Day One | Dibrugarh Station
Arriving in the Dark
I shifted my focus to the clock. It was 9:30 p.m on July 20th, 2016. I was at Dibrugarh railway station, whose entrance was as colorful as a disco with blinking lights. Once you entered, it looked entirely different. A trail of not-so-bright and tiny tube lights fixed at an extraordinary height made no difference or contribution to the visibility. The station was a creepy sight—deserted and abandoned. A cold sweat ran down my spine and gave me goosebumps.
As I walked toward Platform No. 2 where Train 15906 was supposed to arrive, I gripped my Canon 5D Mark II hanging from my neck along with my luggage. Comfort and security replaced the fear as my eyes spotted the well-dressed army men also waiting on the platform. I struck up a conversation with them, giving me twenty minutes of respite from the anxiety I was feeling.
The journey began at 23:45, an hour later than the actual time of departure. I was finally aboard the Vivek Express. In bold, my ticket read: RAC A-1, Class 2A, PNR 6657427842.
The Indian trains are divided into various classes. 1st A/C is rather exclusive and priced the highest, followed by 2nd A/C and 3rd A/C. Then comes 2nd class—the non-A/C category comprised of a sleeper coach and general compartments. I was in a compartment with two attendants: Raju and Bappan Das. Unknown drifters spoke in hushed tones about the plight of reservations. Here on Indian soil, people wait for months to get their tickets confirmed. Fortunately, the attendants were two of the friendlier-looking souls on the train. The traveling ticket examiner, TT Shyamak, came and promised to get back to me in the morning with a confirmation for my ticket.
The reason I chose to do this journey was to experience the train in the same way locals do. I planned to live in the small confined cabin space for the next 10 days, meaning I was completing this as a round-trip journey. I was in a not-so-comfortable space with an unconfirmed ticket, my senses assaulted by rancid and rotting smells with transient faces constantly staring back at me. Realizing I was about to cover 4273 kilometers in these conditions, I peered out at Dibrugarh station and called it a day.
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