Train of Thoughts

Day 1 - 4:30 AM - Gaya Railway Station

This is peak hour in any other country. A sea of perspectives this novelty experience won’t give me.

The train is still moving. Lower class carriages scramble on, jostling for seats before it has stopped. Only mens’ eyes stare out at me from the window of the ‘ladies only’ carriage.

Day 1 - 9:15 AM - Rookie

This empty room is now full since falling asleep. I envisioned gazing out the window to India as I write. My top bunk only shows an angle to the window’s bottom left corner. It looks directly down at the train tracks.

Vendors board the train at stations shouting in the carriage aisle. I accidentally say yes to two meals on my way to the toilet. India spotlights my gaps in assertiveness.

Other passengers seem to have found a bin outside the booth. I carry my meals out. A man points to the end of the carriage.

I see no bin.

He comes to help. He takes my dishes from my hand and stomps them through the gap between the carriages. The packaging spills onto the tracks outside. He turns to me with an affirming singular head tilt indicating ‘done’.

Day 1 - 11:37 AM - Tele

I’m now sitting on my bag against the door between the two bottom bunks. I can now look out the window. My new seat is opening up conversations with the three other guys in the booth.

I forgot the feeling of being on a train. The engine’s rumble. The wheels running on the tracks. I feel the ground but it sounds like we’re hovering. The carriage rocks from side-to-side. We surrender to its unknown rhythm.

The window’s murkiness shows its age. A nostalgic filter framing India.

Mustard crops light rural landscapes. Yellow flashes and hay huts tell us that we’re far from the cities.

Construction sites are for flying kites and cricket pitches. Are they abandoned or is it a public holiday?

Day 1 - 12:28 PM - What is slow travel?

This could be ‘slow travel’, but here I am still blurring past cities. To some level I’m learning the distance of this country. I’m also sitting in a similar position to a plane with a different sized window and more leg room.

Why am I doing this?

Day 2 - 7:38 AM - The wheels are turning

I woke up inspired to write. My words had colour, feeling. This cramped booth, where I can’t sit up straight in bed because my head will hit the roof, is giving me space.

Maybe this ‘slow travel’ thing isn’t about seeing more of the places you pass. A tree vanishes in a second. A mustard crop blurs into the next. We’re stopping at train stations I’ve never heard of and won’t remember.

How much will I connect to unless I get off the train?

Maybe the focus isn’t on every blade of grass out the window but what’s happening in the carriage. How I choose to spend time when given 34 hours. Learning to integrate between destinations. Noticing when I’m being mindful or mindless.

Day 2 - 10:03 AM - Carriage attachments

Time is running out. Seven hours to Chennai doesn’t feel long. It’s strange how a metal container can be a refuge for thought.

So many thoughts I want to put on paper. Questions falling away for others to come in.

Should I hop on another train?

Day 2 - 10:34 AM - Dis/connect

My sim card is rejecting this trans-indian movement. I still check my phone often, staring at a screen I can’t connect to. If I had data would I be connecting?

Day 2 - 6:12 PM - Chennai

Stepping off the platform to a sea of people. The three men I connected with for two days dissolve into the masses. Another encompassing experience now a memory, fading.