My Reading Room...

Steam Engine Train

How I miss those days when in High School, I travelled by train with my family.

I carried a new companion on every sojourn - a book - usually an Alistair Maclean. Guns of Navarone. For Whom The Bell Tolls. Puppet On A Chain or Force 10 From Navarone. And many more.

I got the upper berth - with a curved roof above me. It was the only haven where you could stay put - without ever having to get up or make way for someone.

There was room service - I just had to keel over and peer down, one hand holding the book, the other outstretched to receive food. Mom would pass the standard sukha puri bhaji and - how can I forget - Shrikhand. We Gujjus "don't leave home without it".

Safely ensconced in the padded, albeit coired and hard comfort of this cosy haven - I read through the night in that pale, dim yellow light of a folding contraption of a lamp.

That folding lamp was a luxury - it gave me ample reason to show off to the lesser mortals who sat or slept in the lower berths. It was equipped with an automatic switch - lift the flap and the light turned on - close it and it went off.

I did that often, the flapping I mean, when the journey had just commenced, to show off - till I sensed that the passengers' stolen glances turned into irritated ones. What hurt was when they stopped noticing altogether.

The tough unyielding green rexine hurt - as it felt like emery/sand paper through my pastel coloured, fashionable (back then) nylon acrylic/nylon t-shirt.

Luckily, up there, there wasn't room enough to toss and turn, though I did so, often. The loose metal guard on the side would clang in protest, each time I did this.

For me, the most comfortable position whilst reading, especially when the plot thickened, was when i would lie on my stomach, book in hand, elbows propped on the coir, with head and shoulders arched backwards. Luckily we hadn't heard of bed sores back then. The head did receive the occasional knock in this posture.

Sadly, the light always played truant (why would I ever blame myself) and one had to adjust one's posture to let a little light fall on the book.

More important than all these however, was that I think I finished a book through each journey - and the fact that some journeys lasted more than two days, helped! These journeys were my allies - they allowed me to read the entire book. The longer the journey – the more welcome it was.

Yes - today flights are much more convenient- but I miss those days and nights of reading! I miss that haven, the cradle like movements, and the swaying and bucking of my cozy reading room.