India, Oct. 27 -- Fleeting Thoughts By Ashvini Ranjan

I travelled by the Vande Bharat (VB) train from Mysuru to Bengaluru for the first time only last week. Although I had driven to the railway station several times to drop my family members travelling by VB, I had never travelled on it myself.

When we decided to take the train this time to Bengaluru, I experienced the same schoolboy excitement that I remember from my first school picnic. It reminded me that, however old we become, there is always a child hiding somewhere inside us, waiting for an opportunity to come out.

As I entered the platform, my wife wondered why I had suddenly stopped and was staring at the train. It was my first opportunity to see a Vande Bharat from such close...