In my mind there are so many memories of train travel belonging to my childhood and adolescent years. Actually, the home of my maternal grandparents was in another city so we would go there during our summer vacations.
When we were younger we would go every year for a longer time like a month or more. As we grew older, our trip became shorter and would be after a longer gap. That’s how my mother gave sacrifice for our education and other needs.
As young kids, we used to be very excited for the trip. My grandparents’ house was so big with a park and wide courtyard where we would play freely with our cousins.
Travelling by train is fun when you are with your family or friends. We would prepare for the journey many days ago. We would buy some snacks, biscuits, chocolates etc. We would take Ludo or card games to pass time in the journey.
Passing through green fields, the sight of sun rise and sun set is mesmerising. During train travel I often felt the originality of the day and the night. Something we miss in the city life Where the day and the night are equally bright. The darkness of the night view outside the train window would make me experience a strange kind of tranquillity. The light brought by the sun would make me feel the freshness and joy the light holds.
While there are so many good memories, there are some not so good too. Such incidents stick to mind more tightly, don’t they? Hehe. Let me share with you a travelling experience that was troublesome since the beginning till the end.
My father was always time conscious. Whenever we had to go somewhere we would leave on time. However, when something bad has to happen it find its way. The time of the train's departure written on the ticket was read incorrectly. It was 3:00 pm originally and we thought it was 3:30 pm so we left for the station accordingly.
We were sitting in the cab when my brother asked my father to show him the tickets and there he said the departure time was 3:00. Oooops! We were late. We asked the cab driver to rush. He did his level best. Amazingly, whichever signal we came across it had red light 😬. Despite the driver’s effort, we were getting late.
When we reached the station, it was the about time. The train had blown the first whistle and it was on the second platform. We rushed to cross the pedestrian bridge. Running with luggage wasn’t easy.
There was no time to locate the booked bogie number. We get on the nearest one. The train had already started moving. Thankfully we didn’t miss it or it would be a great financial loss.
The next thing that went wrong was the longer hours of the travelling time. The journey would usually take 18 hours. That particular day, it took 23 hours for the train to reach its destination. The train had paused many times on its way. The length of the travelling time made us tired.
There happened another unusual incident. Most of the time we had travelled by the trains of which the last destination would be our destination. That day we were travelling by a train that had to go further at other stops. So we had relatively shorter time to get off the train.
When we reached our destination and tried to get off the vehicle, the new travellers started getting on the train without waiting for the departees to get off. Consequently the aisle was jammed. My hand slipped from my mom’s hand. We were parted.
There were only few minutes left for the train to leave the station and we were struggling to get off it. It was an arduous task to get of the crowd crush. Huuuuh! We were really tired.
Anyways, the journey ended. We went to our grandma’s home, took rest and got ready for our adventures.
That’s how life is. Nothing is permanent. Be it good or bad, it passes.
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This post is my entry for Hive Learner’s featured contest.
