Under the sheet

India through my eyes - Short travel notes

Under a Central Railway sheet his prominent belly moves to the rhythm of the train's rattle. Behind him are floral patterned wallpaper and from the window rice paddies, villages, palm trees, backwaters, scrub.

The train stops. Kundapura. His breathing has become heavier, now replaced by a regular snore while beyond the fence tuktuks wait in line for those who have reached their destination.

The train sets off again and, lulled, its rocking accompanies him, undisturbed by the crying of a child and the comings and goings of other passengers. And more rice fields, villages, palm trees, backwaters, scrub. His belly moves to the rhythm of the train's rattle. His breathing is a steady snore. Next stop Udupi. Who knows where the train of images and thoughts is taking him. Who knows what the stop-overs are, what the destination.

Meanwhile, I get off.

CURIOUS FACTS

If you visit the Indian subcontinent, taking a train is one of those unmissable experiences both for the peculiarity of the experience itself and for the very long routes that are covered which, in an economical way, allow you to reach remote corners of the country. Such an unmissable experience that in numerous films set in India - the first that comes to my mind is The Darjeeling limited - there is no shortage of scenes depicting them, often with people piled up on old creaking carriages or precariously hanging from their doors.

I remember the first time I had this experience, now several years ago: me, my friend Nena and our heavy backpacks on our shoulders, the search for a sheet of paper hanging on a noticeboard at the Delhi station with hundreds of names among which to identify ours since the latter corresponded to the carriage number and seat, an "angel" who rushed to help us and an awkward run on the train platform before the convoy started moving again.

In recent years, although I always avail myself of the help of some "angel", it has certainly become easier to travel with this means of transport, although the old trains still have the small fans hanging from the ceilings, the colored wallpaper, the brown paper bags with clean sheets inside and the food vendors who deliver what was ordered a few minutes before via App not to the door of the house, but to the carriage door or to your train window... Well yes, although India is still quite good on some things behind, on others it proved to be years ahead. And yoga is the proof!