It's a busy world. A world where we hardly get any time to stop and observe the things around us. But a train journey of 35 hours with hardly any prospect of work provided me with such a chance. Where can one get such an opportunity? With hours stretched in front on a train that touches Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and Jharkand - five states of this incredible country, India!

With the prospect of a month long vacation ahead on a cold day in December, I undertook a journey from the IT capital of India, Bangalore to the Steel City, Jamshedpur. Traversing the entire stretch from Karnataka to Jharkhand, I experienced the diversity of the nation and enjoyed the myriad colours of its people and places. This piece is a story of my journey.

To begin with I was fortunate enough to have plenty of daylight ahead as the train started at half past eight in the morning, and the company of my father to strike a conversation every time I was intrigued by the surroundings. The train left Bangalore and reached the neighbouring state of Tamil Nadu before I realized.

The people with their shaved heads became quite prominent and it was evident we had touched the city of Tirupati, one of the famous pilgrimages destinations of south India. The hazy mountains in the background of the city stood waiting for the people as theycame and the eucalyptus trees bid farewell to us as we left the city.

Throughout the day, we crossed Nellore and other cities of Tamil Nadu. Some of these places had beautiful architecture. I was witness to several beautifully carved temples, a phenomenon south India is famous for.At that magical hour which we call dusk the paddy fields with their green saplings waiting to ripen became more and more prominent. A solitary child running between these fields caught myeyes.

With a spectrum of colours playing in the sky above the green fields I am sure a poet would have found several lyrical lines to compose.If the green fields were lyrical, river Godavari was awesome. I have hardly ever seen the river at night and it is highly unlikely that I will ever forget what I experienced. The lights from the riverbanks shone on its moving waters giving the appearance of millions of shining stars on an inky black sky. On a bridge in a train with water on both sides, I felt the how overpowering nature can be and how man has devised methods to overpower it. I can hardly remember when I slept. I watched the men and women going back from work and birds making their way back to the nests in the early evening and a feeling of pleasant anticipation stole over me. I knew I was approaching home.

As I peeped out of the window I found a huge steel factory, which announced that we were entering Rourkela, the capital of Orissa. The station here was alive with hawkers and vendors. Hawkers selling jhal mudhi (a spicy delight made with puffed rice) here are as common as those selling idli wada in south.

The language, both written and spoken changed as we move from one state to another. Even though I do not understand all of them, I could comfortably make out that they weredifferent from one another. I could not contain my delight as I realized I was just two hours away from my hometown. But every story has its high and low points and mine is no exception.

Near a station in Chakradharpur, Jharkhand someone had the audacity to pull the chain for apparently no reason. To top it all, this 'brainy' fellow did it right on top of a bridge with water gurgling below it. It took some time to spot the origin of mischief and putthings right. Thankfully there was no panic that usually marks such situation. Chakradharpur is a Naxalite-infested area and any untoward incident here is quickly related to the possibility of a Naxal conspiracy. But this got the train delayed by nearly two hours.

What fascina ted me on the journey was the view of the pastoral life, which is otherwise difficult to see, the diversity in the landscape, the vegetation that changes from coconut trees to sprawling banyan and mango ones. Add to this the changing attire and dialect ofthe people. It is then that that I felt the train must really be named 'Hello India' as suggested by one of my acquaintance.

Anumeha Verma

MS (Communication)