24 hours in Rajdhani Express

It's been almost fifteen years since I've done a train journey ( recent Nilgiri express from Ooty being the only exception), leave alone a 24 hour train journey.

Seems like another world experience.

Swaroop and I were planning a trip to Delhi, a plan that's been afoot for over a month. We were trying to coordinate our respective flights from Bangalore and Hyderabad, and suddenly he says, "Smitha akka, I'm thinking of doing one way by train, I'll still reach same Saturday morning as you" , and I could sense my antennae quiver. Didn't take me long to say 'know what...maybe me too, in fact, if it's Rajdhani I can hop into the same train at Hyderabad' . And that's how it started. 

No easy task.

First off, I couldn't get tickets. We were planning well in advance, yet my ticket from Hyd was wait listed......a chance we couldn't take.

And I found that strange, not just because of the travel time of 24 hours, but also because train fare from Hyd to Delhi is actually more than flight. Indigo was at Rs.4300 and Rajdhani was at Rs. 4440. Yet I couldn't get tickets.

By then the bee was buzzing in the bonnet, so what to do. Swaroop was sweet enough to go to the reservation office at Bangalore to explore workarounds, and find one he did. The counter clerk said, 'book from Bangalore, and ask her to board at Secunderabad'.  And another surprise, the fare from Bangalore to Delhi was actually lower than Hyd to Delhi inspite of a 1/3 plus distance. 

The system is so weird and knocked out. After all this, we found that the bogie was practically empty. A scattering of people. It's sad they make it so difficult.

Anyways, that didn't stop us, maybe even added, to us totally enjoying the 24 hours in the train ( 38 for Swaroop who was travelling Bangalore - Delhi)

The Rajdhani is a beautiful train...... with nice big windows that allow for a wonderful view, great food, squeaky clean loos, nicely maintained compartments, clean window panes.........it was lovely.

Evening tea came with a samosa, yummy sandwiches, freshly made sonpapdi, and fried peanuts.....full timepass munching. Dinner started with steaming hot soup and breadsticks, with main course of salad, roti, chicken curry,  dal and ghee rice, and oh yeah, ice cream too. One of my most enjoyed vanilla ice creams.  In fact both of us enjoyed the ice cream so much that we get two more. They definitely do a great job with food.

While I was fully equipped with music and a good book, I touched neither.......just the window was enough. And we had my favourite berth, the side lower berth. Curtain drawn you can literally shut out the rest of train and disappear into your own world.

The landscape at one point seems monotonous, especially so the long stretch through Maharashtra, but once we get to Madhya Pradesh you see the difference. There's mountains and tunnels and some forest. Rajdhani has only major stops. Kazipet, Bhalaspur, Nagpur, Bhopal and Jhansi. Otherwise you see it zip through all other stations.

At Kazipet, I went off into a reverie of sorts, some memory trigger which takes you back into childhood, and lots of lovely associated thoughts. And the mountains and lakes whizzing past seem to just aid that reverie space and make it that much more beautiful.

Like when my dad later asked how was the long train ride, I was like "It didn't seem long at all....time just went by so beautifully". In fact Swaroop was like, 'if I didn't have to be back at work, I'd have even gone back by train', and I second that :)

It's like this dream space where you can totally engage into life, within yourself and without, with none of the usual life of detail interruptions..... a space worth seeking out when we can.

Some pictures from the train ride:

Diksha and Sameer came to drop me off early in the morning, and she got to say hi to Swaroop too.

I was so excited seeing the windows getting cleaned :)

Diksha and me saying our adieus

That's the route it takes, a full on south through to north India

The window from the inside. In fact soon as Swaroop got in at Bangalore, that's the message he sent me 'we have lovely big windows' :)

A pretty view

Crossing a bridge

Inside the bogie

This was soup before dinner

Swaroop engrossed in the outside

Couple of sunset pics

Next morning, Hazrat Nizamuddin Station, New Delhi, bustling with activity at 6.30 am, and we stepped into the fog and nip of the just setting in, Delhi winter.

Thanks Swaroop for that brilliant and hatke thinking, and inspiration too. (when I first checked tickets and found it so expensive, I voiced aloud "guddu, it's actually more expensive than flying, and twenty four hours" and he's like "but it has a long great view smitha akka", and that's all it took).

