Train Journeys

Those endless journeys you undertake… Railway stations, goodbyes and tears. Waiting for the announcements, the moment when your heart beats faster at the arrival of the train, heavy hearts, deep sighs of leaving your loved ones. As kids journeys seemed exciting, meeting your grandparents and cousins , summer vacations, nagging your parents at the stop of each station whether ‘we have reached’? But now journeys are time to contemplate… window seats, raindrops on those window panes, drawing your name and rubbing it off, headsets stuck to your ears, some old romantic melodies… books- romantic thrillers, reading, thoughts, thoughts and more random thoughts… Day dreaming, imagining things which would never happen… wishing to reverse your life and start all over again… some stranger in the train reminding us of someone from the past.. the chocolates which serve as your breakfast, lunch or dinner, half eaten crushed biscuit packets.

A cry from the toddler… hours you keep staring at the kid… someone who help you lift that middle berth, the Hong of the train… the air gushing through the windows, the wind blowing your hair and those few strands which keep coming to hide the view of your eyes … disobeying you… a sudden jerk… stop at some unknown station at midnight.. the smell of cigarettes , the chai wallas, the smell of vada , a joke which make you smile, an sms from the one you love, a tear in the thought of people we will miss, hope , memory of an old friend we may never see again, an unknown pain, the smell of iron in the water taps, sleep, dreams, sleeplessness, restlessness, life changing journey, a stranger who may turn out to be an eternal friend, thirst at midnight, empty water bottles, longing for a coffee, enjoying the loneliness, happiness, that stranger who help us with the luggage when we wonder what to do, a magazine left by some previous traveler. And then slowly the train gains speed... leaving behind the hills and fields... a lone cow or goat grazing... forest fires... lone houses... rivers... bridges... and slowly comes to a halt... the destination.


That moment when you wish journey should never end, its not the beginning or end… it’s the journey.. you wish the journey to go on.... never ending... with a heart full of love.. eternal love for train journeys... and you know... this is not it... there are numerous journeys awaiting us.. each an experience by itself...