[NiInJa]

"Me time"
noun Time spent relaxing on one's own as opposed to working or doing things for others, seen as an opportunity to reduce stress or restore energy.

It is that one thing every man and woman craves for when they have kids. I see and hear so many couples around me struggling to get this precious time and is perhaps the primary reason for most domestic quarrels between the two adults at home. I and my wife have had my share as well, until we came to an agreement!

The peace accord that I signed with her basically says that we both should spend time without each other, so we take turns getting out of the house on weekends and no questions are asked about what the other person does outside, unless he/she is out doing something illegal. The one at home looks after kid and the house, again methods are not to be questioned unless it is harmful or setting a bad precedent (This is an important clause). Of course, there are no strict rules around it but we make a point to leave the other one alone at least for a day twice in a month. This needs to be done to maintain sanity in the house.

While my wife goes out watching movies and catching up with her friends and the usual shopping, movies and eating routines, I prefer to do things that don't involve much human interaction, and if human interaction is involved, it is with some very close friends.

My me time usually involves interacting with my bike...


And when the wife is out, it works out well for me and the kid too, see there is an absence of that constant bombardment of instructions for me: feed him, make him pee, make him sleep, take a bath, shave that beard etc. You know that feeling when your manager/boss is on leave and you don't have to report to him for the day?

I usually end up doing things we both like, and in that process often forget things like eating, bladder and sleep management, but hey, its weekend and as I said, methods are not to be questioned!

As mad as I am about planes, trains, cars and stuff, luckily some of that craze has rubbed off on him pretty well.


So this weekend, it was my turn to get out of the house and do whatever I wanted. The original plan was to drive to Diveagar and experience coastal rainfall with my friend, talking about recent political events of the state and whether Kohli should get any more chances. Unfortunately, my friend got sick and the plan had to be dropped on Thursday. With no other things planned, I had the whole Sunday to myself. Thought of going somewhere on bike, but it was raining heavily and I had done one ride just two weeks back. Driving a car to Lonavala/Khandala wasn't exciting as well, as for the most part you end up in the car stuck in heavy traffic and absolutely no place to park vehicles. While I was thinking about Khandala, it struck me: Deccan Queen, Vistadome!! But the dream was shortlived, apparently there are thousands of train enthusiasts like me and there is just one Vistadome coach doing rounds from Pune to Mumbai and back. There is almost a month's waiting and I was told that WL (Waitlist) tickets rarely get converted to CNF (Confirmed) for this DQ coach. Dejected, I almost dropped everything for Sunday and was thinking of taking my wife and the kid to the usual Mall, his usual play area and the usual shops in it, when I saw one train leaving from Pune to Mumbai at 7.55AM and again leaving Mumbai at 1.20PM and arriving at 4.40PM to Pune. Hmmph, so what if I booked 1AC which I have never done in my life, and experience the Khandala ghat section, which I last experienced in 2008 to attend Mood Indigo at IIT Bombay?! Plus, the last time I travelled in train was back in 2016.

Checked for seats and found that 1A class has some available. Immediately booked them and told my wife that I am going to Mumbai and will be back in the same train by 5.30PM. In that josh, I missed the final destination, it was LTT (Lokmanya Tilak Terminus) and not the usual CST (Chattrapati Shivaji Terminus), yes, I am going to write about LTT, but lets write the good stuff first.

The plan was set: travel in a train, read your favorite book which you haven't done since you started wasting time reading tweets, watching fb feeds and Instagram reels. Idea was to not have any screen time, only exception being the Kindle e-reader.

Had checked the status of train on RailYatri app the night before and saw that it was running about a 20 minutes late, with heavy rainfall in Maharashtra, I expected it to be late to arrive in Pune as well. Woke up with the hope that I may get a few minutes more to read the newspaper before I left home, checked the app again and to my surprise the scheduled arrival was bang on right with no delay. Looks like the train was at full speed all night recovering lost time. She arrived right on the time as mentioned in the app. Trust in RailYatri app restored.

Reached station forty minutes early and started soaking myself in the mood of a typical railway station.



Yes, I was confused too, this shop is supposed to sell books.


These airplanes and cars had spoilt me, made me forget my old flames.
Looked her in the eyes, after longest time...


Locomotive Love (taken from an English song I heard)

Let's agree to agree, watching coupling is fun at any age.



The train arrived on time and I had already figured out where the coach was going to be on google, but I wish Indian Railways mentioned the position of my coach in the SMS they send once the chart is prepared. The information on display board is fine, but for someone in hurry, it can be missed easily. Knowing the position beforehand will avoid unnecessary cardio workout at the last minute. It pains to watch kids dragged by their mothers and fathers hauling bags spewing verbal expletives towards their designated 'dibba' with just five minutes of stoppage.

