The Vistadome 16539/40

A good traveller has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving.”
― Lao Tzu

Lao Tzu would not approve of me on this trip. After all, I had a fixed plan. I was conducting a retreat at Bangalore. But travel, is travel and every travel in itself a pilgrimage that is detrimental to bigotry.

Travel meant learning and experiencing new communities, this in turn would widen our horizon. Unfortunately, travellers like travelling have now become of two kinds.

One that is “on the move” that is they have outsourced movement to the metros and trains while they are immersed in their conferences and calls. The changing zones means nothing to them. the occasional tea vendor is again a replacement for the coffee machine that they mandatorily walk to.

The second traveller is the “doing traveller” who has a list of destination, with meticulous googled things to be done at the destination. Their mobiles whipped and focused to click the mandatory images to be shared with appropriate hashtags on social media. The Been there, Doon that school.

Well, I think for me this was a stolen day after 3yrs, I was travelling albeit on work but it was the hooky day. the vistadome was always on my list. And the western ghats is my favourite travel zone.

Coming to Vistadome coaches, these are European style coaches with large glass windows, glass roofs, observation lounges and rotatable seats.  Though the train 16539/40 Yeshwantpura- Mangalore did not have the glass roof the rest of it was really amazing. The chairs actually rotated 180 degrees allowing panoramic view.

The vistadome coaches are German made by Vistadome Linke Hofmann Busch railway coaches and cleared by the Indian railways integral coach factory in Chennai. These trains are focused on the tourist attractions. The vistadome entrance is sensor operated. It is also fitted with a bio-toilet. The observation lounge houses a small pantry equipped with a microwave and refrigerator.

Some of routes are Araku valley, Kashmir Valley, Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, Kalka Shimla Railway, Kangra Valley railway, Matheran Hill Railway, Nilgiris Mountain Railway.

The vistadome starts at coastal Karnataka the Karvali in the Mangalore junction, traverses the malenaadu or the mountain ranges to reach Bangalore in the  bayluseeme the flat land.

I was definitely in heaven. From Mangalore to Hassan with lovely co-passengers for company, I mean it was nice that everyone was so involved with the mountains and the forest most being well travelled people wanting to experience the vista. At Sakaleshpura most of the pilgrims deboarded to make way of the “on the move” corporate kid with their backpacks and earphones. And the residual pilgrims probably snoozed or like me took refuge in a book.

Looking at my fellow travellers from Mangalore to Sakaleshpura, it appeared like most folks on the train could care less where they were going. For them it’s the journey itself and the people they meet along the way. Maybe, with every journey and stop, we experience a bit of our country and that bit gets on and says hello.

This post has been written for The Blogchatter Half Marathon