A Long Haul

A Long Haul “Bizarre travel plans are dancing lessons from God,” wrote Kurt Vonnegut who pioneered post modernism in literature. This stellar American has authored fourteen books. One would wonder whether travelling by Vivek Express from Kanyakumari washed by the Indian Ocean, Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal to Dibrugarh in far-east of Assam would be a propitious decision. Pat comes the answer in the quote by Ed Hanley, “If all journeys are teachers, it may well be that a journey to India is the greatest teacher of all and it was in search of a new dance that I purchased a one-way ticket on the longest train in India.” This 4,000km peregrination is certainly an effort to be undertaken as a traveller is exposed to the basket of variegated cultures traversing from the depths of Southern India to one of the extreme corners of North Eastern India. As someone from South India and having worked on North East Frontier Railway, headquartered at Maligaon, in Guwahati, Assam, one can seamlessly establish the connect. Dibrugarh is part of Lumding Division, an archetypal railway town. Lumding town itself is a crucial junction which provides connectivity to other North-Eastern states like Tripura, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Manipur. There is a station on Lumding - Badarpur line called Jatinga, which is lionised for the hordes of Jatinga birds which commit hara-kiri. This is a breathtaking site. Now back to the long haul between Kanya Kumari and Dibrugarh travelling by Vivek Express. Ed Hanley is a Toronto-based multi-dimensional and multi-faceted artist who doffs numerous hats - photographer, creator, performer, producer, cinematographer, recording engineer, video editor, writer, and above all a tabla player. The journey is sheer music and in the long haul as iron strikes iron sounds of the rhythmic tabla resonate in the mind as one witnesses visages of the wondrous hinterland across several states. Indian Railways’ train number 15906, the Dibrugarh-Kanyakumari Vivek Express, traverses 4,273km as it winds its way from the north-eastern corner of Assam to the southernmost tip of mainland India. It is an 85-hour journey which provides it the prestigious title of the longest train in the country both in terms of time and distance covered. Indeed a test of patience and temperament. The journey commences in the cover of darkness and as the sun rises over the only ‘male’ river in India, the Brahmaputra, travellers observe the picturesque hill station of Diphu, emerging from a thicket of fog. The train consists of 21 coaches which ferries over 1800 people several times more than the capacity of a modern jetliner. It is segmented into different types of accommodation, including AC 2 tier and AC 3 tier, sleeper class and the ‘unreserved’ coaches. Gandhiji always travelled third class and was often asked why he did so. His repartee was as there was no fourth class. The train is served by a pantry car providing delectable dishes to tickle the travellers’ palate. As part of Prime Minister’s mission clean toilets are being provided across the hinterland and on trains too. The train is equipped with bio-toilets to overcome the earlier versions which stank and were extremely filthy. Tea is ritual in India, and savouring the garam-garam chai on the train and the platforms is an integral part of the experience. Trippers lose track of chai consumed. As one enters southern India from, tea is soon replaced by coffee. Eastern dishes get replaced by south Indian staples like vada, idli, dosa , upma washed down with spicy sambar. The romance of this train travel is unique as passengers witness the three sunsets from their widows. Travellers whip out their smart phones and click the images, preserving them for posterity. The largest employer in India with 1.3 million employees, Indian Railways is one of the largest railways in the world with over 115,000km of track over a route of 65,808km and 7,112 stations, carrying a staggering 23 million passengers a day, with freight and passenger revenues of US$24 billion. The infrastructure is both gargantuan, and prepossessing. One can only marvel at the infrastructure created by Indian Railways and admire the unity in the diversity of this land while travelling over such a vast distance, almost as though traversing a continent. The train winds its way west through Assam on the first day, then south overnight through the Siliguri Corridor or ‘Chicken’s Neck’, a thin strip of West Bengal at times only 20km wide between Nepal and Bangladesh. The next morning finds one in Dubrapur, West Bengal, crossing into Odisha after a heavy lunch, and passing through Srikakulam in Andhra Pradesh when one prepares to retire for the day. The train then enters Vijayawada Junction after crossing the Krishna River. One can also see the famous Dr NTR Thermal Power House (a 1760 mega watt imposing structure) in Andhra Pradesh. Vijayawada is the 2nd busiest railway station in India (after Mumbai Central). On the third morning, passengers have lunch near Nellore. Nellore is now home to India’s fast developing modern port called the Krishnapatnam port. Once the train crosses Gudur junction one enters the splendorous state of Tamil Nadu in time for afternoon tea. And overnight the train angles west to cross into lush, coconut-laden Kerala. The final sunrise of the trip is around 6:30am as passengers enter Thiruvananthapuram, the capital city of Kerala. The train makes its entry into Kanyakumari and finally drops anchor around 11am.