The platform is a sight to watch when a train arrives, there is no time for selfless acts, and not a second to waste at the doors. You need to be quick, your core must be tightened, you must gather enough strength to toss other passenger's bags away from the door and push yourself inside. I did the same as I was trained as such when I was doing Pune-Mumbai-Pune every summer in school-going age, but then I wondered, what was the need now? Is the 1st class crowded and unruly just like others? It sure looked like that. The coach read 'A1' on the outside and I thought thats my coach and shoved myself inside it, but once I emerged out of the dense cloud of human torsos, I realized this was not my coach, there were no cabins as promised, no silence and peace as I had read two days ago, asked another harried passenger where I was, said it was a 2A Coach and mine was one coach ahead. Did a facepalm mentally and started running towards the coach from inside the train. The train started moving mercilessly exactly at 7.55AM. Thank god better sense prevailed and I did not get out of the train to board my coach. Vestibuled trains! one of the best inventions by humankind.

First step inside the coach and you know this is a different experience altogether. You feel so calm inside, isolated from the chaos that is unfolding in the entire length of the train that is ahead of you (pro tip: 1A Coaches are usually first or last depending on direction, for long haul trains). Each of these nice cabins have a tiny little letter marking above the entrance, easy to miss when travelling for the first time in it, like I did. Then you slide the heavy door (kids better not stand in between this door) and admire the space Indian Railways offer you!

That awkward moment when you realize this cabin is bigger than average kitchen of a modest flat in Mumbai. (Note: the cabin was cleaned promptly after the train left Pune station)


Ok I am exaggerating, but man! why would someone travel in an aeroplane, stacked like eggs in a tray, if they can travel in THIS is still beyond me. The price for the ticket is justified, it is definitely not just a measure of time saved on a plane. Sit back, enjoy the view, take some board games along and if you are the physically active type, you can easily do some exercise and yoga as well inside the cabin. It is that spacious. As this was a long haul train coming from Kakinada Port in Andhra, the 1A coach had very less occupants from Pune onwards, and since it was only going to stop at Lonavala before terminating at LTT, it meant that no one was going to accompany me in that cabin for the entire journey. I felt like a King. For introverts like me, the happiness of finding places you enjoy completely devoid of other humans is inexplicable. I could read my favorite author's book, talk loudly with my kid on a video call or simply sing songs loudly like I do in the washroom.



Ok, I admit, this one was only for the photo-op. I finished reading only about 21% of it, because for the entire journey I had pasted my face to the glass window, taking in every image of the scenary that this route offers.

Sometimes the scenes are bad. There was one that freaked me out completely while watching those tracks running along with me. Somewhere after crossing Shivajinagar, the train gathered speed and then for a quick moment I saw a man lifeless, lying next to the track, his head was missing. It happened so fast but was enough for my brain to process everything. I could feel my heart pounding. Is this so common? as a matter of fact, it is. A lot of people are found dead next to railway tracks in India, daily. The next day I checked on Maharashtra police website and found there were three unidentified/unclaimed men dead around the Pune Railway station section itself, one record had a thumbnail image of what I saw from the train :(

Anyway, I had to move on, literally. Soon got distracted by rains which started as we crossed my ancestral station Kamshet and approached Lonavala and I started recalling those days when I used to travel to my grandparents' and Uncle's home in Mumbai in these trains, much before the Mumbai-Pune Express highway was built and dad bought a car for us.

Kamshet Station seen at the far end of this photo.

picture taken from https://www.travliv360.com/the-best-...s-from-bombay/

As a kid, whenever we went to this small village for family functions, I used to hang around at this beautiful station for some time. The sound of clean Indrayani river that flows along the track just behind the platform is one soul-soothing experience. A train running on this particular section would be shown in the famous and beautiful song 'Mile sur mera tumhara' just before the marathi part of the song starts.

Anyone who has not travelled the Mumbai-Pune leg in a train should do so, as early as possible. The Khandala Ghat section is something, especially in monsoon and winters. I am going to put some videos down here that I recorded on 'basic' High Definition resolution using my phone. Well, watch those Khandala Ghat videos in 480p or 8K resolution as much as you want, but nothing matches the experience of physically travelling on that scenic route and feeling everything, the smell in the air, the cool wind blowing and the noise of train mixed with sound of water falling down the hills, the croaking of frogs and the rustling of leaves of the dense jungle.



