My pictures with their little stories

Life as seen from Darjeeling Himalayan Railway - 3 This fellow was probably the shop owner of this medical shop who was in the process of opening his shop when the train passed by. ( Shot from Darjeeling Himalayan Railway , 2017 )

Early morning at a railway station The light plays out in a fascinating manner in the early hours at a railway station. There is this constant light of tube lights on the platforms and the red signals. When a train arrives, the head lights of the locomotive seem to be stationary and they pick up speed when the train starts closing in piercing the darkness around and make the tracks shine. The lights in the coaches of the trains are the additional lights which play out and then the signal lights change to green and yellow. In a large railway station, this drama gets played out every few minutes till it is morning and the train lights are no longer needed. The drama of the light piercing the darkness has ended and a new day has begun.

On board Amtrak While traveling on board Amtrak from Boston to New York , noticed this fellow engrossed in his book. These are some of the small but not insignificant pleasures of a train journey. It is these small pleasures that make a train ride so enjoyable and desirable.

Pleasant surprise - sighting of the train While driving from Bagdogra to Phuentsholing which is the point of entry into Bhutan from north Bengal side, noticed a single line railway track running parallel to the road for quite some time.  Sure enough, a train appeared. Realised that it was going quite slow. The fields and the train traversing the plains has always been a visual I do not want to miss. In fact, I consider the cinematographic sequence in " Pather Panchali " by Satyajit Ray as one of the best constructed sequences of all times in which Apu and Durga run through the fields to get a sighting of the train when they hear the train whistle from a distance.

Waiting for Kalka-Shimla train to pass See this blog post  More about this railway