The Amtrak Diaries

Chapter One

One of the most fascinating seasons in North America is fall. Just last month I had traveled to Montréal from New York by train and was mesmerized by the myriad hues of nature. (Its not often that an insensitive bloke like me gets moved by natural beauty – hues interesting to me are usually blondes, brunettes and the rare redheads). At this very moment I am on my way to Ann Arbor, Michigan from Boston changing trains at Albany and Toledo (don’t even ask – I love Indian Railways – my train’s been stuck in the middle of nowhere for the last 40 minutes, a little longer than Ashram Express used to stop for some incomprehensible reason at Rewari outer.)

The view from the train window is a lot different now than it was 6 weeks back (although the coffee’s still as bad). It’s dark and gloomy outside and its just late afternoon. Its been raining, the trees have shed almost all they had, perhaps having realized that they cant fight the cruel winter, which by the way has got me petrified too. (I have ‘Take Away My Pain’ playing on my computer). I on the other hand feel a lot better than I did then - mostly because I took my USMLE step 3 and got it out of the way. There’s a lot to be said for the post exam feeling which I am sure all of us unfortunate enough to have been educated are fortunate enough to have experienced. It’s not all good though. It is a kind of euphoria mixed with a little bit of uncertainty and anxiety about the way the exam actually went down. It’s somewhat of a void.


Chapter Two (and a bit more than I bargained for)

It’s about ten days since I started writing this post and have been traveling like crazy, so I haven’t had time to actually put it up yet. (I know all this is going to sound a bit weird when the post is actually up.) I have, since then experienced a lot more of the Amtrak, Railway stations and the American hinterland. I spent enough time at Union Station, Chicago in just a 2 day trip to the city to know it pretty much inside out. From there my journey to New York was supposed to take around 18 hours and took over 26. Yeah, I know. Ouch. Another Déjà vu of times spent on Indian Railways.

The one thing that totally rocks about Bhartiya Rail is the sort of people one meets in the average second class compartment. In that section of 8 berths one would usually find, to mention a few, an extremely entertaining mix of students, senior citizens and traveling businessmen (In my travels, almost exclusively Punjabi and usually the most frustrated and cynical of the lot, which by default makes their comments the most interesting). Everyone there has an opinion and more than that has an irresistible urge to share it, nay, impress it upon all others present. A group of jats discussing politics can sometimes be funnier than Seinfeld, Frasier and Friends put together, not to mention the language being more colorful than some rap songs labeled ‘Parental Advisory-Explicit Lyrics’. Trains in the US pale in comparison as most people spend their time watching movies on their laptops or are totally tuned into their iPods.

Another interesting thing I found in my recent and as yet unconcluded travels was that these days bumping into fellow residency aspirants traveling for interviews is easier than catching a cold.(I haven’t caught one yet, thankfully, but its almost inevitable in the winters. I do however keep bumping into guys from India, Pakistan and Nepal who are in the same boat as me - figuratively the same boat, literally the same train). In fact I saw an attractive girl traveling from Chicago to Rochester and went up to her and said “Let me guess, you’re interviewing for your residency?” and she stared at me blankly and said that she studied there. Not the best ice breaker ever.

I just completed one leg of my traveling and came back totally exhausted, having visited 5 states in a week! The next leg starts in a couple of days as I head north for my biggest interview yet. I hope the trips are somewhat interesting to keep the Amtrak Diaries alive, and also because I’ve pretty much run out of my stock of movies to watch on the train.