One sincere request to Indian Railways: slap them Vistadome coaches at the rear of all trains that go to Mumbai from Pune. If not possible, well, just make it possible.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WusDkIjZKUY

https://youtu.be/2rgOOFpiUF0

https://youtu.be/APMS4L3QaIU

The progress is pretty slow once the train crosses Karjat as local trains join these express trains. The train almost limps towards the end of the journey, I saw the train not going above 30 to 40kmph for most part after Kalyan. It would burst to 60-70 kmph for a couple of kilometers as if someone kicked it in the rear, only to slow down again.

This was purely nostalgic, the last dose of tunnel after enjoying all tunnels of Khandala, the train cuts through this huge mountain before Thane station arrives.

Here is a video of it on the way back to Pune: (Skip the first 30 seconds of tunnel)

https://youtu.be/boT-5gwjf-4

The train arrived with a delay of 9 minutes at LTT Lokmanya Tilak Terminus.


Now, for the uninitiated, LTT is a place where many long haul trains terminate and originate from Mumbai. But it is essentially a dumpyard for travellers. The terminus has a major 'your a** is on your own' vibe. For all the space available in the premises, the station lacks good eateries, medicine shops or general stores. It is common sense that people are arriving here after spending more than 24 hours in a train in some cases, or people will spend the next day or two in a train when they leave the station, so it should definitely have these essential shops, but no, there just aren't, at least not in immediate vicinity of the trains. And the toilets are yuckk!! If you are arriving at LTT, better use the toilets inside the train. The ones in my coach were as clean as airplane ones, except there was water spilled on the floor and the toilet paper was missing (you can request the staff to fix it quickly). Funny, you are not allowed to use washrooms during turbulence in an aircraft, but if one wants to know what it is like to use one during turbulence, Indian Railways offers that experience in loads. It also had a liquid soap dispenser with liquid soap in it!

Coming back to LTT, I had no other plan but to sit it out at the station and board the same train again on my way back, there was a waiting room with a small eatery for passengers at platform #1, but just like you have those fans blowing rose water scented air on your face at the entrance of a marriage hall, this one too was blowing air at the entrance, except the scent was similar to ammonia, or urine. You need to be on some heavy stuff to stand near that entrance, few minutes more and I would have probably fainted. Not sure if it was because of Sunday and the cleaning staff was on leave, but it was simply BAD. Decided to skip that and took a stroll outside, nothing much to do there as well.

A lone engine, might as well keep it inside the station.


The nearest restaurant was a good 15-20 minutes walk from the station, which meant I would have to take an auto and everthing. Not needed as I had packed some food with me, but someone who arrives at LTT famished, he better be prepared to hang on for some more time. The IRCTC eatery upstairs, above the stinking toilets is again, hopeless. I sampled a samosa just to see what it is like and threw it after one bite. Not sure why there are no good eateries when the have such a huge waiting area.

So I did the usual stuff at the station, walked along the length and breadth of the platforms, reached my step count target in the process, observed everything happening around me and read the book while waiting for the train's doors to open.



Soon, it was time to go back home. The train was the same, the coach was again the same, and as luck would have it, I had the same cabin confirmed with no one but just me in it! Once again, I was rolling, face plastered to the window and enjoying every bit of what I had seen two hours ago, the kid inside me awake and alive!

I came home happy and fresh with that 'reset to factory settings' sort of mental state, ready to face a gloomy, cloudy and rainy Monday with full charge. Even though I had slept for just six hours the day before, did not sleep for a minute in the train. My wife was happy that I wasn't around her all day, she talked to her friends till they had nothing else to talk, which is theoretically not possible, and the kid was busy landing planes at the airport we built last week.

The total cost of entire journey was about 2700 Rupees. This was an experiment I did and it was successful. I can take my family to Mumbai for a day, except it won't be LTT ! I have at times worked from shopping malls or cafes, eating and drinking sugar in the process, but this is new found love. If I want to be alone to do some office related reading stuff or even do some coding, I can very well do it from a moving train. Hopefully this will happen more. Thanks for reading!

Ending with a photo of a fully operational airport

[Rajeevraj]

Nice write-up and thanks for sharing. Looks like train travelogues are becoming more of a thing on Team-Bhp and happy to see it. .

Keeping aside all the disadvantages and issues, there is something about trains that really hooks us. I can totally relate to such a journey. I stay near a small station with a view of the platform and every time a train goes past, I pause for at least a few seconds to watch it go by.

