Something that was out of The Man Who Would be King - Khamli Ghat to Phulad by train

If you remember the scene from the book or movie of Kipling’s The Man Who Would be King, Kipling is in the train at Marwar Junction Station when Peachy pokes his head in and they have the discussion about passing a message to a fellow mason, you can envision train 222 between Khamli Ghat and Phulad. This train originates at Marwar Junction. It starts its journey out of Khamli Ghat going up through the Aravali Hills and then down through a 1 KM tunnel to Phulad. Apparently, the Aravali Hills are one of the oldest geologic formations on Earth.

The tunnel was expanded a few years ago, but the main attraction is the monkeys who actually jump onto the train cars to be fed when the train stops 3 times for its safety stops (to make sure the brakes work….). At the station you can still see the wooden chucks used in case the brakes doen’t work, manual track machinery and the station master’s office is something out of 1930. Across from the station you can see the old houses built for train workers by the English (somewhere between 1894 to 1932).

The journey itself is about an hour with a max train speed of 19 km/hr. You feel a bit cooler as you gain altitude and the breeze strengthens. There are high rock outcrops along the way and the heat radiates from these rocks, undoing any advantage of the higher altitude. You can see from this video that safety isn’t of prime concern as I’m filming from an open door as we go along:)

Along the way you can see hand built stone walls which are boundaries of/to the UNESCO reserves. It is very dry and there are many bridges across dry culverts which must be amazing during the monsoon period.

Upon return we had a lovely lunch which included king mangos, raita, and samosas. At 5 I went for a swim for my exercise. The pool water was 26.5 degrees and felt freezing.

In the evening I was treated to a sunset drive and leopard night hunt. Along the way I found out that granite mining is now prevalent and the mines are ugly. We stopped at a lake to watch the sun set and you could see a spot light from the mine, as well as hear the mine works, which rather ruined the ambience. We didn’t see any leopards, but did see blue bulls (including a baby), jackals, and a Grey Nightjar. For flora we saw Jamun trees which have a fruit that is helpful to combat diabetes.