'Vande Bharat' Dream

S Balakrishnan *

Vande Bharat

One of my ‘rail dreams’ came true recently when I travelled by the superfast Vande Bharat (VB, for short) Express. I suppose a senior citizen like me is entitled to call this journey as an adventure, or an achievement, or a combination of both - an adventurous achievement! Because nowadays I do not venture out of my home much.

When my cousin announced that her son’s wedding will be held in Madurai, I immediately took the chance to book a seat in VB. Not that I had any other choice; it was Pongal festival season (the most important festival in Tamil Nadu that usually falls on 14th January) and also the beginning of wedding season after a lull of one month.

It was a continuous holiday of ten days for State Government. So I was rather forced to book in the VB train. Never mind the cost when you have to achieve your adventure, I told myself.

I arrived at the Egmore junction an hour prior to the train’s departure lest I miss it and lose the high amount. Further, my better half was also eager to see me off early so that she could be free of my nagging at least for two days! Actually we both were to travel but she had to stay back; she sarcastically said, “it is your side wedding; go and enjoy with your people.”

Egmore is Ezhumboor in Tamil but the British have distorted it as in the case of several other place names. The train streaked in dot on time (1.55 PM) after covering a tiring 657 kms from Tirunelveli, starting there at 6 AM. Even before the passengers could get down, the waiting passengers were in a hurry to capture their respective thrones.

The announcement over the public address system requested them not to board because cleaning work was to be taken up. Following the announcement the automatic doors closed. This reminded me of my wife’s warning not to get down at the in-between stations; she had heard of passengers stranded because of these automatic closing doors.

So I had enough time to inspect the driver’s cabin/guard’s cabin; this was marked as Pilot/Train Manager and looked plush like the plane’s cockpit (not that I had peeped into the cockpit, but one has seen it in movies, no?) with two seats and many buttons glowing red and green. Because of the Pilot’s cabin the first coach had only 44 seats while the others had 78 seats.

I was happy to see the ‘Make in India’ Lion symbol on the train. VB has two classes – CC and EC. I mistook the EC for Economy Class while in realty it is Executive Class. The respective fare (Chennai-Madurai 518 kms) being Rs. 1365 and 2485. I eagerly watched snacks being loaded but it turned out to be a lousy one. The URL sent by the railways to check the coach position did not work.

Snacks at Vande Bharat

I was disappointed as I got an aisle seat and not the window seat. The interior of VB looked stylish. Luckily, the Travelling Ticket Examiner (TTE) exchanged his window seat with me as he would have to move around often. As he settled down after crosschecking the passenger details on his Tab, I started interviewing him. He entered the service competing in the RRB (Railway Recruitment Board) exam under volleyball sports quota, he said.

I should have guessed by his hefty physique – 6’ tall and well-built. His eight-hour duty schedule involved staying away from family once in two/three days. He has now got used to outside food and sleeping away from home. Well, one has to run the family, no? I had always wondered how these people maintain their all-white uniform. This would have been more difficult in the days of steam engines and non-a/c coaches.

They are paid 5000 rupees every two years for the uniform set. With all a/c trains like VB it should not be much of a problem, I thought. He had picked up some Hindi while undergoing the mandatory month-long training in Hyderabad. He was conversing in Hindi with the all-Hindi catering staff, when I raised my doubt. His wife was also a TTE but she gave up her job for the sake of family.

I couldn’t probe if it was love marriage. If I were him I would have chosen to be the homemaker. As the train reached the next stop he moved to the other coaches (he had to take care of 3-4 coaches) and never returned, as the following stop was where his duty ended. He left his water bottle as a parting gift to me. I would have loved to extract more information from him but he escaped from me, I suspect.

On the return journey by Tejas, the TTE was a lady and her seat was the adjacent aisle seat. I hoped to extract more interesting information from her about balancing family & work but she never sat there. The VB TTE might have forewarned her about me. In such hi-fi a/c trains the job of TTEs must be comparatively comfortable, I wondered. But even VB trains do not escape the ambush of migrant workers.

A word about the catering in VB – “LOUSY!” The caramel popcorn, chikki and bonda were okay; I did not like the creamy bun (which I kept on the street side) and the ready-to-mix tea. The supper was still worse with rubbery chapatti (rotti) with the invariable potato dish that was not cooked properly. What to say of the hype created by the link to ‘see the menu served in the train’!

On the return journey, my co-passenger revealed that we could opt out of the on-board catering and save our money & stomach, which choice I was not aware of and which I would henceforth follow without fail.

As a little boy I had desired to become a steam rail engine driver, hooting and letting out a lot of smoke! The era of steam engine is a magical one, indeed! Now I eagerly wait for my next rail adventurous achievement - the Bullet Train!