[charanreddy]

Completely agree with you on the ‘me’ time. Only reason I drive to my office 21 kms away from home taking anywhere between 45 mins to 1 hr despite office providing free cab facility. I put on music that I like ranging from devotional / Carnatic classical in the morning to explicit Rap on the way back home.. often times singing along with the song that I would not do with others present around me. With wife and kid , my role in the car is demoted to that of a obedient driver who plays songs missus likes and has to put the AC climate control at 28degrees ( missus hates cold ).

I used to secretly like the 38hr train journeys from my home town of Tirupati to New Delhi where I studied for a couple of years. Packed a good book from Jeffery archer / Federick Forsyth , some snacks, basic music on the Nokia phone with a Symbian 40 OS and I was set. How I miss those days !!

[Sudarshan42]

Lovely write-up! As a new father, I've found this more and more necessary in my life too, and being stuck with each other for 2 whole pandemic years hasn't helped either. I was considering motorcycle rides as my sole escape, this has given me another option to explore, thanks!

We're travelling to Vietnam later this month (leaving the little tyke behind with his grandparents for some 'us time'), and will be covering half of it by train and bikes, so that should be both experiences covered.

[fatman2022]

Great write-up !

I always enjoy travelling via train, specially if I am not short pressed on time. Not only is it an experience in itself, a cross state train allows us to try different food, see different people, and enjoy amazing sceneries.

I still distinctly remember Triveni Express, running between Lucknow and Daltonganj (in Jharkhand, where we had our ancestral home). The train had AC coaches from Lucknow to Chopan, where it would halt for 30 minutes or so (not anymore) at 5 AM (and then you move to a general coach for rest of the journey). That is the only station I know serving fresh, out of the kadhai, garlic potato samosas (garlic is used frequently in Bihar/Jharkhand). Getting out during misty mornings in winters, smelling and eating those fresh samosas was the highlight of my childhood trips to our ancestral home.

I try to give similar experiences to my kids, but alas, work is so different, and we are so short pressed on time to "reach" our destination that we generally miss the "travel".

[kvamshi04]

For introverts like me, the happiness of finding places you enjoy completely devoid of other humans is inexplicable. I could read my favourite author's book.

Can feel you, such places are a bliss.

[TechnoBloop]

That's a nice airport you got there!

Yes, travelling by train has a different vibe altogether. It's been ages since I have been on a train. The train route from where I live (Delhi) to my hometown (Trivandrum, Kerala) is one of the most scenic routes in this country. But for me, it has always been flight flight flight. I mean travelling by train eats up a lot of time and requires a lot of patience as well whereas on a flight I could reach my destination in just 3 hours. I never had that much time to spend even though the sceneries are absolutely beautiful, but after reading this write-up of yours, it is mentally forcing me to travel by train next time. Travelling on a Vistadome Train has also been on my bucket list for a long time now.

Wonderful write-up, it just felt like I was on a mini train trip!!

[unoczar]

Thank you for sharing this with us. Mesmerizing! But a shocker in between. Headless man!? Wow, I wouldn't want to see that. Ever!

Anyways, I'll use this inspiration to travel to the east. I've never been to Kolkata and intend to travel by train with family of course. No "me-time" here.

[sandeepmohan]

The last time I boarded a train at LTT was in 2004-2005. It was a pretty bad experience then. The station was essentially a platform, tracks and a ticket counter. Not a single shop on the premises. Am surprised to see and read that nothing has changed, considering IR have been going on a rampage sprucing up railway stations. Looks like LTT has been given the boot when it comes to upgrades.

This "me time" thing is something I have been doing for quite some time, though off late, its more on the motorcycle than any other mode of transport. kiwi land stopped taking long distance trains. Small country, small population, decent roads to every destination. Who needs trains is the moto here. As a result, I miss rail travel a lot. The only rail travel I get to do are the occasional steam rai trips organized by the Steam Rail society.

