A first person account of the rail and road journey from Mumbai to Kathmandu and back in 1976.
This article is dedicated to my good friend and college mate, Ramesh Manander of Kathmandu. Ramesh died in a tragic plane crash at the young age of 36.
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Getting to know India
India has always been a fascinating country. This is because of its long history, size and the varied culture. It is a also a country that is easily accessible by all modes of transport. To the east, west and the south is the Indian Ocean. The mighty Himalayas straddles the north.
As a student of architecture, I paid particular attention to the evolution of Indian architecture. Here, as in many other places of the world, architecture has always been influenced by religion. After all, one's religion is supposed to guide whatever he does.
The majority of Indians are Hindus-85% of the Indian population. Next comes the Muslims and then Christians, Jainism, Buddhists, and Zoroastrianism. The evolution of Indian architecture very closely reflect the various phases of Hinduism, and the faiths of subsequent ruling dynastic kings and Maharajahs.
From the time of the early Indus Valley Civilization to modern India, the trail is evident from such famous sites as Mohenjo-daro and Harappa, the Sun Temple of Konarak, the Taj Mahal at Agra, and the High Court building of Chandigarh, in the State of Punjab. A journey through the heart of India therefore promised to be a walk through its history.
As a student of architecture, I was therefore very much into its history. So, come summer vacation, when the normal year end semester examination was over, I was naturally delighted when invited to visit and stay with my Nepali classmate - Ramesh Manander, in Kathmandu. Ramesh, however, had the luxury of a free air-ticket. I was instead to take a train with Anand, another Nepali friend of mine. We were joined by Prafulla, who also hailed from Kathmandu.
The Journey out of Mumbai
The term 'summer' was used to designate the hot and dry months of February through May. Most parts of India only have two seasons, monsoon and dry period. Summer temperature in Mumbai, whose old name was Bombay, was around 38 deg C
Having completed the last of the fourth year end semester, I was very eager to make the best of this trip. So, I took the first opportunity to rush over to the office of the Indian Council for Cultural Relation (ICCR in short) to get a rail pass for foreign student. This pass entitled me to 50% discount on all train journeys run by the Indian Government. Getting a ticket for the long journey was not a big problem, but getting a berth was.
We were to go by the round about way to Nepal. We shall get into Nepal from its eastern end, because I wanted to see as much of India as possible. Bombay railway was already electrified at that time. The three of us got into a center coach just before it started to pull away at 2.00 PM from the Victoria Terminal (VT station in short ). The VT station https://www.google.com/search?q=victoria+terminus+images&espv=210&es_sm=93&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=hCSGUvPQJMrLrQfJgIGQBg&ved=0CCwQsAQ&biw=1920&bih=954 was a majestic Gothic mega structure, with tinted glass. It was a beauty to behold. The coach was still very hot when we got in, the effect of 8 hours of hot sun bearing down on it through the day.
Having been traveling in jam-packed train for most of my four years in Mumbai, I was quite used to the heat. Mumbai was a city that was once made up of seven islands. As the train picked up speed, I could hear the frequent whistles, warning trespassers to give way. That reminded me of the large colonies of squatters on both sides of the railway lines. About 25% of Mumbai's population stayed in those sheds they call home. Most had come to the city in search of new opportunity. However, they soon found that getting a decent roof over their head is a real pain.
India is not a welfare state. So, economic migrants just had to fend for themselves. With a population of 7 million in 1976, land in the city was a really scarce commodity. That explained why most of the squatters are found alongside the railway line, a government property.
The express train took about 45 minutes to reach mainland India. The first stop was Thana. Here, it switched to a coal fired engine. After Thana, we started getting a good feel of what is to come. The outside air was otherwise still, if not pushed aside by the advancing train. As it took a bend, I could see there were 13 coaches in all. The front locomotive was belching thick black smoke, its signature of power.
In the same coach, there were five whites, two men and three young ladies. I could see that they were not from English speaking countries. For some reasons, we did not communicate.
The Deccan Plateau
The mid and south section of the Indian sub-continent is a rather flat plateau, weathered into its present shape by alternate dry spells and heavy monsoons. It was like a huge promontory jutting out south into the Indian Ocean. On the western front, the dry period started with the onset of northern winter. Chilly wind, blowing out of the frozen lands of the north, must have done a lot of mopping on their way to the ocean. The onset of summer or dry period is a time of still air, prior to the reversal of the wind direction. Monsoon would start around June of each year for Mumbai, and the western part of India. Moist air crossing into the India continent from the west would then start pouring rain as it came on land.