Next time you have such whacky ideas, tell ok :)

The Nilgiri Mountain Train

The Nilgiri Mountain train is an experience that touches as much the emotions, as it does the senses. A toy train it's called, an engineering marvel it's also called, one that's been kept alive since 1899.

As it weaves it's way through the mountains, through several dark snaking tunnels, steep curves and sharp bends, over old and at times scary looking bridges, through the valleys and across the gorges, it takes you through a spectacularly picturesque ride.

At times the gentle slopes of tea gardens with pretty streams, valleys with huge waterfalls, and then through forest so dense, that there are times it'll wait for an elephant to cross the track. 

A fascinating feature of the train is that it still uses a steam engine, stops at stations to fill water, a sight familiar and nostalgic to those of us who've travelled by train the days of the steam engine. The youngest loco is 50 years old, and the oldest 80. It even sounds so different, the familiar chuk..chug... chuk... chug, as it goes at it's pace of 10 kms per hour. (I could almost imagine Rajesh Khanna singing alonside :)

Yes, it's full of beauty...and romance..... and heritage.

Apart from offering a beautiful journey, the uniqueness of the trip is that it is the steepest in Asia. The train uses a unique system called the 'alternate bite system' which has additional teething rack between the tracks for extra support to handle the slopes and gradients.

It's apparently gone through some near shut down moments, and controversies between the railways and the locals...it's after all such an integral fabric of the area since independence. All this until it was declared a UNESCO heritage site in 2005, after which the site became known as the Mountain Railways of India.

It starts at ooty, at a height of over 7000 feet and goes down through Fernhill, Lovedale, Ketti, Aravankadu, Wellington, Coonoor, Kateri, Hillgroove and onto Mettupalyam, a small town on the banks of river Bhavani. Coimbatore is another hour's drive from Mettupalyam.

Our own experience had plenty of added on adventure. First off, I'd booked the tickets over a month back, and was on waitlist. Because I'd booked so much in advance, or maybe because I'm out of touch with train travel, I was confident we'd have been confirmed.

Dhruva and I are sitting in the station canteen and having lunch, when we see this quiet little station suddenly come alive with full on action, and a long line that appeared from nowhere. We weren't sure what was happening.

Who'd think people get into line to get into a train right? Well, here they do.

And that's when I figure out, to my absolute amazement (shock), that our ticket is yet waitlisted and we can't get onboard. I run to the station master in desperation...for help, advise...anything. I'm like, 'please, please tell me what my options are'. And he's like, "if you're willing to go standing, go buy a general compartment ticket".

I was game, but Dhruva's like, "you kidding amma, the whole purpose is the window, what's the point standing". The voice of reason, see.  To me, reason wasn't appealing at that moment... I was like 'think, think, think, need to get aboard that train'. And all this as the train is standing there and hooting and whistling away to glory, increasing my tension by the minute.

Anyways, got ourselves general tickets and we're like let's see if we can get any seats at all, else stand till the next station kinds.  We lucked out.....got two seats, non window.  When I realized the guy next to me was getting off at Wellington, I breathed easy.

And we're off.

This was actually a stroke of luck, cause this guy next to me, Subhash, is a taxi operator from Ooty, and gave me so much local gyan until Wellington that it became worthwhile. (he was going to wellington to attend the dog show). Most of what's written above came from him.

The wonderful ride went on a good three hours.

Half hour before destination came the next adventure.

Soon after Hillgrove station, around 5 in the evening, our train screeches to a halt, and quickly word spreads that there's a boulder that's fallen onto the track.

Full on excitement. In fact once it got dusk people started saying close doors as there's lots of wild animals here, elephants, cheetahs and the like.

That became an over two hour break, where so many of the men (dhruva included) set about doing all they could to move that boulder. Brilliant impromptu team work there...over a full two hours. It was a big enough event to get into the local papers the next day.

Here's pictures of the ride:

At the Ooty station, and part of the line

It's just 5 bogies. You stick your head out the window and you get to see the engine when it tirns. The windows have no bars, no glass, no shutters, nothing....which was just so so lovely.

