Skip to main content

The chugging joy


There's nothing so comforting as the sound of the train wheels gliding on its rails,
The pace, the slight noisy chugging, not of the steam engines but of the engine running on electricity,
The changing landscaprs, trees interspersed with habitation, slum dwellers having houses stacked up on one another, garbade dumps and huge skyscrapers striving to live up to their name,

The movement of compartments which have a slight sway,
speeding across their rails,
held together by the energy that binds us together,

There's group, that was featured in the news recently, IRFCA, Indian Railways Fan Club. This group is very knowledgable about their passion for the love of the Indian Railways, and are present at most unusual sightings for engines, locals, long distance trains, etc.

What is it about the railways that so many people literally 23 million each day use this mode of transport to commute to work, schools, colleges amongst most purposes. Apart from being the cheapest, quickest, and most convenient option, it is the routine and comfort that endear it to most. People do not realise how much a part of their routine this journey has become.

For many this journer is the time of the day where they and connect, share and commune with themselves and others. Rituals such as singing songs together, sharing stories, comparing notes, or even for grabbing a wink are part and parcel of the daily commute.

It is the practice of such a daily routine that make this chugging, long, speedy mode of transport a favorite among most, especially mine.

Comments

Unknown said…
Nice to see a reporter cum railfan!

Popular posts from this blog

Shaitan

So thanks to some prodding from my friend Shri, I decided to go watch this movie today. I'm not upset I did, but I'm certainly not happy. It was sort of like watching Love, Sex aur Dhokha in a way. Graphic, very close to reality, and loud. The movie begins with Anurag Kashyap saying that it's a just a movie and that he doesn't support the use of drugs, drinking and driving and that it's a fictional story which is debatable because like Dev D he used an actual incident as one of the pivotal moments in the movie, in this case the moment is when 5 kids high on coke, drinks, and generally on life, speed across town and in one of the turns end up killing two people who were on a scooter. They were driving a Hummer. Anyways, to come back to the timeline of things, the movie begins by shocking you. I know I've watched a number of movies which involve sequences of kisses in front of my parents / relatives without flinching. But I would not be able to watch this movi...

Karthik Calling Karthik

After having been completely enamored and in love with the song "Uff Teri Adaa" I couldn't wait to watch the movie finally. The end emotion being, a decent watch, but could've been much better. The movie begins with a very stereotypical life of a guy (Farhaan) who's just not got anything going for him, from a landlord who's hounding him for money, to a boss who's blaming him for everything that goes wrong, to the hot co-worker (Deepika) who just doesn't know of his existence at all! The change that comes into his life, is a call, at 5 am each day, by a man who claims to be "Karthik" himself who guides him to becoming the man that he is. And voila, suddenly, the real "Karthik" begins to stand up for himself, asserts himself in front of his boss, and manages to strike conversation (a rather witty one) with Deepika too! Sitting in the audience, you literally feel like whistling and hooting when you see him walk down the corridor of his...

Hum Tum aur Ghost Review!

There are some movies where you should just choose to leave your head behind and see only the movie. This movie, Hum Tum aur Ghost, is somewhat similar. The plot is fairly simple, you have Arshad Warsi, playing Armaan, a fashion photographer who's a heavy drinker, assisted by a gorgeous Sandhya Mridul, playing Mini, in love with Dia Mirza, playing Ghehna, who's supposed to be the editor of Cosmopolitan (and is not seen under pressure, is not hyper fashion conscious, or busy at all!). That said, you have an entire entourage of "ghosts" who are following Armaan, because he has the "gift" to see, and hear them. Similar to the Sixth Sense, each of them have died having something unfinished and need help from him to complete that deed so that they can move on to heaven... It's interspersed with some comic dialogues, and some great acting esp. by Boman Irani, and Sandhya Mridul. Arshad Warsi fails to evoke the right sentiment of pity, warmth, and affection in ...