In memory of some treasured travel moments

Be it long distance travels or short journeys to nearby places, buses are the only traveling option that I am allowed to choose, and I can never even think about the liberty to enjoy a rail journey, as my family is totally against taking the ‘risk’ of traveling in trains, especially at nights. Thugs and robbers do make wise use of the lack of security and hop in to local trains unlawfully, even without paying for the tickets, in turn looting the passengers and sometimes harming them fatally. So, to be frank, I cannot blame my parents for curtailing my traveling options as trains have now become the soft spots for all sorts of crimes and robberies. Yet, I still do long for train journeys at times, and later pacify my mind by repeating about the possible dangers that are lurking around the corner.

Since childhood, trains have always triggered immense fascination and joy, and train journeys have always left-away some worth carrying memories that still hold onto.  Being the granddaughter of a railway employee, I was always blessed with some wonderful chances to listen to some really fascinating stories about the train journeys that he has taken so far, and about the various railway stations where he had served a major share of his life as a dutiful stationmaster. Now, even in is eighties, I can see a vivid glimmer in his eyes whenever he starts saying about train journeys. I can surely say that I would be the only one in my family, who can give a complete account of all the official & unofficial trips that he has taken in his life, and these stories undoubtedly triggered a huge liking for train travels, which were totally allowable until the last couple of years. Till then, I had absolute freedom to travel in train whenever I wanted, and I never missed any chances that came though.

In fact, the project research phase of post graduation was the time when I had some of the most wonderful train journeys in my life, in the pretext of visiting libraries close by, for project research. Although I did the research part to the best of my ability, I was more in to enjoying those train journeys with my classmates, which gave me a lot of happiness that words can't express. All of us used to literally rush into the coach to get to our seats, and I always used to manage to get myself a comfortable seat near the window.  Whenever I wasn't lucky enough to get a seat for myself, the upper sleeping berths were my next favorite option, where I can sit comfortably and watch fellow travelers, wondering where they are going and what there story would be.  Added to these joys of traveling was savoring the coffees and cutlets that were served and reading my favorite books: both augmented my pleasures to several manifolds.

But all these excitements soon stopped, and there were two reasons behind it. If one was a small mistake from my end, another one was a tragedy that left away a huge fear in the mind of train commuters, especially women.

Let me tell you my mistake first. I was on the way back from our usual library visit, and was walking towards the railway station.  Rather than taking the straight roads, I used love crossing railway tracks and reaching the station soon.  As usual I was on the way to the station, crossing the long railway tracks when an engine started coming towards us stealthily. It was only when my teacher shouted from the other end that I saw that monstrous looking engine a few steps ahead, all set to trample me under its huge feet. I quickly jumped to the other track and saved myself, but my teacher was ‘merciful’ enough to narrate the whole ‘adventure’ to my dad, and there ended the lifelong liberty that I had for train travel. Sadly, I had to start depending on the jam-packed local buses that were far from being comfortable.

Adding to this mild curtailment was the news report of the tragic night when a twenty something woman was pushed off from a moving train and was brutally raped to death by a beggar. Although it happened a few years back, fears still linger, and again, train journeys became a more distant dream for me.

Whenever I hear the whistle of a train, I still keep dreaming about all the fewer yet wonderful train journeys that I’ve had, hoping for one such to happen again someday.

Simple is sweet

While reading some interesting discussions on Quora, I saw a question that evoked a few interesting thoughts that I wish to share here. The question was about the reason why a few writers are passionate about flamboyant and pompous words that are a hard to understand. I found the discussion worth reading as there was a time when I too had the very same curiosity, and kept wondering how an average reader would decipher a message that’s delivered in a bombastic style. I am not totally against using dense words, but at the same time not an ardent lover of obscure pieces with hard to make out messages. In my opinion every piece of writing should be equally palatable for the expert as well as the average reader, and both should enjoy it in alike. But nowadays even national dailies are ‘victims’ of the high propensity to use long and complex words, when smaller ones will do, only to impress people and make them go gaga about their limitless vocabulary. To be frank, I am not a huge fan of such people, writers, or journalists, who use unnecessarily long words like “perambulating” instead of “walking”, and I do believe that almost everything in this world can be said in simple and less obscure words which are not more than five letters in length.

I am not saying that people use complex vocabularies intentionally, but I think many people do have this false notion that a worth reading post or an article should have a good number of those glitzy and hard to understand words, which they think would make the write-up scholarly and relevant. I think they are thoroughly wrong, and I am sure that most of the readers would stop reading such articles half the way just because of the complexity with which the writer has tried to deliver the message. Whatever the topic is, a piece of writing would look interesting and catchy only of it is written in simple and interesting language to help people understand and enjoy it, and not to forcefully make them depend on a dictionary to get the gist of what’s written in the post. I recently read somewhere that writers who are addicted to using bombastic words should cure themselves of sesquipedalianism, a word that sounded to me like kind of grave disease. I kept wondered what this word could be and had to refer the dictionary to know that it is nothing but the practice of using long, and sometimes obscure, words. If sesquipedalianism is a word that's hardly used by an average reader, how can he/she admire the work of writer who is addicted to sesquipedalianism?

When it comes to writing for a mass audience, I think it’s very important to avoid the words, phrases, and usages that are beyond the reach of an average reader, as less obscure and accessible writing is what most of the people look for these days. Using the “must be understandable to everyone” kind of language will never spoil the beauty of a piece of work, nor will it portray the writer as a person with limited vocabulary. Instead it will only make the writing interesting, thus making it appealing to a wide range of people. If a piece of writing is meant for the elite readers alone, who are acquainted with the so called “rich and classy” words, it’s definitely fine to fill-in the write-up with such words, or else why spoil the beauty of writing by stuffing it with complex and obscure lexis that would make it indigestible and unappealing to the readers?