Night Train : Tincomalee – Colombo

The carriage rocks from side to side as the tracks rattle by below. Outside, everything is in darkness apart from the window frames of light that rush along with the train, lighting up paddies and jungle as we go by. The bright greens of the rice paddies and the deep greens of the undergrowth go past in shades of grey and brown. After each station the steam streams through the wide open windows.

Inside, the clunky grey fans come to a halt as everyone drifts off to sleep. The sleeping faces are lit up by the bright lights above while I settle down for bursts of jolted disturbed sleep, waking at intervals to keep an eye on our bags and to try and find a more comfortable position. At one point we are woken by a man who seems adamant that we need to move our bags so that he can sit next to us. I look at him in a sleepy state trying to figure out this non-sober looking man but before matters go any further the men who stand in between carriages are at our rescue, telling him to find another seat. We get an odd sense of security from these men who keep watch over us. There is always at least one on every train ride. They spot us on the platform and next they are in our carriage - not threatening or overly-forward, usually not speaking to us at all - just there to look over at us from time to time and smile…at first creepy, but also reassuring that our bags are less likely to get stolen this time because they are there...unlikely travel companions?? (still, with no CCTV and no trustworthy security forces, you judge for yourself!!)…

As sleep is unsuccessful I observe my surroundings and gaze into the black outside...

Hundreds of flies – house flies, fruit flies and dragonflies – flicker around the strip lights overhead. The mosquitoes stay down below, drifting around us – their prey (At night the toilet becomes a mosquito’s lair – you visit at your own peril!). The window frame I am trying to make into a comfortable headrest is dusty and rusty. The seats are at an upright angle - worn brown leather with wooden armrests. The ceiling peels off grey paint and the baggage racks overhead are home to spiders lying in wait for their meal, already trapped by the train as it whizzed by (when I say whizzed by these trains usually chug along at 60 km/h but this seems fast when it’s dark and next to an open window.).

As we coast into Maho Junction – our halfway point – at around 1a.m, echoes of ‘koppi, koppi, koppi’ (having tasted this we don’t know if they are just mixing up their ‘f’s and their ‘p’s as many Sri Lankans do, or if this is a mixture between coffee and tea - it doesn’t quite taste like either!) and ‘Amba, amba, amba’ (mango – buy a whole bag of them for 50 rps, or buy one already chopped and devilled with chilli and salt.), make their way up the platform. A lady holding a bowl of betel wrapped in banana leaves (betel chewing is a long-standing Sri Lankan tradition – betel being a mixture of tobacco and spices and some other leaf – red-eyed men and old women chew it and spit it out in a fountain of red spit in the street.), men with kettles, flasks and plastic cups at the ready along with basket-full of rotti and ‘short eats’ for the sleepy travellers. Further down the platform a man stands next to bunches of ‘king cokey, king cokey’, selling king coconuts as a late night drink. This rhyming chorus interrupts the quiet murmur of the passengers gathered in groups on the platform as the carriage lights go out and we are left in darkness looking out at this late night market place. A Sri Lankan flag flutters above the dimly lit platform and the chants from a mosque somewhere in the distance drift over the station.

At each stop the warm breeze flows through the carriage, bringing with it the sickly smell of urine from the platform and from the toilet at the end of the carriage. As the breeze turns we wish away the wait at each stop, holding our breathe for some fresh air. On leaving Maho Junction it’s fresh air we get as the night air becomes cool and flows over us. Talk about a remedy for over-heating – as we move further into the night the cold air comes through and shakes our bodies, adding shivers to an already restless sleep.