I have been travelling on trains for quite some time. Air Travel affordability is a recent phenomenon and I have been travelling on trains since when, I cannot remember.

My earliest memory is when we were living in Bihar (near Lohardaga, currently in Jharkhand). To come to Maharashtra we had two options - via Gaya or via Chakradharpur.

Chakradharpur was a more convenient option for us. We used to take the Bombay-Howrah Express (via Nagpur) as it used to be convenient.

When we left Bihar for good, we took a Jeep ride to Gaya. I think the ride was about 6 hours. At Gaya, we saw the Bodhi tree and the Buddhist temples. The Calcutta Bombay Mail (via Allahabad) reached Gaya at 4 AM. We waited in the waiting room for an agonizing time. Boarded the train. When I woke in the morning, we were just pulling out of Mughal Sarai Jn. The only thing I remember of that station is the huge railway yard. I also remembering passing Allahabad and the great crossing of the Yamuna just before Naini Jn.

We left Bihar for good and for a time my mother, sister and I lived with my Naani in MH while my father was working in Rajasthan. We were to join him soon as soon as he got living quarters.

The journey in those days, I think, was not too bad. Trains were just as crowded but reserved compartments were meant for people having reserved tickets only. We could never afford to travel by I class. My father told me of a certain "Rajdhani Express" which travelled at great speed and had only Air Conditioned coaches. I asked my father, "What is Air Conditioned?".

When we were about to travel to Rajasthan (Sawai Madhopur), we were taking the Bombay-Ferozpur Janata Express. While waiting at the Bombay Central Station (we had arrived quite early from Nasik and since had no where to go, were waiting on the platform), I saw one of most beautiful trains that I had ever seen ... all its coaches were spank clean and had the same colour, a livery of orangish brown with yellow stripes, its windows were completely covered with dark glass; it was a train like I had never seen. My father told me, "That my dear, is the Rajdhani Express!"



I asked my father, why we did not travel by such a nice train. My father said, "Two reasons. One. It does not stop at our station. Two. Even if did, its one single ticket costs more than what I earn in the whole month." I said to myself, that one day I will travel by this train.

... End of part 1 ...