train travel

Chandigarh train station is infested with birds. I don’t know if I am capable of describing the incessant squawking. Indeed I’m not sure if anybody can adequately do justice to this sound. They seem to be sparrows but I’ve never heard sparrows be so noisy. Ever so often the sound lessens as though there may be relative silence but then the crescendo starts again – it is unharmonious, chaotic and annoying; indeed it could be symbolic of India. But most of all it is unrelenting, even the public announcements which are loud can barely be heard over the birds. The only relief is that I have only 30 minutes to wait before the train arrives. I’m writing this as I wait for the evening Shatabi to Delhi. I’ve been at our office up north for the past week and am now heading back to Delhi. Birds aside, Chandigarh train station leaves a lot to be desired. There is no diet coke to be purchased anywhere. I wouldn’t mind a snack but the options look dangerous and Indian trains are a miserable place to be sick (not that everywhere is a little miserable when one is sick, Indian trains are miserable even when one is completely well). I’m blogging really to preserve my little remaining patience and sanity. I would like to call my sister to see if the Belgian post office has traced her package, or call other project manager to see if there are issues in Delhi but the birds would beat me out in any conversation. I bough far more reading material than I read so I could catch up but again the birds would disturb me. A nice café at the railway station would be ideal but there is none. So to summarize Chandigarh railway station – nowhere to sit down and eat, food and drink only available from places from where consumption almost certainly equals illness for non-locals, and birds, and birds, and birds. I knew Chandigarh station was seriously lacking, so I tried to explain to the driver that he should stop to let me buy some diet coke. Here my very limited Hindi combined with his limited English failed me: Me: can we stop to buy something Him: train station Me: I would like some diet pepsi Him: train station Me: Pepsi, Coca-cola gesturing Him: office Me: no train station Him: train station (smiling) Those global branding folks at Pepsi and Coke need to do a better job! It’s not like it’s going to get better when I’m on the train either. Due to late changes in plans I am in coach rather than executive coach. To be fair I complain about executive coach as it’s manky but it’s 4 seats across rather than 5 in the case of coach. The whole train seems so old and not old in a faded grandeur way, old like it could never have been new. Everything is dirty, the windows barely open, not that you would want them do looking at the rubbish and human waste which lines the tracks. Also the windows provide some barrier from the poor destitute souls sleeping by the railways. The bathrooms are unsurprising also disgusting. Often I find my self thinking – can I wait until I get home or do I really need to go now. There is a choice between western and Indian. I always choose western and I suppose I should be glad that at least that choice exists. I’m on the train now. My seat (like those in the rest of the carriage) is not facing the direction of travel. I wonder whether the rail powers that be are just thoughtless or whether the cost/time/effort to re-orientate the carriages was considered excessive. Whatever the case, it’s not doing much to improve my mood. One good thing is there is a lot of food served on the train. This means I can eat what I like (about 30% of what is served) and still be reasonably full. The food supply (was going to say feast but that’s not fair to the word feast) begins with tea and snacks – usually samosas and some bizarre sweet made from nuts with a texture like asbestos. Then there is very watery soup with breadsticks pretty far removed from any beadlike substance. Then there is the main meal – typically Indian with rice, dal (lentils) and vegetables. There’s also Indian bread (roti, nowhere near as nice as naan), pappadums and pickle. Pickle just sounds far too scary for me to try. Then there’s ice-cream which initially I refused to eat but have recently softened my stance since I eat it and didn’t get sick. This is all served to you in your seat and is included in the 500 rupee (about 10 euro) ticket cost. So I suppose it’s not bad. On that somewhat positive note, I will stop. There thousands (literally 3671 emails in my inbox). They don’t all need to be answered (thank God) but they do need to be deleted, filed. And soon the system administrator will prevent me from getting more emails if I don’t reduce my mailbox size. At least there are no birds……………………..yet!










Course 1 -snacks? course 2 - soup and breadsticks course 3 - main meal