SPENDING four days on a crowded, grubby train as it trundles over 4,200 kilometres, past 615 stations, and through eight states in India, is a lesson in endurance. Splash out 2,500 rupees (around $50) and you may board the newly inaugurated Vivek Express, the world’s eighth-longest train ride. A weekly service, for the first time it connects directly, by rail, the far north-east of the subcontinent—the seven poor and neglected states stuck on the wrong side of Bangladesh—through “mainland” India and down to its southernmost tip, at Kanyakumari.There's no mention of dealing card games with the old men in the club car, but you have to pass the paper bag that holds the bottle.
The middle-aged, the men, pass their hours furtively swigging on bottles of rum and whisky and then subsiding into sozzled sleep. This is strictly against train rules so they cower behind curtains when pouring their shots. “The tipsy train”, observes a laconic young Indian novelist, along for the ride.India is thickly settled enough that there's no place for a train to run out from cellular coverage, which can happen on Amtrak's long-distance trains, sometimes to the annoyance of people who have to be wired, even if there's a pinochle game in progress.
A telling detail is the beep of mobile phones. Not only does everyone appear to have one, the coverage along the entire journey is unbroken. For a Briton used to wretched phone reception on a densely populated small island, the triumph of Indian telecoms is self-evident.
Some truths are universal. To learn something about a country, ride its cross-country trains.
Fellow passengers, of course, offer the most. A companion in your correspondent’s cabin, who boarded in Dibrugarh, rides all the way south to Kerala. He calls himself Mr Kamil, tells stories of being a trader in coconuts and “small things”, and of roaming the country for work over the past 27 years.That's true on the City of New Orleans and the Sunset Limited and any other long-distance train.
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