From the window

Inside the bogie

Tea garden slopes and a little stream...so pretty

Approaching a tunnel

The dog show at Wellington, and after which we got a window

As we were getting out of a tunnel. It's sweet how they turn lights on in the bogies when inside the tunnel, as it's so pitch dark.

A pretty sight

Taking this picture of Dhruva, I put my masala wada down on the ledge, and in a jiffy a monkey took off with it...there's so many monkeys there :)

A cute police outpost at Coonoor station, and this little girl doing something cute too

Well, me

Entering Hillgrove station

Our engine, so quaint and lovely. And I loved Dhruva's caption on Instagram " they call it a toy train, but that steam engine there's a beast"

That's the boulder action, working on it and in the papers the next day

A picture he caught when clearing the boulder and I saw only on Instagram :)

A pic to close the reminiscence of the trip :)

Needless to say.....a strongly recommended experience !

Ooty

Udhagamandalam, shortened to Ootacamund and Ooty, is a popular hill station in the Nilgiri Hills, a range at the edge of the western ghats.  Nilgiri Hills  means blue mountains, quite apparently because of the distinct blue haze of the mountains.

imho, the best part of going to Ooty is the journey....up the mountains and back. We did cab one way and train the other. The train was a first, in all the times I've been there, which is many, I've never done the train. The Mountain train...The Toy train it's called, it's a UNESCO heritage site, a hundred year old engineering marvel it is said to be. Dad and Mom, I'm so glad you inspired me to do it. In fact I'd say worth going just to experience the train ride.

The one day we were there, Dhruva and I chose to stay put at the Sterling Fern Hill Resort, giving the Ooty touristy circuit a go by, and just be, and enjoy the mountains from there.

Ooty is best expressed through pictures

A waterfall on the way up. As it was continuously raining on our way up, there were these little falls and streams everywhere. In fact I should say a thanks to Dhruva. When I said should we do this trip this month or next, he was like "now amma, it'll be nice in the monsoons"

A lovely chai stop in the rain

A pretty pic I thought, especially with the tree in detail in the foreground

This was view from our room

Entering Coonoor municipality....a candid pic of Dhruva's which I really liked

A sunset pic

Dusk from the room

A really pretty corner on the walk out of the room. Since we didn't do the botanical gardens, this is the extent of pics with flowers :)

That's the resort at dusk, as the lights just came on

Early next morning, enjoying some music and writing time, inspired by the mountains and the mood :)

As I sat there, I heard this young dad tell his little daughter ( all of 2, I think) "when someone asks you where you went for holiday, don't say ooty, say you went to the nilgiri mountains". Didn't get what his problem was. As cliched as he might think Ooty is, it's simply beautiful up in the mountains.

Vermont Again !

When we think leaf, we think green...Vermont so defies that

Vermont state claims to have the best foliage on the planet. You can almost believe that.

Onto the Von Trapp story.

When the Captain, Maria and the children escape, end of movie...what happens next? I read her autobiography to know. Not now but years ago, that's how much the movie took me over that phase.

Well, they flee through Italy and onto the US and settle in a farmhouse in the hills of Vermont. Maria thought it best reminded her of the hills of Austria. There, in 1949 Maria wrote her autobiography and  the movie 'The Sound of Music' was based on her autobiography. She was in fact regularly consulted during its production.

Seventy years later, the farm they lived in has been replaced by a country inn called 'The Von Trapp Lodge' which is currently run by their descendants, yet offering some of Austria. The menu offers Schnitzel with spätzle (egg noodle) and apfelstrudel. Those who might have watched the movie as many times as I did will immediately get to mind:

Rain drops on roses ...and whiskers on kittens
Doorbells and sleighbells ...and Shnitzel with noodles
these are a few of my favourite things...

That could easily be my most sung song ever....it can lift my spirits even today. Here's link if you feel like a listen ( I did :): My favourite things...

And not to not mention that the movie has a couple of my most favourite romantic moments ever.

Nammu thought I matched that scarecrow pretty well, so she made me pose. I remember her saying "smitha, you should just come and stay here.....I haven't laughed as much in so so long". That's how much fun the trip was. We just went back to being two giggling schoolgirls I'd think.

Nammu, maybe I'll really come ......the rediscover a day has surely ignited more than just memories :)