England-based Monisha Rajesh wanted to rediscover India as a tourist, for which she chose 80 trains as her guide. Joanna Lobo gets her talking about her favourite journeys during her four-month sojourn

India on wheels

England-based Monisha Rajesh wanted to rediscover India as a tourist, for which she chose 80 trains as her guide. Joanna Lobo gets her talking about her favourite journeys during her four-month sojourn

English-born Indian journalist Monisha Rajesh is no Phileas Fogg. Yet it was this popular Victorian hero of the Jules Verne classic Around The World In 80 Days that inspired her journey. While Verne’s Fogg undertook a journey across the seas and continents, Monisha’s journey was more personal. It was her way of discovering her motherland, India. As a tribute to Verne’s classic, Monisha kept her travel companion’s name a secret, preferring to call him ‘Passepartout’. Monisha and Passepartout spent four months travelling 40,000km across the country’s length and breadth. She wanted to allow the country, in all its colourful, smelly, crowded, noisy and chaotic glory, to impress her. The Indian Railways, in that regard, did not fail. Some of her journeys trumped the others in that they afforded more colourful characters, breathtaking views or just unusual experiences. Here they are. Delhi to Jammu Train number 64 was special because it took Rajesh closer to the northernmost point of the Indian Railways, at Udhampur. She was alone on this, but she found company in Arun, a Cochin resident who among other things taught her how to make her bed. “You have travelled on 64 trains and you still do not know how to make up a bed?” was his introductory line. Then after making her bed to hotel precision, the self-confessed ‘train fan’ proceeded to explain what the numbers painted on the outside of trains meant, how to calculate the age of a carriage and how to tell engines apart. For instance, if the number on the coach was 88432, it meant the carriage was built in 1988. If the last three digits were between 401 and 600 it meant that the coach was a general second class, if they were between 201 and 400, it was a sleeper. Thus, subtracting 401 from 432 gave 31 which meant the coach was the 31st coach built that year. “I really wish I had met him much earlier. It would have made travelling much easier,” says Rajesh. Arun was also indicative of a very Indian trait, “They will just strike up a conversation, even after eavesdropping, and teach you stuff they know,” she adds. The Mandovi Express For most people travelling the Mumbai to Goa route, the Mandovi Express is usually a luxury that cannot be afforded because it takes the whole day. But Rajesh loved it so much that she travelled that route twice. “The first time I slept through most of the journey,” says Rajesh. “The next time round, I made sure I had the best seat in the house”. The best seat, at the doorway of the carriage, arms linked through the railings and feet dangling below, was soon to become Rajesh’s favourite spot. “I could just reach out and feel the leaves, the rocks and the water dripping down the mountainside...it was beautiful”. Having always travelled in the London tubes with a clear glass wall separating the inside and outside, Rajesh was thrilled to “participate in the journey”. Mumbai locals “We had seen it on the telly, people had warned us about it...but we were keen on experiencing the phenomenon that is ‘rush hour’,” says Rajesh. After a month of smooth rides, Rajesh and Passepartout wanted to spice things up a bit. Their journey from VT to Parel was pleasant enough, ignoring the fact that “the series of hooked metal handholds gave the creepy feeling of being trapped in a human abattoir”. It was their return that gave them a true experience of a super dense crush load. It started at the platform. Oblivious to the fact that incoming trains generally have people hanging out of it, the duo revelled in their luck at finding a 2m gap between the crowd and the edge of the platform. They realised their mistake once the “hordes of men rained down on us, with monsoon force, while the rows behind began to heave forward”. That lesson apart, Rajesh loved Mumbai’s locals because they made travelling alone extremely easy and there was always entertainment of some sort handy. While seated in the ladies compartment, a fight broke out over a seat, between a Punjabi lady and a hawker. After a couple of minutes of shoving and pulling hair, the hawker got off and the lady went and sat down. “It was as if nothing had happened,” says Rajesh. The Golden Chariot One of India’s luxury trains, The Golden Chariot was a palace on wheels. “I was curious because the UK press are very gung ho about India’s luxury trains and there are plenty of people who come to India just to take these luxury trains,” says Rajesh. Her fondness for the Golden Chariot over the Indian Maharaja Deccan Odyssey stemmed from the fact that it had more Indian tourists than westerners. “Being on a train with westerners fits every cultural stereotype they are attached with, and whenever they step out they garner a lot of attention. With Indians, it is like being part of one big family and you are not treated differently,” she says. Being amidst so many Indians also helped Rajesh ignore the fact that they were in a capsule, despite it being very well-furnished. The Golden Chariot also covered a route that is usually not accessible by train, Bangalore-Kabini-Mysore-Hassan-Hospet-Badami-Vasco. From the carved wonders at Hampi to the heritage churches at Old Goa on Easter Sunday., Rajesh had a taste of the cultural diversity that one passes by on a train ride in India. Monisha Rajesh’s journey has been documented in her debut book, Around India In 80 Trains.