A Four Part Journey

• A Four Part Journey
  
  Train journeys have always fascinated me. I look forward to every such journey with the excitement and curiosity of a ten year old. Right from the hour, I know that a trip is on, I start making a mental or written note of these things:
  
  things to carry
  things to buy
  number of and which all clothes to wear: (a) at home (b) at social gatherings
  a novel (to keep me sane and occupied)
  my phone charger ( for the sake of my low battery life-phone)
  …
  …
  …
  and other things which you might not be interested to know.
  
  Well now comes Part II of the fascination! The hustle and bustle of the railway station, people seeing through each other in a rush to reach the right platform within the right time, the platform book stalls, snacks’ stalls and waiting halls…the whole ambience of the over crowded platform is actually fun! A kind of maze through which you have to fight all obstacles and reach your destination as soon as your feet can take you.
  
  Part III of the fascination is when you see the train approaching the station. Ahh! What sheer joy it gives me. Actually, this setting can teach you a lot of skills. To mention a few:
  alertness ( to get on to your compartment ,first)
  quick thinking (which entry door to approach)
  physical endurance ( to carry your luggage and run)
  
  Now, once you are inside the compartment and have haggled/ pleasantly cooperated with your co- passengers (the former depending on the latter!) and have occupied your reserved seat, you can let out a few breaths of relief and relaxation… And why not?? The fast paced bouncer moments have settled for the slow ball ones. It is now that you have the Part IV of your journey. The length of this part depends on your destination... If it is Kerala (as it mostly is, for me), this part is 3 days long. For other places, the range is from a few hours to 24 hours.
  
  Anyhow, once the train is comfortably moving, I eye the upper berth for my temporary residence... upper berth is a necessity for me and a very important one for that, in train journeys. Who doesn’t want to be away from the screamy-creamy babies/children?? And gossip-hungry aunties talking about how Mrs. Samuel pretends to be extra-spiritual?? And special correspondent uncles who would swear by Manmohan, Indo-US Nuclear Deal and 10 reasons why the UPA Govt. would survive. Not to mention the littering club that all of them create together!
  
  ‘My’ upper berth (note the possessiveness!) is a haven for all my social and anti-social activities. Be it:
  · reading,
  · munching on snacks,
  · sleeping ( I LAUVE sleeping) ,
  · fiddling with my low-battery life phone,
  · looking for ‘green pastures in the desert called train compartment’,
  · staring ‘harmlessly’ at those ‘pastures’ in case I find any,
  · observing and analysing co-passengers’ behaviour…
  
  
  All this and more but not necessarily in the same order.
  
  When compelled to hop down due to circumstances beyond my control, I prefer to occupy the coveted ‘window seat’ to stare at the endless stretches of fields, small towns, cities, mountain areas, rivers. I still remember a sentence of the essay ‘A Train Journey’ where the essay book described the train scene as ‘a window to the inside and the outside world.’
  
  And that was all about my four-part train journey.