Train journey between Delhi and Lucknow in winter

Train travel evokes leisurely journeys and unending snacks and the merry cacophony from family and fellow passengers for the Bollywood actress Zoya Hussain. Here she shares her best travel memories by train between Delhi and Lucknow.

Editor's note: during COVID-19 there are restrictions on travel and some lines may not be operating. Check the latest guidance before departure, and always follow local health advice.

Train Travels from Delhi

While the New Delhi Railway Station is a busy and noisy one, Lucknow can hit the visitor with its charming hustle and bustle, an old-world charm where the railway station would meander into lanes and by-lanes and a labyrinth of period architecture and homesteads and shopfronts frozen in the dust of time. “Train journeys in India are one of the most human experiences”, says Zoya who finds the camaraderie, instant friendships over sharing food and space and jostle of people unique to Indian railway experiences.

Shopping & snacking

"Winter holidays meant hopping on to an overnight train from Delhi to Lucknow to my grandmother's home", Zoya recalls. It would mean furious shopping for woollens and layers and chubby woollen multi-coloured socks from the Kumaoni and Ladakhi shops, Delhi Haat and INA Markets led by her mother and her sister in tow.
Snacks on the train formed a huge part of our luggage and "our mother would groan that we little girls would demand snacks all the way through”, she says. The food memory that tops her list on her train travels is the “boarding school omelette sandwich” which would be part of the picnic packed for the journey. The omelette was plain, sandwiched between white bread, and cold but was a filling snack for the ever-hungry school girls with sides of hash browns and baked beans that were packed for a picnic on the train.
Similarly snacks and tea on railway platforms on stops along the journey were a treat as each railway station along the way would serve regional and local eats. "We would hop off at the stations along the way to Lucknow, and bring back piping hot tea, railway cutlets and hot ghee-laden halwa in winter", says Zoya.

Board games

Board games, playing cards, books and a Walkman player to share music were all packed in memories along the train journey. Shopping on railway stations in Delhi and Lucknow included reading material especially comic books like Phantom, Tintin, Chacha Chowdhury, Panchatantra, Jataka Tales, Reader’s Digest and Chicken Soup for the Soul and the expensive collector’s item her father would pick: Nat Geo magazines. “Reading in the dark, because nights on train journeys were too exciting to be spent sleeping, was an absolute favourite too”, for Zoya.

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