It was 2014. Freshman year at college and like most other young amateur travelers, me and my friends had planned a summer trip to Goa. Call it our tight budget or the inability of us savvy and frugal travelers to afford a plane ticket, a 40-hour long train journey seemed totally doable.
Excerpts from my first ever train journey.
Throughout the journey, I was this noisy exuberant 18-year-old who would scream at every passing waterfall, squinting and staring from the window, hoping to catch each and every passing station’s name, while simultaneously catching up on the backlog of my dozen Enid Blyton books. Did I mention that I brought home two earthen cups full of red soil from Ratnagiri railway station? Ask me anytime about my train journey, and I’ll probably gush about the glories of traveling next to the mountains and jungles, and of course, grabbing hot munchies at every new station. Literally, divine!
While Bollywood has shown us for years about the romance of traveling via the tracks ( I’m looking at you, Jab We Met), there’s so much more to it than a potential meet-cute. There is a certain nostalgia and an old-school charm to it; from the refreshing kulhad wali chai to the strangers who we share a coach with, everything about a train journey is special and LF is channeling that nostalgia perfectly for their new show, The Station Master’s Tiffin. They’ll take us on some of the most fascinating and diverse train routes in India along with Ranveer Brar. The show will be an enthralling exploration of Indian Railways and its intersection with food, culture, and people. Looking at the teaser that features steep mountains, wide seas, and local food, I’m very, very excited!
Here are a few quaint charms of a train journey that I’m sure every one of you would nod your heads to and would want to go on a vacay right away!
