Indian trains remain the greatest connecters linking hearts to the last mile.
'Bharatiya Rail' -- two simple words -- written on the side of a passing train compartment or an engine can set your heart singing and open the sluice of warm memories.
Of long travels with family during holidays that may not have been the most comfortable in three-tier compartments, but are the best you have ever had and will remain in your heart forever.
India meets you on a railway platform. Trains from the far corners of the country -- Darbhanga, Jaipur, Chennai, Amritsar -- halted at the platform in a span of 45 minutes as I waited for the 22226 Vande Bharat Express at Pune junction, leaving behind waves of passengers.
Occupying every bench, every spot, or on a cloth spread on the floor were waiting passengers. Faces you could watch for hours, weaving their stories in your mind.
A woman sitting on the bare floor, legs outstretched counting rupee notes as people wove past her in the chaos of Dadar from where I had boarded a train the previous day. A testament to Mumbai city and the quiet assurance it instills in its women.
A middle-aged man with an Emirates airline tag dangling from his suitcase who had arrived a few hours earlier at Mumbai airport from The Netherlands.
Still wearing his jacket on the muggy platform, he was peering down the tracks for the train that would take him home. A reminder how Indian trains remain the greatest connecters linking hearts to the last mile.
A couple comfortably sitting beside a sleeping stray dog at Pune's platform 2 -- a sign of the large hearted, accommodative nature of ordinary Indians.
Two friends standing at the edge of the platform waiting to shoot a reel when the Vande Bharat engine rolled in -- showing the excitement that the semi-high speed train still invokes in people, six years and 150 Vande Bharats later.
The ubiquitous coolie is now a disappearing breed. The first person one used to encounter at the station in his red shirt over dhoti or pants, he was the authority about trains, their arrivals, departures, position of compartments.
He knew which trains were running late, which platforms had been changed in the last minute and where one needed to stand to hop into the compartment long before electronic indicators appeared on railway platforms.
The invasion of the trolley bags/strollers has pushed the coolies onto the margins. I came across only one.
"Wait on the foot bridge till your platform number flashes on the indicator, only then walk down."
"Don't take the escalator, the lift is better, fewer people get into it," he quickly answered my queries and breezed past, mingling into the crowded platform.
The A H Wheeler stall, a common fixture on railway platforms, no longer sold newspapers, magazine and comics. It was packed with puffed chips packets, biscuits, beverage and an assortment of nibbles.
Once the must-visit spot before starting a journey, the stall used to have magazines/newspapers hanging from its low roof and books laid out neatly on the flat plank that you could pick before settling into your berth.
I can bet that the Amar Chitra Kathas bought from the A H Wheelers can still be found in many family homes across India.
A few steps away was the One Station One Product shop launched by the Railways in 2022 to promote local products. The one at Pune junction sold Chakli, Chiki, Bhakarvadi and Chiwda, an interesting concept with immense potential.
Another stall had some fresh fruit -- banana and apples -- the few and far healthy options for the health conscious.
Just then our train pulled in; the bright orange engine of the Vande Bharat hurtling down the tracks.
In a brief five minute stop at the platform, the train picked up a fresh batch of passengers and dropped others -- doing what the Indian Railways has always done: Carrying every kind of Indian to their destinations across this vast and varied country -- uniting us as a people, no matter which station we arrive or get off.
That is why it will always have our hearts.
Photographs curated by Manisha Kotian/Rediff
Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff
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