Chai, Chai

Chai, Chai

  - Bishwanath Ghosh

 

 My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The book presents a very interesting idea - what lies beyond the railway platforms in the cities or towns, those very recognizable junction names, where all long route trains invariably made long halts. Perhaps in the current era of superfast trains they are becoming less relevant, but till about two decades ago, they were the part and parcel of any moderately long railway journey. I haven't traveled much by trains in last 15 years or so, but before that I have had my fair share of train travel, innumerable times along few specific shorter routes, and some longer ones. My home town was a district headquarter and an important junction in the region, but it was quite a small town. This is why I was intrigued by the author's idea of exploring some of these major junctions, where all trains crossing states and zones stopped, but were seldom the purpose of making the journey, the destination.

I don't mind that his quest didn't turn up much of interest in these small towns, and in some cases little more than villages. It is not to be expected that every place will have an interesting history or rich heritage. The sad and unfortunate decline of a couple of these towns struck a chord, as I saw similar thing happen in the place I grew up in. In two of his destinations he was able to get more out of his visit by making detours to the world famous cities of Banaras and Khajuraho.

What I do mind is that in every place he seems to spend considerable time, not to mention number of pages (of an already short book), in drinking - and not the national beverage that the title is derived from. What is the point of taking on this task if only to spend a lot of time drinking whiskey in his hotel room? Drinking in dingy (there seemed to be no other kind) pubs, which also finds favor with him, is marginally better since he is at least meeting and taking to local residents.

The writing style I found somewhat inconsistent. At some places, it was so bland that I felt that an eighth grader in a creative writing class might make a better job of it. While in many instances, the subtle humor and dry wit made me chuckle. It was a short, fast and easy read, and except for the descriptions of his drinking adventures (though those had moments too), I fairly enjoyed the book. It also made me nostalgic about the simpler times of my childhood and college days spent in small towns of India.