A Train journey in India

A train journey is a rich experience, especially if one is travelling in India. A train passing through the length or bredth of the country contains a mini-India within it. One finds everything inside a train that makes India such a unique country in the world- 'unity in diversity'.

You will find people of all religions, castes, colours, languages, etc in the same compartment...sitting together, shoulder to shoulder...enjoying a chat ranging from politics to movies to sports and what not! This is really heartening to see, especially because we often find ourselves divided on caste, religion and language and have seen bloody fights at different points of time.

What I like the most is the kind of learning about how people live in different parts of India and how different is one culture from another within India. I can not be in all the different parts of the country to experience that; the train provides the opportunity to discover the same unfold in front of my eyes.

You will find abject poverty and overflowing prosperity living side by side. You will see absolute liberals and outright fundamentalists engaged in a solid discussion...mostly ending up in fierce arguments; a real learning experience for a silent observer!

A train journey is more of a learning experience and enjoyable too if you are travelling second class or third class...rather than the first class. The people travelling in first class seem to be more or less similar, wherever they belong; they have the similar life styles and mannerisms, etc.

People engage in good, long and absorbing discussions followed by an elongated period of silence. It seems as if a train journey has a life of its own : times of bustling activities and times of deadly inaction! If you have a little time on your hand, and want to discover India, a train journey is the ultimate option. No wonder then that Gandhiji started his political career in India with a train journey across India!