As far as Rail journeys are concerned,I usually do not require a valid or even a PLAUSIBLE reason to gather my few paltry belongings and set off with great gusto to the TVC station.
But this time,a godsend came in the form of a QUIZ competition.I jumped at the opportunity.
At about 10:30 pm,just when an eerie stillness had settled over Trivandrum,a boy was riding out to the station.(All right,enough with the melodrama,I AM the boy).I reached the station in good time.At the station entrance a large mob of violent protesters were hurling...
more... abuses at our Hon PM MANMOHAN SINGH.The news of his imminent arrival had drawn flak even before he had set foot on Kerala soil.I skirted the crowd and met up with my accomplices.The train was to arrive on PF 3.The train arrived more or less on time and once again,I am sorry to report that the rake and the loco were not a pretty sight.TN dust coupled with almost no maintenance meant that the train looked BROWN.CC was the same as reported herein,AFAIK.
We boarded the S3 coach,which was packed with a horde of noisy merrymakers doing rollicking jigs to some popular Tamil numbers like POKKIRI PONGAL.It looked like a DISCOTHEQUE.The train was late and was 10-15 mins behind schedule when it finally pulled away from TVC.I had gotten an UPPER BERTH.
About the cleanliness,I would say it was OK.No RATS or other vermin nibbling at people's feet,but yet littered with the usual smattering of PAAN STAINED SPUTUM,PHLEGM,DISCARDED WRAPPERS and the like.A short visit to the loo revealed that asphyxiation would ensue if the person took his sweet time.
After some minor gymnastics,I managed to scurry onto my berth.It was hard and knobbly and not comfortable to say the least.I tossed and turned for hours and finally drifted off into the realm of unknowing.....And woke up again.The fellow passengers were determined to be their non-co-operative best by switching on random lights and chattering loudly and guffawing.So essentially NO SLEEP.
I was up by around 4:30 and decided to nod off looking out of the window.The rain gods had other ideas.Forks of lightning lit up the night sky and water was pouring down.The window stayed firmly shut.Finally at the scheduled time,the train pulled into PF 3 of Thrissur City.
Cleanliness:7.5/10
Pantry:D.N.E
Punctuality:8/10
Comfort:6.5/10
TO BE CONTINUED.
