I did come out alive. I dunno how. No, there were no oxygen masks inside like the ones you get in-flight which drops down suddenly when the 'air-tin' is in danger. But I survived. I think it was my will-power. Better give the credit to the 'oh-so-rare-in-trains' chick who was sitting two seats from mine.
A fifteen hours sit-or-stand inside a long, no, very long vehicle. Run by government. Dirty as hell. Not enough place to sleep. Seats torn, the hidden, now freed metal trying to assassinate me. It was quite a cat and mouse game.I was the mouse.
A fifteen hours sit-or-stand inside a long, no, very long vehicle. Run by government. Dirty as hell. Not enough place to sleep. Seats torn, the hidden, now freed metal trying to assassinate me. It was quite a cat and mouse game.I was the mouse.
The bogies, or 'vans connected together' were painted like the painter got bored while doing the job and fell asleep. By the way, have you ever noticed how bad the artistic sense of government painters are?!
Seat: The technology was quite up-to date I daresay. Up-to date to the 18th century. It's a kinda sofa-looking seat which seats 3 and can be converted with the vertical piece going horizontal when the '3' wanna sleep. And oh, one of 'em has the option to sleep all the time. Cos his bed is on top (optional) and is always horizontal. The 'topper' as I often refer him as, also has the great opportunity to check how the train's metal smells like, as he almost has to sleep with his nostrils 'creaming' the train's ceiling. Damn, I was the middler.
Seating: There is a little conversion to my 3 humans per 'seat-slab'. I meant to say 3 humans per 'seat', respectfully. By the time the train starts running, you come to find out how 'adjustable' humans become in desperate times.
A gentleman came to me and asked me if I can offer him some space. Being the gentleman I am, I smile and with a 'sure' gave him some place to sit. My mistake. As the day went on, he converted my seat to his, literally. Like PoK. Pakistan occupied Kashmir. You can call this GoS. Gentleman occupied Seat, you know. And I believed I was the one having the ticket.
Food: The food was extraordinary. For breakfast, I had an omelet, rather an onion-let. Then I took some tea to patch-up. I think they re-use tea-bags. And I think the tall-dude gave me the 5-times-used bag. Cos it didn't bring any color or taste I was accustomed to. But maybe that was normal? Then I had some rice "which was supposed to have chicken" for lunch. Of course, I skipped dinner!
Shopping: If there is any train which has a shopping mall, it's in India. And it's very convenient too. They have this wonderful 'sit-in-your-seats-we-will-serve-you' service. There is a never-ending supply of anything you want. Anything. I swear this guy came with a 20x zoom Sony (have I heard the name before?) camera with a price-tag of 500 Indian bucks. Damn, the guy before me took the only piece. No, it doesn't works. But it did in his hands. Maybe there is a toll-free service number?
Bathrooms: With the generous helping of so many colorful foods I brought from the self-serving shopping mall, my stomach went quite heavy and I went to dump some. The blast of shit-wind that hit my face was over-whelming. It was like my shit got scared of the bathroom and went back inside to hide!
I guess the railway department planned these cubes quite well. You sway in rhythm when you are doing your stuff. It's quite pleasant. The most innovative thing? They don't collect your shit. It just 'roll's down. On the track. I think the authorities didn't want to collect that stuff. Clever! Now you know why they advise you not to visit 'em cubes when the train is parked! Imagine this facility being introduced in planes. I will never watch the birds again.
Sleep: When you are in an Indian train and you convert your seat to a bed, you just stop whatever you were doing and marvel the creativity of the constructors. The middle bed hangs in chains! I can't let you go without telling you how it works. It's so cool. When you wanna sleep you just lift the vertical part of your seat (it's movable!) and drag it till it's horizontal. Then you fix it into place with a couple of chains hanging from the roof. Have you ever seen anything like that?! I bet my ass, no.
When I climbed into the just-now-made-from-nowhere bed of mine, I couldn't help but feel a little apprehensive. Was I gonna fall down? What if the chains come off? I know it was stupid of me to feel that way. But even with such great technology available, I got a little scared. No, I didn't sleep.
My destination? I couldn't just leave my beloved train! But I reached my destination. And I got down, you know.
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