Almost 2 weeks ago I was in Islamabad attending an AIESEC conference that I had waited patiently for months and the time had finally arrived to get on the train and head for Islamabad. I had never traveled such a great distance on a train before and I was not prepared for what lay ahead.

The train ride started with an interesting note, just before our train arrived we were informed that some idiots had called in a bomb scare on one of the trains called the "Sindh Express". Now in light of the recent Lal Masjid "Red Mosque" happenings, this raised a serious question of whether we should get on our train which was on a totally different platform on a totally different side of the train station. Anyways, Saaim's "JUMBO LCP of AIESEC Karachi" parents were there and they were obviously concerned about our wellbeing. We put it to a vote and the unanimous decision was that we should get on the train.

In my moment of excitement whatever you want to called it, I walked up to a police officer and asked him about the bomb threat and the reply I got was a very logical if one thinks about it. I was told "Aap log Jahil hain, koi train pae bomb rakhay ga to phone kar kay batai ga?" translated "you guys are idiots, if someone plants a bomb on a train, would they call and tell us?". This made sense to me and it reassured my faith in our police force, they knew what they were talking about especially in Karachi :D

fost forwarding to the train ride

Once were on on board and settled, our 10 PM train moved across the city and the nice cool breeze was a welcomed by everyone...

fast forwarding to 5:30 AM: RHORI Junction

Rohri Junction was the first stop that we made since we had set out and it was at these junctions that the train stopped for about 20 minutes. I got up cuz there is not much chance of getting a good nights sleep while the train is making a million different sounds and rocking worst than a terrier on crack! Anyways, I woke up Saaim and we got out for some tea, it was nice and refreshing to get some hot tea in some far away village town I had never heard off.

20 minutes later, the train started moving and as the sun came up, it started getting hotter. Now here I would like to point out that Rohri marks the beginning of the Sindh desert and a smart person can only guess what happens when one enters the desert without air conditioning.