General Compartment- An impromptu train journey.

I like to plan things ahead of time and execute them to perfection. Most of the time I succeed but there are days when I just go crazy and do things impromptu. Yesterday was one such day.

My friend and I decided to go to Warangal at 09:30, bought our tickets on the way at 10:00 and boarded the train from Secunderabad station at 10:25. Since it was not a pre-planned trip only general compartment (GC) tickets were available.The GC tickets don't have seat numbers and that means whoever is strong and quick on their feet will get seats, the lucky ones will sit on the floor and losers will have to stand the entire journey.

The GC tickets are easily available but the compartments are always jam packed with people, luggage and sometimes small domestic animals (thankfully not in this case). I always traveled Ac but I didn't mind traveling this way, for once, for the sake of experience.

Sec-bad Railway Station

We made a mistake in thinking that Secunderabad station was our train's first stop. It had originated from Nampally station and was already bursting at the seams by the time it reached us. The people on the platform couldn't even wait for the train to halt completely. It was like a rugby match; people were tackling each other, trying to get in and out of the train. Some were throwing their luggage on the seats through the windows- an unorthodox way of reserving a seat :)

Our hopes of getting a seat were dashed after witnessing all that. But, we were lucky enough to secure a place to stand, right next to the door. This was much, much better than getting stuck inside were there was almost no air circulating and the compartment which was not more than 5ft by 6ft was housing more than 30 people.

My faithful blue jeans :)

It was a pity that I could not take any pictures inside the train as there was hardly any place to move. Taking out my DSLR and shooting portraits of people already pissed and fighting with each other, was out of the question. I quietly sat on the steps and took out my E72 equipped with a 5 MP camera to shoot whatever I found interesting.

Due to heavy traffic on the tracks; local trains tend to stop midway every once in a while. This is an opportunity for the ticketless travellers to get in/get out of the train, without getting caught by the officials. Transvestites (the new-age dacoits) are the majority who take advantage of this. A popular belief among the uneducated and some educated people is that the transvestites are endowed with some power which makes their curse very dangerous. Over the years; they have made a big business out of extorting money from ordinary people. Most simply pay up but the non-believers who don't pay are abused and harassed by the transvestites.When our train stopped, a transvestite appeared out of nowhere and immediately you could see that everyone was getting uncomfortable.  The fear was so great that people were resorting to all sorts of things to avoid an encounter. Some were trying to escape by moving to a different compartment, some were faking sleep, one guy hid himself in the bathroom, but all ended up paying. Having made enough money the transvestite exited our train at one of the unscheduled stops.

Sharing steps with others. :)

Even though we managed to sit on the steps, it wasn't long before we realized how uncomfortable it really was. Sitting on iron flooring without a cushion for several hours is not an easy task. It was very cloudy and seemed as if a thunderstorm was looming large over us. Slowly the clouds dissipated without even a drizzle. Rain would only have worsened things by forcing us inside and dirtying the floors even more.

But no matter what; I had to achieve my objective and that was to go to Warangal to take pictures of the famous 1000 pillared temple. Based on the information from a fellow passenger, the temple was in fact located in Kazipet and not Warangal and so we got down at Kazipet.

                                    Enter The Temple With 1000 Pillars

The 1000 pillar temple also known as Veyyi Sthambala Gudi was a beautiful structure constructed in 1163 A.D by King Rudra-1 of the Kakatiya Dynasty. The temple measures 31m x 25m and stands on a platform raised to a height of 1m from the ground. It consists of three shrines of Shiva, Vishnu and Surya arranged around a central hall with a ranga mandapa in the front.

Even though the architecture was exquisite the temple was not as big as I expected. There was no guide to help tourists and very little information was available about the place and its history on sign board located inside the compound. There was no signage at the entrance or directions from the main road.

My friend

After a short prayer at the temple it was time to head back to the station. This time it looked like the gods took pity on us. We didn't have to fight our way into the train and the compartment was not packed like earlier. We left the station on schedule and were hoping to find a seat in the near future, with this hope to comfort us we made the best use of our newspaper. We used it as a mat on the floor and sat with our backs against the steel walls. The gap between walls was less than 2 feet and the floor was littered with empty packets of gutka and thambaku. It felt like we were in a compartment full of addicts. We got up every few minutes to give way to the chai wala, the samosey wala and it seemed the chances of getting a seat were next to none. In a way; the floor was better because the seats which were less than 2 sqft in size, were being shared by at least 2 people and in some cases- three people.

Branded jeans, leather shoes, ironed clothes and expensive watches made us the odd men out, the occasional stares from our fellow passengers were a clear indication of that.

Our train made a scheduled stop and a transvestite walked in, probably from a different compartment and judging from the bunch of currency notes she was holding in her hand, she was having a productive day. We quietly paid up our share of the ransom and were left alone in peace. The return journey was rather long with multiple stops due to oncoming traffic giving me a couple of quick photoshoot opportunities of the surrounding landscape. Our return journey took 3hours: 15minutes and we finally reached our station at 18:15hours.

To most people my journey may seem strange and absurd but I have learned valuable lessons from it. Apart from getting good pictures I have seen first hand the harassment, discomfort and unhygienic conditions, the poor endure and accept in their travels. It has made me appreciate what I have and I am. It brings to mind one of my favorite adages "Unless you know darkness, you cannot appreciate light".