Train Stories

I had to get out of Chennai for a couple days. I wanted a good beer. I wanted a beach.

Mission 1) Success
Mission 2) Fail
Mission 3) Fail

So let's start at the beginning of the trip. I was looking for trains to get down to Pondicherry, the local drinking and beach resort town which has it's own independent government. Tamil Nadu laws don't apply to Pondicherry, so they sell liquor very cheap and with no tax. Problem is, the buses go there often, but the trains don't. There are very few direct trains from Chennai to Pondicherry. I went searching and found one. Wednesday morning at 9:35 AM a train from Chennai to Pondicherry with only two stops. Every other day there are something like 15 stops for the single train going to Pondy. Of course, now that I know, it's fairly easy to get down there. Catch a train to Villapuram Junction and go from villapuram to Pondy. It's pretty easy and the waiting time won't be much. So I went for it. Wednesday morning, take the train by myself and go as far south as I've ever been on this globe (12 degrees north of the equator, pathetic I know, but I'm working on it).

I paid Rs. 62 for a train ticket that took me on a 100+ mile journey. I can't be totally sure, but that's a good price no matter how you look at it. Although, in some ways you get what you pay for. I asked for a ticket for a sleeper car because they are (supposedly) much more comfortable and the ticket price in nearly triple, which by the way means it still costs almost nothing. I was told there were no sleeper cars or first class or second class, only general cars. Apparently this was incorrect as I was sent all the way to the front of the train to ride directly behind the engine. When, oh when will you learn clark that no one EVER checks train passes? I could have walked onto a sleeper car for free and no one would have said anything.

As it is, I, being an American, abide by rules and regulations of traveling and sat in the crap seats. From the moment I boarded the fun began. Multiple guys up and down the train with snacks and goodies. Chai, coffee, samosas with chilies, idlis, and packaged snacks started coming with some rapidity. After the train got moving everyone sat down for a few minutes. The express train has only two "stops" at other train stations so those are the only times for vendors to jump on and off and offer their goods. In the meantime, there are several stops for red lights. I was confused by this for a little while. Cars, trucks, buses, motorcycles, bikes, pedestrians do not yield to traffice lights, but trains...
Well, I found out what was going on later. There is only one set of tracks and there are short areas of the track in which trains can get out of the way of each other. The wonders of physics in which momentum plays a large role...

Similar to the local trains in Chennai the doors on the cross country trains are open most of the trip. It's really amazing to stand at the door with a train going 60 km/hr and watching the truly amazing landscapes as you go by. Here is a smattering of pictures and personal comments:


Desert

I expected nothing but tropical paradise all the way from a tropical city to another tropical city, but low and behold just a few miles inland from the bay of Bengal what do I see? Why of course, a desert.

Picking Sugar Cane

This picture was taken at one of our several red light stops. We were stopped for about 20 minutes at this time. A lot of people just off the train to go urinate in the bushes (despite having a latrine on the train). This time though, they found sugar cane. These guys just jumped out, pissed, picked up some sugar cane stalks, came back to the train and started snacking on someone else's crops.



Hand Dug Irrigation Ditches

This was some of the starkest imagery left in my mind from the brief trip. I missed several good pictures, but the bright green section in the middle with low rising plants is a rice field. All the way down to Pondicherry there are fields and fields full of rice with little villages made of palm branch huts. It's clear that the system of growing rice is tedious and time consuming. There isn't much farming equipment to say the least so all of these (literally thousands of) ditches must be dug by hand. It looks like terrible work just to survive. I somehow think I'd move a few miles east and live off coconuts, papayas, pineapples, and the plethora of other tropical fruits growing naturally all year round. But that's just me. I can't imagine trying to live like this.

Eastern Ghats Mountains

I think these are the foothills of the Eastern Ghats Mountains. They are beautiful. I intend at some point to see Nagarhole National Park. I think however, that's in the Western Ghats Mountains. Simply gorgeous.

Clean Trains

I refer back to my post on "a quick lesson in tidyness."