Traveling on the Palace on Wheels in India is an experience that is often recommended to tourists who visit the country. You are given a taste of the luxurious world of the rajahs of yore,  who commandeered every kind of comfort for themselves. Yet one gets a glimpse into the real India only when one travels in other ordinary trains that chug their way through the length and breadth of the country.

Looking out of the window one is awed into silence as the landscape changes with every mile. Mountains, rivers, dry fallow lands, jungles of thorn bushes, small villages that totter on the verge of collapse, cities where the train tracks are considered open toilets, glimpses of towering luxury apartments, silent heritage buildings in the horizon, churches, mosques, wayside temples and what not…. You turn your eyes away from the scene and you would find a dozen  curious eyes fixed on you expectantly–humans who know that they have to share the next 18-36 hours with you and would like to know what makes you tick. They will not hesitate to ask you the most embarrassing personal questions.

The interrogation begins innocuously enough:

Are you a native of x or y? No? Are you going all the way? No? Where will you get off? Why are you going there? Where will you go from there? and so on…

Then would come the next level of questioning. Are you married? How many children? what are they doing? Do you work? Does you spouse work? Do you have in-laws staying with you? How many brothers and sisters you have?  …

Deeper still. Was your’s an arranged marriage? No? Wow, love marriage? Tell me all about it!  You were divorced? Your fault or your spouse’s? …….

Of course, this is interspersed with a lot of information about themselves–it does not matter that you do not ask questions. If they have a right to know about you, you have a right to know about them!!  Logical eh?

While this exercise lasts  for a good two or three hours( –there are generally six passengers per unit and this makes it a fertile ground for investigation), the “confidantes” feed each other with whatever eatables they have brought with them for the journey or buy from the vendors passing to and fro.  Once everyone has been “throughly” introduced to everyone else, matters of general interest are permitted to take over. Someone holds forth on politics; another holds forth on music.  It does not matter that either of these people have nothing to do with the subject in their daily lives and would not dare to speak about it in other forums! Who is to question their authority?  The shaking coaches have shaken their reticence about unknown subjects and they feel that it is ok to pretend authority for the tenure of the journey.  Arguments, contradictions and even categorial assertions on impossibles, are wholly possible. No one cares. It helps bear the tedium of the journey and everything is OK in this confined world. After all, journeys end will diperse the companions and memories are short. Unimportant discussions drain out of the mind as the journey ends and one is free to move forward in life…..

Horrified? If you are pure British you would be. If you are American, you are expected to be friendly. If you are Indian, you are expected to be a bosom companion–irrespective of the fact that you may have lost your roots and are a British Indian or an Indian American. The Desis will have their tools ready to dig into you and turn your out…After all train gains are spiritual experiences that should not be missed…..Indian Railways is an effective platform!

So, if you are planning a trip to India for appreciating India as it lives in the masses or to gain some spiritual insights, take a train journey…. You will not regret it?