FIRST TRAIN JOURNEY

Journey by train is so common and frequent that one hardly remembers any journey unless it is associated with some extraordinary experience or it leaves a deep impression in one's mind. Since a child's mind is fresh and receptive, experiences of childhood days leave a permanent impression on our mind. I vividly remember one such experience-that of my first train journey.

It was the first week of September. My father told me that we were to go to Pune to join the Ganpati festival at my maternal uncle's place. We started from Dadar station at seven by Poona Express. As this was my first train journey I was full of excitement.

I sat at the window and looked out. Things looked very strange. Masses of land, trees and buildings and telegraph poles were,coming nearer, appearing in front of my window and then receding. When another train passed by, our tram seemed to be, still for a while and then seemed to be going back. All this baffled me.The scene outside was fantastic. It had rained last night and ,water drops were dripping from the tree leaves and grass blades.

The meadows and hills seemed to be covered by a green carpet. Suddenly it was dark outside and lights of the compartment were on. My father told me that our train was passing through a tunnel dug across a mountain. This was a novel experience for me, and I enjoyed it. There were two or three more tunnels. As the train passed through the hills 1 saw waterfalls and streams. Cascades of foaming sparking water were sliding down the slopes of hills and its water running down in streams. I will never forget this wonderful spectacle.

The sight in the valley below at Khapoli seemed to be like heaven. As it was dark, the lights were on and the entire valley was adorned by beautiful necklaces of lights. My father told me that those were the lights of the powerhouse there. We enjoyed the tasty batatawadas at Khapoli. I looked outside breathlessly as our train passed through the Khandala ghats. After Lonavala our train left the mountainous region and entered the plain. It was almost noon when we reached Pune. We hired a rickshaw and went to our uncle's house. It was indeed a memorable journey.