Indian Train.. :) A wonderful experience

Blog on Indian Train this thought came to my mind while going for vacation last week so after vacation I got some time to write and the blog is here for all of you... Read it and recollect your memories of train journey's you made.... :)
Platform Number,Waiting List,TTes,Station Master,Tatkal,RAC,Sleeper Class,1-AC,2-AC,3-AC, General Coach. Almost every Indian is familiar with these terms.

Part-1 Waiting Room - My all train journey starts from the waiting room of my source railway station.If you have a confirm ticket and your train is yet to arrive then you can wait in these waiting rooms.Indian railway generally have two types of waiting room for lower class and for upper class but there is not much difference between them,in waiting rooms you will find some workers of Indian Railways lying flat over the chairs and some 2-3 families some waiting for the trains some trying to struggle with the power point to charge their mobiles.Believe me waiting room is the most boring place of a station how energetic you are if you spent more than 30 min in waiting room it will suck all your energy and will make you the most laziest person of this world. So I always prefer to wait and roam around platform rather than waiting rooms.

Part-2 Platform - Platform where you can see people hailed from different cultures of India.You will see families with lots of luggage and hollering kids.You will never get bore on platform.I remember last year when my train was 9hrs late and I have to spent almost 10 hrs on platform.In this 10 hrs I observed every train coming to that station , I have seen people from every part of India.I remember one incident not exactly incident but something which I observer very carefully...I was sitting on a bench next to the 1Re. Telephone Box.A man with his wife came and tried to make a local call from that phone but the phone was not working properly he tried 3 times but it doesn't worked and his 1 Re coin got stuck in third attempt and he left the phone disappointedly.After that 2-3 people came and tried to make the call but couldn't make call and lost their coin.Then I realized that people who are trying to make call from this phone are very poor and lose of 1 Re is very big for them, so I thought next time if somebody will come to make a call I will them him that phone is not working.I stopped 5-6 people from making any call from that phone then I left to buy a water bottle but when I came back I saw a man struggling with the phone box he was hitting it hard by something in his hand he was trying to get his coin out of the box ,his wife and two children's with runny nose were standing behind him,he started screaming and abusing the railway authorities, people gathered around him and then a RPF man took him away, after that I also left that place thinking that these things will never change on the stations.
One more incident - I was waiting for my train on New Delhi station on platform no5. but suddenly an announcement was made that train to Bhiar (I am not pointing to any community but this is actually what happened) is arriving on platform No. 5 shortly and after that announcement people started coming from everywhere to that platform , they were not using the bridge made to cross platforms they were crossing the railway lines with their small squawking kids and family.. many of them were carrying big heavy boxes on their head,but still they were easily crossing the lines and climbing to the platform, the height between platform and rail lines is around 5feet and its not easy to climb 5 feet with that heavy boxes on your head.. I was amazed to see all this and thought man these people can beat any of the Roadies in Raghu's tasks :). They were actually competing with each other to rush the platform and board the train asap.The train arrived and at the same time some policeman also came holding lathi's in their hand and yelling at people to make a queue otherwise the doors of the train will not be opened.They started making queue by brawling and pushing each other, the policeman's also jumped into that brawl with their lathi's... finally the door of the train was opened and after some time everybody was inside the train.Thank god I was not going in that train.. Indian railway is the biggest employer in India but still there are less trains and more people...
Some most common things on platform are chai wala's their tone of saying chai chai its very unique , puri and aloo ki sabzi wala's stalls I had tried puri alloo ki sabzi once, man the taste was terrible aloo ki sbazi had only oil and water no aloo at all .. the railway canteen's at some platform's are is still a better option. Some metro city stations like Delhi now have restaurants like cum-sum but they are out of reach for normal people.

Part- 3 Inside Train - Indian trains have a very good and tricky arrangements for sleeper and sitting if its daytime then just use the berths as seats and in night pull the berths up and it will become sleeper.. ).You will meet and see different kind of people inside the train hailed from different cultures and speaking different languages.I remember in one of my train journey a family was traveling with a small kid, the kid was crying very badly his mother was trying her best but the he was not ready to stop crying and then suddenly the grandmother of the kid started shouting on his mother that she doesn't know how to manage kids and why she is not doing this or why she is doing that,and then the kid's mother also repelled back and guess what.... !! they started fighting in the train leaving the kid with his father.The only thing that came to my mind at that time was the sass -- bhauu soaps and the reality in India....:).
Now something about the different classes of train---If you are traveling in sleeper class then the bad thing is that TTes allow people with waiting list/general ticket also to board the train by charging few extra bucks, you will find them sleeping in the corridor or on the floor between the two berths or sitting at the edge of one's berth.These things really make the journey very insecure.In AC Coaches non reserved people are not allowed so journey is bit safe in A.C. Class. In Rajdhani or Shatbadi trains you will get lots of things to eat and drink,journey in Rajdhani or Shatabdi is always a nice experience. General class-- :) I used to travel in general class from Jaipur to Alwar during my college days its a 1:30 hr journey by train and only general class trains run between these two stations,in general class forget about the seat even of you get a place to stand which is not close to toilet then think you got skills to travel and find right place in general class coaches... lol
But whether it is a AC coach or sleeper class the Indian trains are not very good in terms of sanitary conditions you can always locate a cockroach trying to hid behind the fans installed in the trains or in the small gaps between the metal strips of train walls... :)

There are so many challenges and flaws but still Indian Railway simply Rocks.

P.S - I have lot more things to write about Indian train cannot write all in single blog.
P.P.S - irctc.co.in website is the biggest e- commerce site.
P.P.P.S - If you have not experienced any Indian train journey yet then please go for it once.