Train Journeys: Chai-walas and Beyond

It’s been about a month since I got back to Bangalore and I’m sorely missing my trip to Meghalaya.

The trip began with an epic 52-hour-long journey across the country! And it was one of the best train rides I’ve been on yet.

Route the train took from Mumbai to Guwahati 

One of the first things that struck me were the familiar sounds of train travel.

From train arrival announcements on the station before boarding, to the chatter of negotiations for the side-upper berth before everyone settles in, to tea vendors, a recurring theme on any train journey, almost singing, “chaaye-chaaai, choi-choi-choi”, to the constant underlying rattle-hum of the train on the tracks – I soaked in all the sounds.

I made the best of the journey. I napped through the mornings, watched the changing landscapes outside my window through the afternoons, and stayed up all night as my dad and I made friends with the coach attendants, hearing their stories and jokes about life on the train cars of the North East Frontier Railway.

Late Night Station Watch

Eating my way through the journey!

And of course, I ate! Samosa-chhole, masala chhole, jhal muri - at every station we tried to find some new snacks, or grab a cup of nice, kadak chai. The IRCTC tea from the pantry car was over sweetened and just plain insipid – made by dropping a tea bag into hot watery milk (or milky water?). So station halts, even if for a few short minutes, were eagerly awaited, for a respectable cup of tea.

I guess we weren’t the only ones with this sentiment because somewhere in West Bengal there was actually a vendor, selling “Imaandari wali chai” – good, honest tea. “I don’t claim to be the best, but I can tell you I make tea with great integrity” – his sales pitch!

Somewhere along our quest for tea, my dad even struck up a conversation with a chai-wala at Jabalpur, and in minutes he had his arm around the other’s shoulders and they were guffawing loudly! One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned from travel is that if you’ve got the right outlook and approach, you will find friendly and helpful people no matter where you go! And every day of this trip only reinforced this lesson.

Friendly people along the way

For months I had been eager to go to Meghalaya, but it was just days before I boarded the train that I realized how excited I should be first, for the train journey itself! And boy did I enjoy those 52 hours.

You know that wobbly feeling you get after spending all afternoon bobbing about in a swimming pool, where it takes a few minutes to readjust to still ground? That’s the feeling I had when we finally disembarked at Guwahati station. We made our way to the Assam State Transport Corporation (ASTC) yard to find a bus or share cab to Shillong. After a quick lunch, we were on the next leg of our journey, and the real road trip began!