Trains

Train journeys are times for introspection and contemplation. New resolutions. Catching up on lost sleep. Refreshing and rejuvenating. Time to come to terms with yourself as you watch India rush by through the windows. Chequered fields and lazy streams. Acres of water that make India’s rivers the Godesses they are. Miles and miles of uninhabited space. Crowded and dirty towns. Sleepy villages.

What is it about the suspended reality in a compartment that encourages intimate conversations with perfect strangers? That encourages people to share deep dark secrets that they wouldn’t reveal to their family much less strangers they have known for little over an hour? That makes life outside seems unreal and far away.

Eating, sleeping, talking, reading, staring out of the window, thinking, dreaming, planning. A train offers so many avenues. Why do people still feel there’s nothing to do? Maybe I belong to a strange breed that actually enjoys long train journeys. Alone.