Train Stories

"That was the first time I traveled alone by train. I bought my ticket and sat alone on the platform , waiting for the train. After a few minutes, an elderly woman in her 60s came and sat beside me, striking up a conversation. While I usually enjoy chatting with strangers and particularly with older people, but that day I wasn't in the mood for a Q&A session. Desperate to escape, I hurried onto the train as soon as it arrived, entering a different compartment.

All the window seats were taken, with couples occupying each side. There were only two vacant seats left beside a woman, so I sat beside her. Soon, another man came and sat beside me who was around my age. Until 3rd stop, I had a pleasant conversation with the couple. Despite this, I kept an eye out for a single window seat at every stop. Finally, after 30 kilometers, two single-window seats became available. The man beside me kindly gestured to one of them, so I moved there. As the train started moving, the man who was previously beside me moved to sit in front of me.
For a while, I stared out the window, checking the train's status and the time left until my destination. Eventually, the man in front of me struck up a conversation. He asked where I was headed, and we engaged in small talk. I learned that he was a civil engineer returning to his hometown in Rayalaseema. We discussed a variety of topics, including education, politics, trading, food, and places of interest. After a few hours, we reached my destination, and I disembarked. Surprisingly, the man got off the train as well, bidding me farewell. While I don't recall his face or voice precisely, I do remember the enjoyable conversations we shared."

"After two years, I found myself needing to travel to the same destination again. However, this time I opted for a different train because the previous one I took didn't have a stop at the place where I am taking the train. The train I chose this time was a local, not an express train, which made more stops along the route. Since fewer people preferred this train, I was a bit apprehensive about taking it. However, my father suggested I take the local train, disembark at the next stop, and then catch the express train from there.

Following his advice, my father accompanied me to the railway station. Once the train arrived, he directed me to sit with a large family. There were nine people in total, including children. Sitting with them, the first question I asked was, "What is your destination?" They replied that they were traveling to the last stop. I felt relieved hearing this; I had planned to disembark at the next stop if their destination was before mine and catch the next train. Fortunately, that wasn't necessary. I immediately called my father to inform him that this family was traveling till the final destination, so I wouldn't need to change trains. 

The train stopped at every station, and I was looking to buy breakfast but couldn’t find any. Later, after some time, the train stopped for a crossing. I decided to buy breakfast here too, but I didn’t dare to get down from the train, so I sat silently. The mothers of the family I was traveling with started opening their dabbas for breakfast. These women served breakfast to their family members; everyone got two rotis with chickpea curry. I was sitting between their family members. One of the women asked me, "Beti, roti khaoge?" and I said, "No, aunty, I’m fine." Then the others also encouraged me, saying, "Eat, eat, we don’t mind, you are with us." They offered me what they were eating, and I didn’t hesitate to accept. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have eaten because the primary rule when traveling alone is never to accept food offerings from strangers.

I ate their food; it was really tasty. As I enjoy talking to strangers, I had a long conversation with them. They told me about what they do, where they live, and why they moved from Karnataka to Telangana. While talking to the aunty, she said, "You look exactly like my best friend back home. The way you’re talking and the way you look remind me of her."