The "Why" of this trip....

      So far, blog entries for this rail odyssey have attempted to cover the who, when, what, where and how

Second class air conditioned berth. Indian railways.

of the projected journey.
       I am prompted to write this entry in response to several people who have asked the question: "But WHY would you sit in crowded & slow trains in India for a least 40 days & nights when inter-city air-travel is fast and (relatively) affordable". The answer maybe: that as a mid/late sixties guy, I am unlikely to want to undertake such a journey a second time and as such, would like to cram in as much as possible during the planned 90 days.

        Travelling encased in an aluminium tube at 30,000 feet provides only limited human contact and so the opportunity to view, from the railway tracks, a slice of the life in the small towns and villages of rural India is most appealing and perhaps to chat with some of those 6000 who call Calcutta station 'home'.
        The Indian rail system is an institution of superlatives-- employs the greatest number (1.5 million) people of any organisation in the world, carries 18 million passengers per day, 17,000 locomotives on 64,000 kms. of track-- nearly equal to twice around the world .
     I feel sure that this explanation of  "WHY" will not convince those who may find unappealing the process of catching packed trains from crowded & chaotic stations at 2.30 am, to their taste. It has frequently been my 'rough' travel experience that any actual temporary discomfort is quickly forgotten and that one is left afterwords with a sense of accomplishment & satisfaction to have surmounted the logistical and cultural challenges and at least have a story to recount afterwards.
     Over a working life, I have stayed in many major luxury business hotels and flown business class world-wide. I truthfully say, in retrospect, collectively, these journeys are mostly a blur to me. Who wants to be the tourist to Jamaica, who when asked how many Jamaicans he had chatted with, confirmed that at his resort that he had only met folks from New York?