of birth after a long flight and decided to head straight to my ancestral house in Kolkata, a city in the state of West Bengal. I was new to train travel in the subcontinent and planned to board a train to Kolkata. The excitement bit me.
The man sitting behind the counter, in the congested train station told me, all booked Sir. My mind said, you should have come to pick up the tickets. Suddenly like a flashlight, a thought came to my mind wherein I remembered that seats were allocated for tourists and approached the counter again. The man was a bit shocked but luckily for me knew about the tourist tickets and guided me on how to go about it. I had to go to the railway station administration office to file an application though still had to buy the ticket right there.
Out of anxiety, I asked What if I don’t get a seat, do I lose my money? Yes, was the response from the other side? I left shaking my head, not sure what to do. I’m an NRI who knew nothing about the country and could speak only English.
The train station at Kolkata is called ‘Howrah’ and splits into several warehouses to load and unload goods, busy with workers and many others. The office was a tiny room packed with papers, computers and people. After explaining my situation, I was given a piece of paper to write my name, passport number and train route.
They told me to come back in the evening, so later the same day I returned to the crowded train station. My reservation was confirmed and a seat in the sleeper class was allotted to me. Chennai to Howrah takes about 2 days, a 1654kms journey. The sleeper wagons had barred windows, which remain open the during the entire journey. Air circulates and that’s a real escape from the nasty smell which can be encountered for sure.
Cool breeze was on my face, as a result of open windows. How different this was to where I come from made an impact on me and pushed me into serious thought.