Thus far, Anand talked little. It's his way of trying to conserve energy. This was not my first long distance travel by Indian Railway. I had made it to Chennai (formerly called Madras) the year before. So, I sort of expected to see the same type of food being hawked to the train. To my surprise, I was approached by a railway attendant, who wanted to know what I wanted for lunch, dinner, and breakfast too. I opted for vegetarian meals, as did Anand and Prafulla. It turned out to be a good choice. The meals consisted of some puri, boiled potato and cabbage with curry powder, sour lassi or yogart, some white rice, dal and mango chatney. I was advised to drink a lot of water, and I should take the lassi. It kept my system in good working order throughout the journey. By nightfall, there was no more feel of the Indian Ocean.
The Hinterland
The western coastal plain is less than 200 M above mean sea level. The land started to climb upward slightly after Ulhasnagar. By and large, it was still quite flat most of the time. A large part of Maharashtra sits on the Deccan Plateau. We passed through Jagaon, Khandwa, and Itarsi before reaching the city of Jabalpur. The landscape in all these interior towns are the same, sub-tropical. Occasionally in the distance, we could see land being ploughed to prepare it for the next cropping. Here, potatoes, onions, and other tuber plants seemed to be the favourite. At Jabalpur, the train stopped to replenish water. It's already in the afternoon the next day. We got our lunch served here.
As we helped ourselves to the meals, we could see a number of people, some very young carrying their packed food on their head, walking here and there, looking for customers. There were very young children also begging for money from outside our window. However, none of us did any charity. These young kids quickly dispersed when they saw guards coming for them. Rural India was dotted with hut-like structure, some of brick and mortar, some of thatch and mud wall. All were low buildings which perhaps were erected by the farmers themselves. The mud and thatched houses must have been ideal for their weather, hot and dry.
Our next destination is Allahabad, a distance of about 450 km to the north east. Allahabad is a very important city due to its central location and close proximity with Varanasi, Hindus' holy city. It is also from here that most passengers from the eastern part of India get onto Delhi, the capital city of India. From Allabahad we were to change train to get to Varanasi and then Katihar, before boarding another train for Jalpaiguri.
At Katihar, we managed to get our light luggage down in time before the train moved on else where. Here, we waited for about 2 hrs before the train for Jalpaiguri arrived. The situation at the Katihar station is a bit more chaotic than previously. Because of the short journey, Anand told us to get into the 2nd class compartment. We noticed that there were quite a lot of off duty soldiers, evident with their military bagages. Then I realized that we were quite near the Chinese borders. After we have got into the compartment, wave after wave of new passengers came on us with their loads and loads of belongings, some climbing through the open windows, throwing their luggage onto us, trying to be the first to get a seat. Anand, with all his experience, managed to get us all seats. As I found out later, getting a seat did help me travel a bit more comfortably. There were some who could barely manage to hang on to the train as it roared off.
Our lunch for that stretch of journey was simple and easy. With people all sitting around us, we could hardly move away from our seats. We bought some local flavours - a chapati with some vegetable - to fill our tummy. The bottle of water we had filled up earlier at Allahabad came in handy. Due to the cramped compartment, the summer atmosphere was made even worse. We hung on, thinking each time the train made a stop, it would be it for us to disembark.
Jalpaiguri is situated at the foothill of the Himalayas. Even then, summer temperature was around 29 deg C. Here, we got down to swallow in gulps of fresh air. The train for Siliguri, our next destination, was a mini replica of the one we had been in all these while. The cute little engine, with its belching smoke, made for a romantic ride to the high mountains of the Himalayas.
The climb to Siliguri was rather slow and tortuous. A number of times the hill was so steep that it had to go in the A fashion. As it kept belching thick smoke, I had to cover my face with my handkerchief, for there were a lot of soot rushing in our direction. But I could begin to feel the air getting cooler and cooler as we climbed up.
The train was so slow at certain bends that people could get in and out at ease without having to make a complete stop. The cool climate was ideal for vegetable planting. Those lady farmers got their produce on the train in rattan baskets, ready to send them up to Darjeeling.
Siliguri was half way up the hill. By the time we reach Siliguri, it was almost 4.00PM. The outside wind was strong and steady. Anand has told me that It would be alright to just wear what I had in Mumbai. But by the time we landed at a hotel door, we just could'nt keep our teeth together. Eventually we had to look for some warm clothing. I bought a sweater for Rp 120. It was a lot of money to me. And because of this I had to be extra careful with any expenses later on.
(to be continued)
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