Random Ramblings: September 2016

That could have been the setting for the Temple of Doom!

We had checked out the timings of the Vasco – Vailankanni Express. It was to depart from the Margao station at 9.20am and so we were ready from our Siolim base at 7am, a rather early start for a holiday activity. The drive to Margao was uneventful, the fog from the previous day had not lifted in some places, the sun had yet to dry up the early morning dew and there were few people of the road. We parked the car and the parking contractor did not bat an eyelid when we informed him that we’d be away for a day to view the Dudhsagar (pronounced Doodh Sagar, not Dudh Sagar!) Falls – he seemed quite used to this based on his past experiences, when folks like us may have followed the same routine.

We boarded the train and after some initial jostling for a comfortable (as comfortable as comfortable can get!) seat in an unreserved compartment, we were on our way. We passed paddy fields first, saw lush green vegetation along the tracks and gushing streams every now and then, all mostly the result of the recent monsoon rains. This is the kind of scenery that would have inspired a Rudyard Kipling or Indiana Jones.

Kulem station - building an air of anticipation

We stopped briefly at Kulem which is a small and nondescript station with an air of a busy Victoria Terminus. There is an inherent sense of calm and quiet that envelops the station but there is evidence that the station does not want to be passed over. After all, it was the gateway to the Falls from the Goa side. Until fairly recently, people wanting to see the Falls would have “alighted” (that’s the word!) at this station and made the trek over the tracks to watch the Falls in all its splendor.

A couple of railway tunnels later, there is a buzz in the compartment and all eyes (and cameras) are trained on the waterfalls that make their first appearance (on the left side of the train). But I have been awaiting them on the right side! So, did I miss them? Just as I was drowning in sea of disappointment, I am reassured to keep faith……and lo and behold, the Ocean of Milk appears on my side (the right one!). Closer, grander and laden with water. It is simply spectacular!

Winding train tracks

There is a sigh of contentment as the train moves on……many years ago, I am told, that the spray from the Falls would drench the passengers in the train, it appears to have thinned out over the years – perhaps rains have been lesser, we have played with the water flow….. And, I also understand that the train would make a “stop” close to the Falls – ostensibly for technical reasons but I believe, to give passengers a better view of the Falling Waters! I wonder why this was stopped.

Cannot really call it a station!

The train then makes a brief halt at an apology of a station, Dudhsagar – a place that seemed to have chosen to give up its own identity for the natural phenomenon that gave it its name.

Winding the other way!

Our journey to view the Falls ended at the Castlerock Station, some 15 tunnels beyond the mighty Falls. A delayed train forced us to spend some languid three hours in a place that perhaps time forgot.

When the train arrived, we boarded it, this time wiser and prepared to catch the Falls from the other side too.