Indian Railways: A photographic journey
Photo: Karan Madhok
Overrated, wonderful little cups of chai. Shadows on sunlit coaches in the day-time. The human restlessness at the platform. Colourful bookstalls and neon nights. The country transforming outside the barred windows. Here’s a photo gallery of life seen through the Indian Railways.
I’ve always enjoyed the romance of Indian train travel. The overrated-yet-wonderful little cups of tea. The shadows of sunlit coaches in the day-time. The country moving and evolving past me outside the barred windows. The conversations. The human restlessness at the platform. The animal restfulness, on the same platforms. The colourful bookstores. The neon nights.
Over the past decade, I’ve taken hundreds of pictures of random things on my way from here to there around the country: at platforms, on trains, outside the stations, outside my moving windows, in the dark corners, across crowded compartments. I’m not a professional photographer, or someone who even understands many basics of strong photography. I just know when something interesting catches the frame of my eyes, and I know I must capture it forever. These photos were taken either by my old Nikon automatic digital camera or the camera on my iPhone.
Photo: Karan Madhok
Photo: Karan Madhok
Photo: Karan Madhok
Photo: Karan Madhok
Photo: Karan Madhok
Photo: Karan Madhok
Photo: Karan Madhok
Photo: Karan Madhok
Photo: Karan Madhok
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Karan Madhok is a writer, journalist, and editor of The Chakkar, whose fiction, translation, and poetry have appeared in The Literary Review, The Lantern Review, F(r)iction, and more. He is the founder of the Indian basketball blog Hoopistani and has contributed to NBA India, SLAM Magazine, FirstPost, and more. Karan is currently working on his first novel. Twitter: @karanmadhok1
