What to read if you love trains but are bored by Railway Budget 2013

For those of you who love trains but didn’t find much sense in listening to the Railway Minister’s news and numbers speech, here are five books about trains, railways and all its experiences that you should read.

The Great Railway Bazaar

Author: Paul Theroux

 "I sought trains, I found passengers." Paul Theroux’s 1975 novel takes you through a journey of meeting fellow passengers and sharing experiences from across seas.

The Orient Express, The Khyber Pass Local, the Delhi Mail, the Golden Arrow of Kuala and the Trans-Siberian Express are just some of the trains Theroux’s first book travels through during his four-month journey through Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

“Theroux richly details his varied encounters, paying particular attention to the bizarre along the bazaar.” “The Great Railway Bazaar is at once a timeless narrative of humans and travel and a distinctly historical slice of global affairs as viewed by one decidedly motion-bound writer,” says Mark Flanagan in About.com.

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Around India in 80 Trains

Author: Monisha Rajesh

Londoner Monisha Rajesh, who lived in Madras, always wanted to get back to her roots and travel to see India in its vast glory. Monisha, went on a four-month journey, crisscrossing the country travelling by 80 trains. From emergency handles saying ‘PULL HANDLE TO STOP’ to eavesdropping  on young lovers’ disputes, her book, Around India in 80 Trains, gives its readers, an inside perspective of the country’s lifeline.

“…after 80 journeys, 25,000 miles and a thousand cups of tea, I realised that it really is the bloodstream that keeps India’s heart beating,” she says in The Telegraph.

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Train to Pakistan

Author: Kushwant Singh

Khushwant Singh’s Train to Pakistan is a narrative of the gruesome events that torched northern India during the 1947 partition. The story, set in a small village in Northwestern India in 1947, speaks of how the partition impacted lives across the then soon-to-be divide. Singh’s book whose opening lines are “The fact is, both sides killed,” was a bestseller when it was first published in 1956.

“People should know this thing happened. It did happen. It can happen again,” Singh says in an interview to the New York Times.

The Night Train At Deoli

Author: Ruskin Bond

Set in the hills of Garhwal, Ruskin Bond’s The Night Train At Deoli speaks of the authors experience as an 18-year old, when he travels to Dehra, to spend his summer vacations with his grandmother who lived there. The story is about a mysterious station ‘Deoli’ set amidst forests, where nobody seemed to get on or off the train.

What follows, is a story of attachment, helplessness and hope. How the story unfolds is what makes it, like every other Ruskin Bond novel, a good read.

The Railway Children

Author: E Nesbit

The story revolves around a family with three children - Roberta, Peter and Phyllis - who live in a red-brick-fronted villa in London. However, one day after supper, their father is taken away by two men, forcing the family to leave their London home and move to a smaller house in the country.

Their new home, they discover, is just behind a railway station, where they befriend a porter. Nesbit, through her book, manages to bring forth a lively childhood filled with wonderful experiences.

So here’s what you have to do.

Order the books (all of them are available online), grab your cup of chai, find a cosy spot and get reading!