Do you remember it ? Do you like to travel by train ?
Do you like to travel by train ? How often do you travel by train ? After almost a decade, I finally got an opportunity to travel by train. The boy got a Table Tennis Competition at Kolkata, and their school sought my permission to let him go with the school team, but I was not very comfortable so I decided, I would take him with me. It's not that I am over protective about him, but going in a group has pros and cons, so I wanted to be with him for his very first experience. It also allowed me to de-congest a bit from the stressed life and relax for few days. He will definitely remember this experience for his life time.
As this was his first train journey so he was very excited about this trip. Ideally the school should have sponsored the trip, but instead they asked us to pay for all the costs, that would force him to stay in the event premise. Since I have my maternal uncle's brother working at Kolkata at a top executive post, I contacted him and he had everything arranged for us, so that was a big joy to enjoy this trip without spending from our pocket.
First thing first - go and figure out in which platform the train would come.
Now we have escalators / lift in the station, which makes life easy, back then, we had to run through the steps. Ever faced that situation, when you discover at the last moment, the train would come in a different platform ? You wish, you had skills like Spiderman then :)
Picking up some drinks, for us, an empty water bottle from home and water from station - who remembers that ?
We also had his friend with us, who stays in our society. So I was like a Coach for these two kids :)
I would pick up a Hindi Novel, every time I go by train then. That has now changed to downloading few movies on the laptop.
An old lady sitting on the station, caught my attention - that ball must be for her grand children.
While they were watching the trains from the over-bridge, a train passed by and that bridge shook and the kids were like what the hell is this !!!
Relax kiddos - Newton's third law in action.
Time to go to our platform, look at these boards to know where you need to step down - don't wait for the lift - there is always a long queue.
Our station is going through renovation, hopefully we will see a world class station next year, but things have changed a lot, so be ready to face inconvenience.
Who runs the train ? Here is the man responsible to look at signals, but it's a collective effort, to avoid unfortunate accidents. Make sure to stay away from the tracks and don't ever try to board a running train - we have to teach the kids.
And what do we eat ? Go and explore yourself.
Kids are much smarter than us, they quickly figured out and ordered food from Zomato.
Who runs the AC ? CAN we ask to reduce the temperature ? They have so many questions and I was patiently helping them to understand.
The beautiful view of the bridge coming on our way.
Sleeping in the train is the most enjoyable thing for me, it feels like sleeping on a moving swing - Time to relax.
After nine hours, we finally boarded Howrah junction, the train was delayed by more than a hour just before the station. As we went through the station, the kids were shocked to see so many people moving on - that's the reality of metros - it's crowded way beyond where we live. So be ready to do everything faster, because time is the most valuable resource here. A car was waiting for us to take to the guest house.
Some nice homely food to wrap up the day and take rest - we had to get ready at 5 am next day for their event - more to come on that.
Did you ever looked at the tracks when going by train ? A small video capturing the memories.
They did learn a lot from this trip, certainly this would not have been possible without me going, we need to educate and enable them.
copyrights @sanjeevm - content created uniquely with passion for #HIVE platform — NOT posted anywhere else! #HIVE is my only social diary - my blog is my life.
Our railway system used to be super reliable but unbelievably has been stripped, literally, by thievery, and gross mismanagement.
I love traveling by train, was absolutely amazed at the efficiency of the trains in the Netherlands!
Your son and his friend will feel more confident next time, it's always good to have a guiding hand for a first time. It must have been a good father/son experience @sanjeevm!
Sad to hear that a super reliable system has been damaged because of people, who need it. It was a very good experience, guiding the kids.
I have travelled a lot on the train when my father was posted in Mizoram we used to travel 3 days and 3 nights on the train it was a fun experience. I would like to experience that again someday.
Wow, 3 days and 3 nights on the train is quite fun - back then there would be no signals, so no one to disturb. I wish, they maintain the wash rooms better - that's the most annoying part.
In England we don't really have the same idea of train. They're for shorter commutes and not the typical big sleeper ones. My first experience on one of the sleeper ones was taking it from Yerevan to Tbilisi a few months ago. I loved it. Such incredible views and such a fun experience. I recently took another short trip, one from Tbilisi to a small former Soviet resort town called Borjomi. A shorter trip but similar type of train. Old, rustic, loud, and full of interesting characters.
I definitely prefer this form of travel to getting the car or a bus, or even flying. Feels so much more connected with the world and the space around you. I think it's a great experience but also lesson about yourself, for if you can deal with the downs of a long trip on a sleeper train, you can handle most things!
And we have these food vendors coming every now and then serving some hot crispy food that makes it fun.
