A Train Travel

Kripya Dhyan de Amritsar se chalkar, Itarsi Nagpur ke raaste Bilaspur Ko Jane waali, ek aath do teen aath, Amritsar Bilaspur Chhattisgarh Express, Apne nirdhharit samay se ek ghanta pachaas minute deri se chal rahi hai, aapko Hui asuwidha ke liye humein khed hai

I just love this person's voice, it isn't a bot surely, the old Railway Announcement system at Bhopal Junction (West Central Railway) was the voice of a lady which used to give me goosebumps when I was a child, specially the 'arriving soon' announcement of the train. ( Yeah train aane waali hai)

"Kripya Dhyan de Amritsar se chalkar, Itarsi Nagpur ke raaste Bilaspur Ko jaane wali, ek aath do teen aath, Amritsar Bilaspur Chhattisgarh Express, kuch hi samay mein platform no. 1 par AA Rahi hai ! "

(She used to announce in such a thrilling voice, wow)

The notification sound before and after the announcement were actually 'tada' and 'chimes' which were found in a sound scheme in the Windows® Notifications of the WindowsXP® operating system. (You can check internet for these notification sounds)

This announcement system was used in the times of 98s and so on.

(Recently Bhopal Junction has changed its announcement system a bit which means the older one is now a memory forever, which will be cherished by me surely forever, hereby I moan and observe a silence of 1 minute!)

Those times all mail/express trains had the legendary 'Red Colured' ICF Rakes (thanks to that Red Oxide paint used by the Indian Railways)

Only two premium trains were there in the country viz.

'Rajdhani Express' (All originating from Delhi, long distance premium train, consisting all three tiers of AC service, colour scheme was Red and Yellow, with a generator van at both the ends)

and the second one 'Shatabdi Express' ( A short distance premium train with only AC chair cars, colour scheme was blue and yellow, with generator vans)

Train journeys are always fascinating, adventurous. Traveling in Indian Railways is nostalgia.

Trains have a vibe, and you start to feel it when you are standing at the platform and you peep out of the platform to see your train's locomotive front to confirm yourself that yes the train is arriving finally. (AA Rahi hai, AA Rahi hai)

The train slowly crawls to the track of the platform, you hear the honking of the locomotive, (terrifying, loud yet thrilling horn)  you can feel the feeble yet thrilling vibrations of the giant arriving vehicle via the platform ground, as the train moves closer the vibrations' frequency manifolds, the vibrations thrill and excite you right from your feet to your chest, you can feel them,you can see the sexy pantograph on the locomotive's top sucking in power, the loco body leaves it's energetic impression on you (I am the loco and boss of this train!) the loco bypasses you, leaving you with a short impulsive gust of a wind, (that sudden pressure difference blows a short time wind, you feel it if you are not too far away from the train) immediately followed by the rakes where that 'luggage' coach reads the 'title board' of the train you are about to board, few people start running here and there to be with their allotted coaches, as if it is their life partner(in earlier times, there was no coach position display system available). 'Indian Railway Wheeler Trolly Vendors' start shouting to sell their goods, the train is just about to stop and stops with a what I call an etchy sound? ( That chiiieeee awaaz), it stops with a jerk, thus playing with inertia and displacing the seated passengers a bit, and spills water from the bottle of a passenger who misses the aim of his mouth due to the jerk. (A passenger has to strongly manage and adjust if he/she is inside the latrine just at the time train stops, hopefully one is not in the Indian style lolz).

Some people don't understand and try to rush inside the coach too quickly and thus are vehemently opposed by the passengers who have to exit the train ( ae bhai pehle nikalne to de, Abhi bohot der rukegi).

As you enter your coach, you can hear that constant 'gghharrrr' sound of that low rpm motor of the grill framed thus secured fans of the coach, few passengers start quarrelling for the berths. The new passengers start to kick and shift their luggage like a ragdoll to their respective berths, further they shew away any passengers if they occupy their berth (Abey hathja bhai 'ye meri berth hai'). Now they place their luggages (arey ye ataichi neeche ghusa, bag bhi rakhde and so on).

Today there is one more thing to own in the train which was not present in earlier times, this thing is 'Mobile Charging Point'.

Owning and seeing your mobile being charged from this socket is a winning experience. There are some people today who live a terrific enjoyment in not removing their phones from the socket and offer it to the needed, I guess they own some privileges or what? ( '95% charged' their battery indicator shows, yet they come out like a shit from anus - "Abhi charge Ni hua" , and in their bag they carry a fully charged power bank!, which will come out when they loose the charging point to someone!) Whatever, please offer charging point to the needed ones first.

I guess this government thing can put up a rule here or whatever, it will be good.

All settle, the train starts crawling again, with that legendary jerk again…..

It crosses the platform in agression and at a good acceleration as if it is humiliating such a big station, station board reads place name with height above sea level mentioned passes by, platform ends, number of tracks change,

(and I love this sound whenever the train changes tracks, listen to this sound wow goosebumps, if the train is at a good speed.)

Now the train is on the main line and is at its peak speed,

the bogies now follow what I should say an unjustified, mysterious, unpredictable set of shaky movements, sometimes this movement becomes so harmonic that it can be compared

with the 'Palakee' of a child, (Oh sleep you little idiot, I made a swing movement for you) the train even sings 'tatak tatak' for you, with the added flavour of the loco honking.

This shaky movement is used by many film makers to show a moving train scene, where the character follow this mysterious and unpredictable set of movements (hilte rhenge wo log).

It's time for the in-train vendors to rule,

"Chain, Tala, Paper-Soap"

"Chaaaieeyee", "Coffee" , "Time pass Popcorn, Haan Boliye? Popcorn",

(You can see these vendors more in sleeper class, still some of them visit the ac coaches.)

If these vendors arrive in the ac coaches they will adjust their loud voice to a polite voice as they are the classified gentlemen on board.

Their voice  changes from an old fashioned, unserviced, silencer-less sound of a bike engine to a "Do me a favour? kind of voice on a date, like they are not selling their stuff, but are asking for favour lolz.

Chhhaaaaiiiiyeeeee Chaaaieeyyeeee! Garam Chaaieyeee! ( Sleeper Class Style)

chaiye? (Inside AC bogies)

It's the polite, silent and sleepy environment of AC bogies which forces these vendors to change their voice pattern.

Well, some of the passengers make new friends on the train, this is good I mean a good time killing thing if you have those social skills and such stuff to talk to a stranger, who knows maybe is more interested in talking to you than you.

Hell, who cares I can kill time effectively by making some observations and jokes in my mind ( by the way I don't know which option is better, but the second one is better for me.)

Well, currently the 'chaiwala' has arrived and I want some sips…