Special Mom’s blog

The prompt for today made me remember so many wonderful things.

What is your preferred mode of transport?

I have lived nearly half a century on this planet and have traveled by bus, car , train, ship, motorcycle, autorickshaw, rickshaw, airplane and road trams. I can with confidence say I love trains.

A train journey short or long makes me happy, but the sad part I rarely travel by it now.

Pittsburgh has a light rail system but it takes me nowhere that I need to go but we use whatever opportunity we have to ride this train.😊

My Mom’s parents lived in a different state in India and we had to take two trains, one overnight to go there for a vacation. The excitement is always huge before the travel as my Mom packs up for the trip, but it was doubled when we pack food for the overnight journey. The sound of the tracks and the involuntary movement of the body made the food so tasty. My grandma’s sister lived far away and my grandma used to talk how we should take a vacation to go see her on a train journey. She used to talk about the different food that she will be packing and when we would eat it. This trip never materialized but imaging in itself was fun.

I have traveled to all major cities in India by train. The trip from Chennai to New Delhi is the worst during summer but we did not complain about it. We enjoyed running around and playing with other people. Those were the times, an air conditioned coach was expensive and we did not spend that extra money but just traveled in a second class coach. Yup, the bathrooms were dirty but we were kids and we did not bother about it then. My parents were young and they did not bother. Life looked simple then right? There was one trip we took with my grandparents and I remember my grandfather got myself and my brother poori. We had packed so much but the outside food was tempting and tasty. Though my grandparents did not eat that food, as I think about it now, it was a way of showing their love then.

After coming to the USA, train travel was limited. I loved Boston with it’s excellent subway system. We lived closed to the city then, and could take a bus to the station and travel anywhere by subway. We also used to park our car at a Connecticut stations and take train to New York city. Thinking about it, looks tiring but me and my husband were young and as I said that was not an issue at all. We loved New York subway too. We have just made one long trip on Amtrak here. That was from Boston to Portland, Maine.

Airplanes and cars have taken over our transportation. It looks much easier and simple. Airplanes give the comfort of time savings and cars the comfort of independence. Compared to that trains seems to look cumbersome. But relaxing oneself near a window seat, watching the outside and gazing at the passengers, trains get my vote.

Even three months back, I took an hour journey on Western Maryland scenic railroad to see fall colors and pick up a pumpkin. I loved the Halloween train and enjoyed the time with the kids who had dressed up. We have been on Thomas train multiple times and even on the Polar Express. By the way my kids love trains and we have so many train sets. Do you think it was me who influenced them for the love of trains. Nah, it is in their genes.