There are trains going from almost everywhere to almost everywhere in India. It's one of the most extensive rail networks on the planet, with some mind-boggling stats: around 20 million people travel by train every day, and Indian Railways is the world's largest utility employer with 1.5 million staff. Alongside cricket, the rail network is rightfully one of the proudest legacies of the British Raj. Everyone uses the trains and rail travel transcends class borders. As a traveller in India, I simply can't imagine how the country would function without the railways.
Keeping long rail journeys entertaining is the endless variety of food and drink which is peddled up and down carriages and on platforms. Unlike the limited offering of crisps, chocolate and bland, day-old sandwiches on British cross-country trains, on an Indian rail journey you'll be presented with a riot of different snacks - something new at every stop. Roving vendors jump aboard at every station, calling out their tasty offerings as they hurry up and down the carriages.
An early-morning journey we took from Bangalore to Mysore started with a chai wallah doing the rounds with a big flask of sweet, milky tea. Hot on his heels came vendors offering breakfast treats. We tried battered, deep-fried bananas and savoury biscuits made from subtly-spiced potato, onion and cauliflower - everything always freshly-cooked and still warm.
The return trip in the evening brought fresh peanuts in their shells, packed into slim newspaper cones, passed through the bars on the train windows. We also had savoury, spiced doughnuts, crunchy on the outside and soft inside, served on a cardboard plate with cooling coconut chutney.
On another journey, a rural stop somewhere between Goa and Mumbai featured tasty vada pao: golf-ball-sized, deep-fried spicy potato patties, served in a square of the Mumbai Mirror with little soft white bread rolls, green chillies and chutney; all the ingredients you need to make a delicious vege burger.
As we approached Mumbai on that same train, we tasted bhelpuri as good as you get anywhere in the city.
Keeping long rail journeys entertaining is the endless variety of food and drink which is peddled up and down carriages and on platforms. Unlike the limited offering of crisps, chocolate and bland, day-old sandwiches on British cross-country trains, on an Indian rail journey you'll be presented with a riot of different snacks - something new at every stop. Roving vendors jump aboard at every station, calling out their tasty offerings as they hurry up and down the carriages.
An early-morning journey we took from Bangalore to Mysore started with a chai wallah doing the rounds with a big flask of sweet, milky tea. Hot on his heels came vendors offering breakfast treats. We tried battered, deep-fried bananas and savoury biscuits made from subtly-spiced potato, onion and cauliflower - everything always freshly-cooked and still warm.
The return trip in the evening brought fresh peanuts in their shells, packed into slim newspaper cones, passed through the bars on the train windows. We also had savoury, spiced doughnuts, crunchy on the outside and soft inside, served on a cardboard plate with cooling coconut chutney.
On another journey, a rural stop somewhere between Goa and Mumbai featured tasty vada pao: golf-ball-sized, deep-fried spicy potato patties, served in a square of the Mumbai Mirror with little soft white bread rolls, green chillies and chutney; all the ingredients you need to make a delicious vege burger.
As we approached Mumbai on that same train, we tasted bhelpuri as good as you get anywhere in the city.
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