First train ride after a decade? Wow! Here in my country, trains are very common and most people here use them often. I travel by train almost every week. Our railways are dense but short (as we are a little country) so you cannot be on the train for 9 hours here, unless the train is horribly delayed (which happens too sometimes, unfortunately). Anyway, enjoy the trip guys! :)
@tipu curate 4
You had a pleasant trip. I really love traveling by train, tickets in my country are inexpensive, for a 4-5 hour train ride our family pays $28 for a four-seater compartment. Children love to lie on the top bunks, the compartment doors close and we travel in our own little world and see the big world from the window.
🎉 Upvoted 🎉
👏 Keep Up the good work on Hive ♦️ 👏
❤️ @bhattg suggested sagarkothari88 to upvote your post ❤️
I have heard about the experience of traveling by train and even though right now I have not actually traveled by train and hoping one day I will experience it
From what I remember I never traveled by either train or plane. Considering that I am close to 33 years old that may be a bit strange. But I don't really travel much at all.
Travel is a beautiful thing, refreshes you.
The truth is that I have never even seen a train and if I had the opportunity to ride it, it would be a wonderful trip, a unique sensation that I now wish to have.
First of all, traveling by train should be a unique experience and even more so if it is the first time, to be honest, a 9-hour trip should be tiring, but enjoying it makes it the perfect combo, although the only bad thing is that they have to pay for the trip. by own means
Train travel is good but we need to deal with crowded platforms. Now a days train infrastructure has improved but still not upto the mark.
True, I felt bad to see the worst condition in the wash rooms, that's one thing, that has never improved over decades. That is the soul reason, we have stopped going in train for longer trips, flights are better.
Train journey is very exciting, I have done train journey several times. Ours and yours, the train and the station are the same. The old lady sitting at the station is a very natural sight. I guess your child enjoyed it a lot
Yes, they enjoyed and learned a lot.
Anything that is first in life is always precious and memorable for a long long time. Maybe some years later your son would write a memoir on that. It's good that you accompanied him in this experience with a fatherly care for a teenage kid.
Always......no matter how important the task at hand is....nothing is more important than life.
Train journey is always beautiful if it is an AC coach.....otherwise it's another job or task to travel and reach the destination as soon as possible.
I wish under Amrit Bharat Scheme these stations undergo the desired renovation as outlined. Cuttack, Puri will be completely renovated.
Thank you.
Jai Jagannath
🙏🙏🙏
I wish, they make the wash rooms better in trains. They still remain in pathetic conditions.
that has more to do with the civic responsibility of people sir. I have seen how people defecate even in a posh washroom with an AC compartment.
I've been on a train many times but sadly never a long distance one. It's something I'd like to experience though at some point. Looks like you had a great trip!
Yes, it was a nice trip.
I frequently use the train when I was going to the University, and when I am going to work. It's good that you guided you son on how to do it, since when I first learned how, I was learning as I go. I think going with the group has its own merits for experience/memories' sake. But being able to save money is always good.
I haven't travelled by train but I wish to do that somedayt because I can't wait to feel that wonderfully and joyous trip.
This post has been manually curated by @bhattg from Indiaunited community. Join us on our Discord Server.
Do you know that you can earn a passive income by delegating to @indiaunited. We share more than 100 % of the curation rewards with the delegators in the form of IUC tokens. HP delegators and IUC token holders also get upto 20% additional vote weight.
Here are some handy links for delegations: 100HP, 250HP, 500HP, 1000HP.
100% of the rewards from this comment goes to the curator for their manual curation efforts. Please encourage the curator @bhattg by upvoting this comment and support the community by voting the posts made by @indiaunited.
What a wonderful experience traveling by train for your child, I can imagine his joy
In the city where I live there are no trains, but a few years ago I lived in Buenos Aires and in that city all the travel was done by train, many hours of travel a day
Thank you very much dear friend @sanjeevm for sharing this experience
Have a great day
Must be hectic.
The train seem very comfortable for you to be able to sleep inside it
I’ve never entered a train but I hope to do so someday
I really wish
@tipu curate
Upvoted 👌 (Mana: 31/51) Liquid rewards.
As of now, I never experienced riding a train, but if I have a chance, maybe I will feel the same way as him too.😊
Oh, this is the trip you were talking about. Sounds like you don't travel that much or you mean to say, that you don't travel that much by train. I haven't taken a train in the last 25 years! So this does bring a lot of memories from my childhood! Where in Orissa are you? 9 hours to Kolkata? Seems a lot...
I am at Bhubaneswar, the Capital, it should have taken a little over 7 hrs, but got delayed. Shatabdi takes the lowest time.
This is not a matter of being over protective but as a father you needed to tread carefully knowing fully well what's going on in the society nowadays and considering the fact that this is his first time of making such a journey.
An applause to you sir.
Next time, I can happily allow with the school team.