Thoughts from a train...

(A belated comment from the Amritsar/Delhi train)
Life by the rails - Amritsar to Delhi 14 sept 2010

In what felt like the middle of the night I rose to the sound of the dual alarm of two mobile phones going off simultaneously at 4am! It was time to prepare for the walk to the train station only yards from the hotel Grand. First I needed to check out of the hotel and this meant that I needed to wake the manager from his sleep by the door in reception where he lay with two other young men, guards and servants to the guests. My stay had been a pleasant one and I thanked them for their service before the manager unlocked the front door and let me out at 4.30am to cross the almost deserted street.

There was life at 4.30am, but not as it is during the frenetic day, this early in the morning life is just creeping up on the city as stalls prepare to open by laying out their wears carefully on roadside stands and rickshaw riders begin to move their trustworthy steeds into place. Most people however are asleep, many it would seem either on the floor, especially around the station car park or on rickshaw seats. They pay little attention to the hat wearing westerner arriving to catch the 5.10am Shatabdi Express to Delhi and I walk in silence to the welcoming site of the lit entrance hall of Amritsar station.

The train as always is on time and had lists of the passengers affixed to each doorway in the beauracratic manner that you expect within India - However, I am relieved to have such organisation as this meant that I was quickly able to find my window seat in an almost empty carriage (E1). This was once again at the rear of the train and was equipped with AC, comfortable seats, foot rests and cup holders. All to make your journey as pleasant as possible. The journey was scheduled to take 5 ½ hours and I had every faith that this would be the case.

Progress was rapid and the train sped along the track towards its destination hauled by the enormous diesel locomotive, blaring its presence to all ahead, warning of the approaching thunder. Unmanned crossing points dotted the route and the blare of the horn sounded each intersection. Every station approached also received the same reception and as we passed people looked on, staring at the windows of this passing behemoth in the morning mist, I wonder what there thoughts were for the faces staring back from their reclined sofa style seats?

Either side of the train the rural scene was coming alive with people moving to the fields or working on the land using Oxen to pull carts of sugarcane around a field or men and women bent double cultivating knee deep crops of rice. The agriculture here is very labour intensive and very few machines are in evidence, I only saw one tractor and that was not in use, while there was a wealth of animals including horses, donkeys and oxen. Pigs and cattle were commonly in evidence along the track fending for themselves in search of pasture or scraps of food.

Settlements we pass are just waking and passengers board at each stop until finally all the seats are taken by 9.00am and breakfast is served (My portion of cutlet had a hair in it and led to me declining the option of another!). Food on Indian trains in first class is clearly a labour intensive affair organised by the Indian Railways Authority. The water you receive is ‘India Rail’ water, the tea bags, sugar and cream are all hand wrapped into a sachet (Tea kit) and cello taped shut while the breakfast is wrapped individually in tin foil by hand. All of this is then served to you on a tray with a flask of hot water following to allow you to make your own refreshment to suit your taste. An amazing experience and performed with the utmost efficiency by the staff who buzz up and down the isles with aplomb both distributing breakfast and snack buffets, while at the same moment collecting the detritus left by the hungrily consuming passengers.

I cannot help but watch the landscape beyond the window of the train and wonder about life for the people who live beside it. They have the ever present power of the Indian Rail Authority performing the impossible feat of getting millions of people to and from work every day.

Life beside the track is hard and I witness as people, just waking stretch themselves on their flat rooftops (Clearly after climbing in some cases bamboo ladders), or washing in the communal sinks dotted at the stations, or just brushing their teeth and watching the trains pass. People on the stations were in a range of states with many sleeping on the floor or benches and several holy men were wrapped inside their robes. Others wandered the platforms either seeking relatives, trains or hawking wears. The most bizarre site was a pair of men one with a spear and the other with a 6ft long sword blade walking along the platform on their way to who knows where…

As we passed rural stations I saw children alone lying by the lines, men, women and children walking along the track as trains passed them within a couple of feet without so much as a twitch, clearly these tracks are a lifeline providing goods, work and a means of rapid transport in unplanned settlements. At one point along a rural station platform I saw clothes hanging to dry from the very framework of the tracks girder system as the family below prepared for the day ahead of them. There is a hidden underbelly along the track, which is both disturbing and hopeful - Disturbing in that people have no other option but to live in this state and hopeful because even under such conditions as these they continue to make the most of life, forming families, strong friendships and working to make their lives and the community around them better. After all without their ingenuity and autonomy in collecting and recycling the rubbish where would the community and environment be?

In the end life by the tracks is diverse and demonstrates the wide ranging nature of the Indian culture.

I am glad that I took the train rather than flying as it allowed me to witness first hand what there is to do for the future of this wonderful, culturally diverse country. I have gained enough of a picture to grasp the reality of the huge, nay staggering job ahead to bring improvement to all people of India in the future.

Thoughts from the train J