A Russian traveller's experience aboard an Indian Railways Third AC coach is going popular online. Alena Makush, a digital content creator from Russia who has been documenting her India travels on Instagram, recently shared a video of her first journey in a 3AC coach, and the clip quickly gained traction on social media.
In the 46-second video, Alena is seen arriving at a railway station with a friend before boarding the train. As she steps inside, she notices the washroom first and appears surprised by its design. She then checks her reflection in a mirror before heading to her berth.
Looking around the coach, Alena is pleasantly surprised by how uncrowded it is. "Wow" she exclaims, noting the lack of a rush of passengers. "Everything is good as long as there isn't a crowd," she remarks.
Another video shared on her Instagram account shows Alena enjoying a meal during the train journey. In the caption, she praised the food and the experience of watching the scenery pass by through the window.
"The food was delicious, and looking out the window felt wonderful," she wrote. "Even though our coach was filled with the smell of eggs, we were genuinely happy in moments like these. Do you remember how much we loved train journeys as children?"
According to her Instagram profile, Alena arrived in India on July 12 after spending time in Bali. Reflecting on her first impressions of the country, she admitted that adjusting initially was not easy.
"The first day was difficult for me. The atmosphere here was completely different from the tranquility of Bali," she wrote. "In India, opposites seem to exist side by side: poverty and wealth, noise and silence, chaos and peace."
However, her perspective gradually changed as she spent more time exploring the country.
In the caption of a video shared on July 17, she wrote, as translated from Russian: "India brings together many contrasts. Here, poverty and wealth, noise and silence, chaos and remarkable peace can exist side by side. At first, these differences caught my attention."
"But the more time I spend here, the more I realise that India doesn't scare me. Instead, it is teaching me."
Alena concluded by saying that India was not only reshaping her travel plans but also changing her outlook on life, and that she had already started falling in love with the country.
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