Back when we lived in India, I used to do something similar to what you did, though by night train. I'd leave home at 7pm and be back by around 8am the following morning. Usually on a Friday, so the weekend isn't lost. It was a round trip run by one of the Trains from Bangalore to Tamil Nadu. The Mysore Tuticorin express or the Mysore Myladuthurai express. I'd board general class at Bangalore Cant and travel to Salem Junction. Get off there and take the Nagercoil Bangalore express for the return. I'd suffer the General class run and book myself in the most expensive class for the return leg. That was maxed out at 2 AC Sleeper. I needed it cause after the slow 4 to 4.5 hour run, mostly done standing, I'd be flat. Besides, I had a few hours of a wait at Salem Junction waiting for the return train which was around 4m. I did these trips only if I could get a confirmed return ticket. I'd check in Bangalore for availability for the return leg and do the trip only if seats were available. I won't book the ticket though. I'd board the train at Salem using a General class ticket and approach the TT for an upgrade to 3A or 2A, whichever was available. Worst case, sleeper class. These trips were like a Pranayama for me. My moment of peace and solitude, though one way of that journey was nothing close to that. For me, it was the experience of being right being the diesel locomotive (the line is electrified now), experiencing travel like common folk do. It was hard. On the return, that 4 to 4.5 slumber was the best sleep I'd ever get. The train would trundle along at an amazing 50kmph average. The rocking of the old ICF coaches would put me to sleep in an instant. I'd board Salem at 3am into a coach where everyone would be sound asleep. 6 channel surround sound snoring (myself included after a point). The train would get to Bangalore only by 8 to 830am so no hurry to get up too.

There was one such trip, where my wife and 4 year old decided to join me. This trip back fired though. The onward was fine. The return is where it went horribly wrong. The return train never showed up. Engine failure. The Station Master could not provide an eta for when the train would arrive. Finally, we boarded the Salem Yeswantapur passenger departing at 5am. As it was the starting station, we got seats but we were sitting for close to 5 hours! My poor wife and kid had it real bad for this one. It was rough but a memory we won't forget. I have some photos from the trip, wide awake with my kid at 2am in the morning, waiting for the return train that was never to come. This was probably the last journey I did.

I am no introvert. Its the last 3 years that have been brutal, with lock downs, working from home. Could not cope with any of this. I rushed back to the office the day they announced they were opening or welcoming us back into the workspace. I needed human interaction. The virtual world was driving me nuts. All of this lead to that "me time" trigger again and thats now done with my motorcycle.

[Excommunicado]

Very well written NilnJa! I have nothing special to add to your post. I just want to appreciate the effort you've put in typing all this. It is not easy.

I've been trying to write a 'What car?' post since 3 weeks now and everytime I end up telling myself 'who cares?'

Well, in your case, I'd say 'I care'. You seem like a decent and sane man from your post. Keep it up!

[ani_meher]

Well written! It was a fun read. I have done this route hundreds of times, but haven't yet seen an accident. Too bad you had to witness one on your first trip.

We take so many things for granted, but looking at them from a neutral, curious point of view, we understand what can be improved. I agree with your observations totally, why aren't the facilities improved at railway stations? We equate crowded stations = messy stinky cesspools, and they continue to remain so. Why can't a crowded station be clean with access to food and essential shops in the campus itself?

I hope someday, we will reminisce with our kids about how the railway stations used to be real bad 'in our times'. Keep on writing.

[Dry Ice]

Thanks for sharing!

What a refreshing travel story. Travelling just for the experience, without even knowing the destination!

How was the occupancy in the train otherwise?

Originally Posted by Rajeevraj

Nice write-up and thanks for sharing. Looks like train travelogues are becoming more of a thing on Team-Bhp and happy to see it. .

+1

3 train journey reports in quick succession - all of them in 1AC. But, all of them with different intents and purposes!

> (First AC Class in an LHB Coach Train | My First Class Experience)

> (Shadow & Booster travel by Train)

[jkrishnakj]

Loved reading it.
Could you share how you made your wife agree to the ‘no questions asked one day’ model? I don’t dare broach this at home, lest, she goes hunting for more ammo. Lucky you man!

What’s Kamshet to you was Akurdi to me during 93-94 times. Finish work, get home, Change clothes, pack a Vada Pav from a shop at Pradhikaran, walk over to a very pretty Akurdi railway station and hang out there all alone with myself, wait for the evening Mumbai bound Indrayni express to pass by around 645 pm. I don’t know how many work day evenings I’ve done this. And those days, it used to be just me in the open roof platform admiring the train hurtle past. Very pretty memory.

[sukhbirST]

Some things really bring thrills in their own way like just going and coming back in the same train. Well, trains have never left us and we will continue to enjoy the journeys. Thanks for sharing.

[capnemo]

Very well articulated and I particularly like your tidbits of humour peppering the narrative.
Personally, this writeup kindles many fond memories for us 'railways' kids. My dad used to work in the railways and train journeys were a biannual affair because he used to get these quarterly passes for free railway travel across the length and breadth of the nation.

So for 20 odd years, like a dutiful father, my dad booked us on the Bombay - Calicut route that passed through some of the places you have mentioned. The return journey would happen closer to the monsoons and I have happy memories of the train being late, so we could see a bathed Khandala ghats in the morning.

To many more such 'me' times !