When we lived in Nigeria in the early 2000s we used to travel to India on vacations. On one of our trips the journey back lasted 27 hours because of a delay due to bad weather.

When I was doing my diploma we were going to Rajasthan for our Industrial Visit. Our train ride was from Mumbai to Jaipur Station which was about 16 hours and from there we went on a road trip for 12 hours on a bus which took us to Jaisalmer. That was probably the longest trip ever.

The train ride was also the most dangerous one I have ever been on because there was a signal at which the train stopped for a couple of hours and then military personnel already present inside the train instructed everyone to close their windows and shutters. They also locked the doors and the engineer locked himself inside the train’s cockpit. The reason was that there were dacoits who would come and bang on the windows and doors demanding to open them. They were armed and dangerous so these measures had to be taken for passenger safety.

It was a scary experience but my friends and I were scaring each other and making jokes. When we heard loud raps on the windows our noise died instantly. We realised it was a grave situation. The man outside yelled out loudly to open the door or he would blow it up and kill us all. Everyone’s face was petrified. Even our teachers had no choice but to sit quietly. The situation could have gone either way. Luckily the signal turned green and the train moved. The journey was worth it though. We had a lot of fun in Rajasthan. I doubt the situation is still the same now since this was more than a decade ago. However if I were to go back there I’d fly.