EATING ON THE INDIAN RAILWAYS
MOUTHWATERING MEMORIES OF RAILWAY FOOD
By
VIKRAM KARVE
When I
was a small boy I travelled extensively all over India
Unfortunately
today one gets “standardised” packed food - the inimitable exciting dining
experience sitting in restaurant cars each serving unique cuisine has
disappeared and now-a-days most trains have crowded pantry cars where they only
cook and pack insipid cold food and one cannot sit comfortably at the table and
enjoy a relaxed freshly cooked hot meal. In many cases packed food is picked up
from Railway Stations and served on your seat.
I
vividly remember the delightful eating experience in the restaurant cars of the
famous 1 Down / 2 Up Calcutta Mail
via Nagpur (now called Mumbai - Howrah Mail) watching the picturesque scenery
pass by through the large open windows. I think this Restaurant Car (operated
by South Eastern Railway) had the
best menu – a variety of meals and the choicest of a la carte dishes, and even an impressive English Style full Tea
Service albeit in typical Railway thick white crockery.
How can
I forget those piping hot nourishing cutlets,
baked beans on toast, and delicious omelettes in the Restaurant Car of the magnificent Deccan Queen looking out of the
windows at the magnificent picturesque spectacle of the lights of Khopoli
twinkling far down below from the misty Western Ghats. The Pune - Mumbai Deccan Queen is still the pride of the Central Railway. I vividly recall lip smacking memories of the fresh piping hot South
Indian Meal Thalis in Madras
(Chennai) – New Delhi Grand Trunk (GT)
Express (the Dining Car was operated by Southern Railway) and the wholesome
continental meals in the Western Railway Dining Car of the Bombay (Mumbai) – Amritsar Frontier Mail (now called Golden Temple
Mail) as the magnificent train sped past the plains and the deserts towards
Delhi. Some Metre Gauge Trains had
“Royal” old-world restaurant and dining cars too, where one enjoyed a leisurely
meal, vibrating Metre Gauge style, in the unhurried ambiance.
I
recall that many important trains on the Southern Railway and South Central
Railway did not have dining or restaurant cars, but delicious hot food in
proper white cutlery was served in your
compartment from the excellent refreshment rooms of stations [like the Southern
Railway Speciality Meal of Mutton Madras
Curry and Rice from Erode, Salem, Jollarpettai, and the tasty spicy Chicken Biryani from Guntakal,
Cudappah, Vijaywada and Waltair (now known as Visakhapatnam)]. You could eat
the piping hot food unhurriedly as the cutlery was taken away at the next
station since trains halted every hour or so, then. It was the same was with
the Northern, North-Eastern and North East Frontier (NF) Railways I think,
where many trains did not have dining cars, but delicious food was served in
running trains from the Refreshment Rooms of the big Railway Junctions.
Even
the railway refreshment rooms at important stations served unique railway
cuisine. At Churchgate in Mumbai, the Mezzainine Floor food stall
served delicious meals and snacks and so did the old world Refreshment Rooms at
Chennai (then Madras Central), Mumbai CST (then Bombay VT), Delhi Main (Old
Delhi) Station, Howrah, Lucknow, Kalyan, Nagpur, Lucknow, Allahabad, Mughal
Sarai and Pune, where one could relish a hearty English Breakfast with cornflakes et al. And there were many tiny refreshment rooms like in Igatpuri and Daund where one could hop in for a quick Mutton Biryani while the engines were being changed.
And how
can I ever forget those nostalgic food memories of a quaint railway station
called Rampur Hat on the Sahibganj
Loop of the Eastern Railway way back
in the 1960s. I remember the best thing about Rampur Hat Railway Station was
its Refreshment Room - in fact the Railway Refreshment Room was the best
restaurant in Rampur Hat town in those days and it was the only decent eatery where
you could go with your family to relish a tasty meal. Two important trains
halted for meals at Rampur Hat – the Darjeeling Mail [Sealdah to New
Jalpaiguri] and Upper India Express [Sealdah to Delhi], and while the
travellers enjoyed their meals in the refreshment room the Steam Engines got
topped up too. Almost 45 years have passed since and I wonder whether the
Refreshment Room at Rampur Hat Railway Station is still as famous as it was way
back then.
Those glorious
days of delicious dining savouring sumptuous unique railway cuisine relished in
deluxe environs in a relaxed unhurried way sitting comfortably in restaurant
cars and dining cars enjoying the picturesque scenery through the open windows
along with your food are a distant memory – a thing of the past.
Today
one has to eat insipid characterless “sanitized” foil-packed standardized food
in claustrophobic environs of your berth or on your seat.
The
glorious days of the “Railway Dining Experience” are long over.
Will
some readers be so good as to comment and recall for all of us their delightful
“railway food” dining and eating experiences and tell us of the varied railway
cuisine of the “good old days”?
Do tell
us about your memories of delicious yummy railway food experiences and also let
us know if you have enjoyed good food while travelling on the Indian Railways
in recent times.
The
next time you travel on a train (or even while you nostalgically travel in your
Mind’s Eye) please do tell us about your mouth-watering memories of railway
food.
Happy
Eating.
VIKRAM KARVE
Copyright © Vikram Karve 2012
Vikram Karve has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.
© vikram karve., all rights reserved.
I am sure you will like all the 27 stories in my recently published book of short stories COCKTAIL
To order your COCKTAIL please click any of the links below:
http://www.flipkart.com/cocktail-vikram-karve-short-stories-book-81910
http://www.indiaplaza.in/cocktail-vikram-karve/books/9788191091847.htm
http://www.apkpublishers.com/books/short-stories/cocktail-by-vikram-ka
COCKTAIL ebook
If you prefer reading ebooks on Kindle or your ebook reader, please order Cocktail E-book by clicking the links below:
AMAZON
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005MGERZ6
SMASHWORDS
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/87925
Foodie Book: Appetite for a Stroll
http://www.flipkart.com/appetite-stroll-vikram-karve/8190690094-gw23f9
About Vikram Karve
A creative person with a zest for life, Vikram Karve is a retired Naval Officer turned full time writer. Educated at IIT Delhi, ITBHU Varanasi, The Lawrence School Lovedale and Bishops School Pune, Vikram has published two books: COCKTAIL a collection of fiction short stories about relationships (2011) and APPETITE FOR A STROLL a book of Foodie Adventures (2008) and is currently working on his novel and a book of vignettes and short fiction. An avid blogger, he has written a number of fiction short stories, creative non-fiction articles on a variety of topics including food, travel, philosophy, academics, technology, management, health, pet parenting, teaching stories and self help in magazines and published a large number of professional research papers in journals and edited in-house journals for many years, before the advent of blogging. Vikram has taught at a University as a Professor for almost 15 years and now teaches as a visiting faculty and devotes most of his time to creative writing. Vikram lives in Pune India with his family and muse - his pet dog Sherry with whom he takes long walks thinking creative thoughts.
Vikram Karve Academic and Creative Writing Journal: http://karvediat.blogspot.com
Professional Profile Vikram Karve: http://www.linkedin.com/in/karve
Vikram Karve Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/vikramkarve
Vikram Karve Creative Writing Blog: http://vikramkarve.sulekha.com/blog/posts.htm
Email: vikramkarve@sify.com
© vikram karve., all rights reserved.
