INDIA GUIDE
TRAVEL DESK
EVENTS
AIRLINES
SEARCH

A Ganesh Nadar

We reached Pune at 6 pm. We were two hours late. There was no water. No refreshment stalls. There were a lot of guys selling small toys. All of them were blind. Must be some association out there helping blind people produce toys. I hoped that they were their own boss and nobody was exploiting them. I didn't have the heart to ask.

The pantry car started passing out dinner. This evening, it was warm parathas. By 9 o'clock, with parathas in their bellies, everybody was asleep.

Good thing, too. Because, at 4.30 am, just as my dreams are swaying to the rhythm of the clattering train wheels, I was rudely awoken by the chorus of "Chai... coffee." The accents had changed. We were now in Andhra Pradesh.

Queuing outside the toilets is such a pain. So I smoked continuously. The Andhra vendors were now selling samosas and kakdi or cucumbers. A women was selling tomatoes and kakdi. Another was selling tender coconuts. A very pretty girl was selling grapes. I bought the grapes.

The scene outside was lush. There were a lot of sugarcane fields. A welcome change from tobacco, which generally dots the Andhra landscape.

Andhra gave way to Karnataka. The language changed, but the tone remained the same. And the regular ticket conductors were followed by smart-alecy special squads. They were getting on my nerves.

"Why the hell can't you keep the janata off the train instead of bugging passengers?" I screamed. The janata happen to be railway staff, the conductor informed me.

In the afternoon, we were in Tamil Nadu. Everybody was happy, but home was still half a day away.

At Erode station, the engine was shunted off to the back of the train. The train took off in the other direction. Erode, by the way, was where one of Tamil Nadu's famous social reformers, 'Periyar' E V Ramaswamy Naicker was born. The peaceful countryside around Erode is some of the most fertile in the state. Sugarcane, peanuts, bananas, cotton, millets, rice, turmeric, and tobacco all flourish around here. But Erode I am told, is a humid, rail junction town with not much to lend for itself.

But Sholapur in Maharashtra and Erode both are famous for their cloth. In Sholapur, you can buy bedsheets and towels. In Erode, you can buy lungis, towels and dhotis. In Sholapur, you can bargain. In Erode, you can't.

The train was supposed to stop at Erode for 20 minutes. Instead, it stood for an hour. It then halted for another hour just as we reached the outskirts of Erode. The train was now running hopelessly late. We had lost all the time we had made up in the day.

People began to get off at Erode, Dindigul and Karur. Maybe some of them were fruit merchants. Because the market town of Dindigul, located between Sirumalai Hills and the Palani Hills, is famous for its fruit. And for its cheroots. Once upon these hills around were famous for its rare pale pink-skinned bananas.

A lot of people got off in the temple city of Madurai, located on the banks of the Vagai river. I wish I could have too. One always has time to re-visit the Meenakshi temple, one of India's most awesome temples, with its 33 million carvings. But the family was waiting for me in Kurumbur.

The train was supposed to reach Tirunelveli at 3.15 am on Friday morning. It reached at 5.30 am. Most of the passengers got off. Tirunelveli is famous for its temples and its churches. Saint Francis Xavier worked here in the 1500s. And the musical pillars of the temple at Krishnapuram are famous.

The train then departed for Nagercoil, two hours away. There were hardly any passengers left when we pulled into Nagercoil.

I got into a bus for home and promptly fell asleep. An hour later, I was in Kurumbur. I had a cup of tea for only Rs 1. I took a cab home. My five-year-old daughter greeted me with a hug. My wife wanted to know if I had bought her a sari for Diwali. I sighed!

Photographs by A Ganesh Nadar. Map by Dominic Xavier.

Fast Facts

Great Railway Journeys

Tell us what you think of this feature