A Train Journey

Recently, I went with my family on a train journey after a long time. We went by the Rajdhani express from Kochi to Udupi in an a/c, three tier 2nd class compartment. We had dinner before we boarded from Cochin. When we got into the train we noticed it was not very clean and we were very surprised. Many times they came and offered us food and drinks which were part of the fare but we rejected it as we were in the compartment near the kitchen and noticed it was not neat at all.


We slept the whole night in the train and woke up by 6 am as we were to reach Udipi by 7 am. The train was in Mangalore station and didn’t move for a long time. After half an hour we got to know the reason from our fellow passengers. The tracks ahead were blocked due to a land slide. We waited for over nearly four hours hoping the train would move. After some time a passenger sitting near me asked me where I am going and my father overheard them talking to me. And they encouraged us to go by road since Manipal where we had to go was only one and a half hour away. So we went to Mani pal by road and it took us 1 and a half hrs.

And after reaching there we checked into a nice hotel called Valley view and we went and had lunch in the hotel restaurant. And after lunch we went to the college premises. It is a very impressive campus. We also went and saw a huge football ground with thick green grass which looked lovely. And also we saw the hostel. After that we had tea in a coffee shop.

We were to leave for Kochi the same night. To make sure we could go we went and enquired if the trains were running. But there was no train that night due to the landslide. So we got back to the hotel and my father watched the world cup football.

And then we went and had dinner. We saw a buffet that was the Konkani food. But that was actually a flop since no one touched it. We ordered our dinner and liked the food.

And the next day we drove down from Mani pal. We stopped in Mangalore and had lunch. While we were driving from Mangalore I had noticed that Mangalore was much similar to Kerala with paddy fields and all. And the bridges also were like Kerala. In between we stopped in one aunty’s house. I met one granny there and she said that she will keep me in prayers. And we reached Kerala border in 2 hrs. We drove via Kassargod, Thalasserry, Kannur and we stopped in Kannur for tea but we didn’t get any tea there. And then we stopped in Calicut for dinner but in between we lost our way. And from Calicut we drove back via Thrissur and Angamally. And we reached Cochin by 3 am in the morning. We also asked our driver to stay but he had to drive all the way back.

So what did I learn from this journey?

Our trains aren’t clean. Why should this be so?

That a taxi driver drives non stop fpr 28 hrs without rest. Is this not dangerous?

Our roads are not well maintained. Why?

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