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| Aunties from Paharganj |
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| Rajdhani evening snacks |
So it’s a Friday afternoon and being the busiest PR person on the planet, I was quite proud of myself to have managed to leave office three and a half hours before the official time( work continues post that for a few more hours). I had had one nightmare too many that I would miss to take the Rajdhani express to delhi for the weekend to meet friends and to travel to a neemrana hotel called Fort Hill Kesroli. More on the fort later.
Yes, so there I was, walking towards Dadar station, wearing my company branded backpack which would make school kids in Dhaka proud of the quality stuff manufactured by their malnourished workers. I had a bag nevertheless on my shoulders and sometimes that equals the melodramatic roof overs one head type’a phrase. Reaching Mumbai central fairly quickly I had more than 30 mins to settle into what is the premier train service on Indian tracks- the Rajdhani express. With the first blast of conditioned air on my sweat-lined face, I was transported eight years back in time when I had taken the same train with a college mate with whom I was about to become colleagues too. I clearly remember the excitement then-‘ we are on the rajdhani man!’ either one of us had exclaimed. Then came in the king like treatment by the coach attendant- warm towels, white linen, blankets- all to ensure that I was ready for the Delhi grind after a good night’s sleep. Oh and that was just the beginning, one after the other we were served food (which I thought then) was fit for a special occasion. It started with soup, then the main course and ice cream for dessert. Then night fell and the moment I opened my eyes we were nearing delhi and there was a delicious omlette waiting to content my stomach. And that was that, we were in Delhi, in flat sixteen hours. I could not believe it. The trip on this train was more exciting than having reached Delhi where I was to spend at least one year.
Cut back to 2011, Sachin- now a regular in the Indian skies, albeit on the domestic routes, mostly. He has settled down into Rajdhani which will take him to Delhi. He took the train since he thought it was too much to spend five thousand rupees on a one way flight when he needed to reach Delhi only next morning.
And as I settle down, the staff attendant hurries everyone through their ‘ veg or non-veg?’ dinner order. Its vegetarian for me, I tend to not like chicken dishes even in decent restaurants, so the non-chicken meal seems safer for me on a train. But the attendant does not seem as nice as I had expected him to be. Andheri marks the arrival of evening snacks-which for most bit is a disappointment. The cheese sandwich is dry like a desert stone, the savoury n sweet samosa is okay and the juice is the good old Jumpin which none of us would drink even if they were actually available in neighbourhood shops. So, that was the about the snacks. The most useful on the snacks tray was the paper soap.
After this, It was nice to be able to talk to co passengers. Three elderly people and two young executives were my neighbours on this trip. Akthough, the elderly and the young were not known to each other, they all seemed like one big Delhi family where I was the odd bambaiya. But as the unstoppable Rajdhani zipped past station after station, conversations got easier and they finally started to accept me. And in no time, it was dinner time… soup had arrived. The cream of tomato soup could pass off as a poor rendition of the rasam in a cheap udupi near mulund station.
Thankfully, there was a break before the main meal was served. Wrapped in silver foils with dal dripping on the tray, it made me feel that the irritating canteen waiter at office was a an international standard in hygiene. The less I talk about the taste of the food, the better it is-for me. They obviously think that paneer is versatile enough to b consumed raw in a makhni gravy. The rice and the dal though made the meal edible. Dessert was the token vanilla ice cream in a cup.
But the dilliwalas ensured that it wasn’t only a cribtrip for me. One of the boys placed his laptop on the side table and played a recent rom-com flick named ‘Dil to bachcha hai ji’. It isn’t one of the greatest films ever made, but hey what the heck? I hit the middle birth at midnight and woke up in the morning again to a waiting omlette but this one was just not eligible to enter anyone’s stomach. By the time I made up my mind that I would not eat it, New Delhi station had arrived. And off I was to find the next metro to Gurgaon.
So, this was my story of Rajdhani redux, a train which in my opinion has regressed than doing the opposite. While many in India have moved on and expect better service, shorter durations, the railway seems to be happy in providing the service which in many parts of the world would take only single digit hours. The complimentary meals are still considered important by them and may be they are right since the passenger spends most of his time eating in the Rajdhani. But better food, better presentation would help if the train wants to maintain the legacy of college kids aspiring to travel on this train. If good food and service are expensive for the prices at which tickets are sold at then maybe it is time to get travelers to pay for food or at least increase the prices of the ticket. But yes, that should happen if the railway manages to reduce the travel time in each of the 16 rajdhanis.
But here’s the counterpoint, maybe I am being too critical. May be it is still an aspirational train for countless Indians. May be my staid airline travel has killed the boy who found this or any other train charming…
Being a lover of trains since childhood, all I feel, is that the railways should evolve. And for nothing els but for the sake of evolution itself!
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