Every journey has a story to tell, every experience is worth savouring if tasted with right taste bud and every new opportunity presents a new horizon to explore. After the awesome Yuva Dhara Nehru Youth Internship, it seems nothing can either batter this or can be a better experience than this. But destiny has something in store for me.
The voyage to IISc , Bangalore started with a train journey on 25th July, 2011 from Delhi but I was already overwhelmed with the great hospitality gesture of receiving new students at railway station and airport which is an age old tradition of Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. As I am writing this, I am always forced to ponder whether to use Bangalore or Bengaluru but I would stick to what is in use with the institute’s name.
From NZM to SBC
I voyaged from Hazrat Nizammuddin (NZM) to Bangalore City (SBC) through train no. 12430, a 17 year old Bangalore Rajdhani Express. True to its name, these trains connect India‘s National Capital with other state capitals. Also, there is another speciality of this train; it is called as Airtel Rajdhani because it is one of a few trains where railway has realized its full potential and have advertisements of airtel on the whole train. It also has another brand which is not advertised much but plays a crucial role in daily newspaper, N.S.E- national Stock exchange which gives another picture where by many stock traders are seen as potential travellers of this prestigious train. :)
The train started and passed through many a states crossing the Haryana, U.P, M.P, Maharashtra ,A.P and finally Karnataka. As we were traversing through the length of the land of Aryavartas, I was flipping though the pages of Rail Bandhu, a new initiative of railways where by they have launched a new exciting magazine for rajdhani and shatabdi travellers. The magazine caught my spirit from the preface where by the Chairman gives an exciting picture of relationship between reading and train travelling. True to Chairman, many a novel that is not moving beyond preface are savored and enjoyed during the rail journeys. But Sir I assure you that Rail Bandhu is a wonderful initiative and a good literary effort.
Rail Bandhu takes you from Ladakh Travelogue on bike to the history of Pondicherry. Be the history of Ratlam or Dabhoi junction or a visit to Orcha near Jhansi, everything was mesmerizing to read and makes this journey a literary experience for everyone. But along side this, I was crossing a few greatest of great cities. As you cross Vidharbha Cricket Association Stadium , you are reminded that you are passing through the area most prone to farmer suicide. You are made to think that on the one hand there is a country which spends so lavishly on a game that we have included a monthly festival in our yearly calendar i.e IPL and on the other hand , there are people who fight day and night to have a single meal of day and are living hand to mouth where hand never goes to mouth but it is always in front of someone to get something to survive. The train then passes through the state of Nizams , the land of Biryani , the land of pearls and minarets. Hyderabad reminds me of great heritage we have inherited but I was filled with melancholy to see the present crisis in the state, everybody yearns for a separate state for him/ her .
After crossing the Secunderabad junction, the train enters Karnataka, The land of Kolar Gold Mines, the Kannada speaking and the land which has made India proud on the world’s map by carving another valley in India’s diverse topography, The Silicon valley. Software industry has given a new boost not only to India’s GDP but it has made a great impact on more than India’s 50% population, the middle class. I don’t know whether it is a positive or a negative trend but definitely it has done a lot to change the Indian culture and taking the common man of India from small towns across the world.
( The post was written 4 years ago in 2011)
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