Days Four and Five: The Final Stretch

When the train arrived in Jolarpettai, it was meant to halt for five minutes. Instead, it stopped for around twenty minutes—because I mistakenly pulled the chain—an action considered a criminal offense in India if taken without a viable reason. The reason was the unbearable, unhygienic conditions inside the train. My courage was met with some resistance from the stubborn staff, but in my refusing to budge, they reluctantly took charge and cleaned everything in the train. As soon as the train crossed the last signage of Jolarpettai, some fellow passengers applauded me.

The hero in me was born under undesirable conditions.

The Vivek Express reached its final destination “Kanyakumari” on the fifth day. I realized I was the only passenger to travel for all five days from Dibrugarh to Kanyakumari. As the station came closer, I took a photo of the train which was suddenly evacuated, vacuous, and dead. I also asked for a final image of the Meals on Wheels pantry staff in their uniforms. Happily, they obliged.

One month after my first journey, I was on the Vivek Express once again, beginning in Kanyakumari and heading north. The conditions were also a little friendlier. There weren’t as many people aboard the train and I felt more at ease having a confirmed train ticket in hand. I hold a soft corner in my heart for South India and the return journey would let me see the landscapes during the daytime. Though they all flashed by, I was able to capture the quintessential rice fields, tall trees, ponds, and men dressed in local attire. 

What catches your curiosity when you are amongst a group of men wearing off-white and gold attire with Chandan tilaks, marks made with sandalwood paste, on their foreheads? Here it was a lunch that looked like a festival feast—with an assortment of South Indian delicacies including chutneys, appams, papad, rice, and sambar spread out across banana leaves in the traditional way. My intrigue was put to rest as the hungry men gave me the secret behind their feast:

Skip the train pantry. Order heavy, hearty meals on the phone and get them delivered to their respective seats at the next station.

When I finally reached the north, I began to wonder who first said: “Journeys end, journeys begin!”

To me, it begins with travelers like us who breathe in the soul of the place and the air they travel in. The odyssey wasn’t just an odyssey, but a juncture and befalling truth to meet myself—to enhance and enrich my experience while better understanding the places I love.