THAT was not expected

It's been a while since I blogged. This time I am not gonna talk about my feelings or travels. Neither I am going to preach any of my ideologies. I personally believe that if I make some feelings public, it would help me to grow and to avoid the same again. This could be surprising for few readers as I rarely share critical things to the outside world. For the past few months, I have exhibited some behaviour that wasn't typically expected from me.

1. I am an quite-active member of major public forums in Facebook and also in several community forums. Though I am young, I am respected very much as a senior person. I have earned this respect by my behaviour and code of conduct. Uncharacteristic of mine, I exhibited my anger on a junior because what he spoke was bullshit, blasphemic and total crap. I could have avoided this, but this happenned.

2. Work has taken considerable toll on me. As a result, I became a bit mechanical and my brain refuses to think about anything else in other aspects of life. Just like how Germans fought Russians on a front and Americans on the other during World War-2, I have been trying to outdo myself in career and all efforts were directed there. This resulted in a bit of loss of health. This frustrated me a bit. There wasn't any recognition, but I knew I was growing. But all frustrations tolled up and took the best of me one day when I yelled at my parents who were staying with me during a visit. This wasn't expected.

3. After handling situations well, still I couldn't achieve much because I wasn't aggressive when I was expected to be so and patient when I needed to be patient.

These mistakes need to be corrected by me.

Next time when I worry about something, I should think, "Is it really gonna impact me after 5 years?" ... If YES, then worth worrying..

Most of the times NOT reacting to a circumstances is always better.

-Krishna Kumar.S

Trip to Madhya Pradesh & Gujarat-Part 3 [Final part]

Kal Bhairav Temple, Ujjain.

Date: April 23^rd, 2011.

On my 2^nd day in Ahmedabad, I travelled to Sabarmati ashram. I avoided cabs/autos as much as possible as I felt that it is always better to mingle with common people whenever there is a chance. I managed to find a bus which would take me to Sabarmati ashram. I even realized that I could read a bit of Gujarati, if not much. Letters which were like Hindi were easy to recognize and I was able to read, however I should honestly accept the fact that for majority of the words I was clueless.

WDM-x at Ujjain Railway station.

I spent a good 4 hours at the ashram taking photos and reading about ancient literature. Reminded me of old history lessons which I had forgotten.

BRC WAP-4 at Ujjain Railway station.

Date: April 24^th, 2011.

At 7:30PM, I boarded Yestwantpur-Ahmedabad Special and departed Ahmedabad. I opened my GPS software in my mobile to track my travel movements as usual. Crazy hobby isn’t it? It was interesting to watch as the software loaded. It first showed up the India map, then zoomed to the western part and then a small dot appeared indicating my position. I was travelling at a speed of 100kph as per the display! I was awake till Surat and I was surprised to see a special train going at such high speeds.

WAP-5 at Ujjain Railway station.

Ujjain had its own charm.

Ujjain Railway station

Early Morning hours in Ujjain.

After my train crossed Surat, I went to sleep. I got up at around 6-6:30AM. My train was crossing Monkey Hill cabin station at that time and it was a refreshing sight.  There were few tunnels in this route as well which added THAT extra touch. As the train negotiated the curve, I noticed that I was behind a VALSAD WCAM-1. It was my first travel through Maharashtra since my 1994 trip to Pune. It was also the first time I was behind a AC/DC dual locomotive WCAM-1.

On my way to Omkareshwar spotted this Meter Gauge line.

Something interesting happened at Tilathi , a small wayside station. After crossing Tilathi, my train stopped and suddenly started running backwards at 15kph! Passengers in the train were confused as 15kph was a bit too high to go back in reverse all of a sudden. Within 2 minutes, a sharp typical WDG-4 type honk was heard and a long freight train crossed on the next track. People in my train believed that they have escaped from a head-on collision accident. Even I was having same thoughts and utterly confused.

On my way to Omkareshwar from Ujjain via Indore.

So I posted the same as a post in Face book through my profile to get answers from fellow rail fans in the Internet. I got an instant reply from Akshay Marathe of Mumbai (reply within 2 mins) stating that it was a typical scissor crossing where a train has to travel in reverse to take a loop line to allow the other train to pass. I haven’t heard of this concept earlier in my life and it was totally new to me. Later, after returning from the trip, I called up Sridhar Joshi to learn more about this.  Sridhar said that such scissor crossing tracks are found on terrains where it’s difficult to construct a normal loop line.

Omkareshwar, Madhya Pradesh.

Omkareshwar, Madhya Pradesh, India.

A Shiva temple, near Omkareshwar.

I sat for the entire journey at the window listening to songs and also drooled at trains simulataneously. It was a long trip and I enjoyed it in whatever way it was possible. Next day morning at 03:45hrs, my train reached Yeswantpur. At 5AM I reached my house at Bommanahalli. After taking a morning nap, I refreshed myself and started to work. I reported on time to work and started coding.

To realize my Ujjain dream it took me 15 years. If I need to see rest of this country (another 17 states), I need to be patient and concentrate on my career.

Ancient Shiva Temple near Omkareshwar.

I was certainly a changed man after each of my travels. But there was an important learning in life. It doesn’t matter the number of places, or trips done in life.  But now what seriously mattered was maturity. It’s all about how much I learnt from interacting with people and observing people during my travels. It’s all about how much I would apply to my life from my travels and make it look good.

It’s not about amassing wealth. It’s all about the ability to show patience, dedication in career to grow up in the righteous manner. As I expected, I did grew up in my career and learn things. When things didn’t work out, I said to myself that I should ignore such things. Most of all, when I look back at my life now, it looks meaningful. Would it look good that if I was stupid and senseless after roaming around half of this country?

Path taken by Gandhi during Dandi March.

India at time of partition-Photo 1.

India at time of partition-Photo 2.

India at time of partition-Photo 3.

India at time of partition-Photo 4.

Signing off,

Junior KK

Trip to Madhya Pradesh & Gujarat-Part 2

Sandeepani Ashram, Ujjain.

 

Date: 19^th April, 2011, Monday.

Location: Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India.

Alarm woke me up at 4:30AM and by 5:30AM I checked out of the hotel. I walked for half kilometre to reach the railway station. Bhopal was still asleep even at 5:45hrs and it surprised me a bit. The sun wasn’t out and the weather was cool. I stood in the queue and purchased a passenger ticket to Ujjain. The passenger train was empty but as the departure time neared the train got filled with passengers. There was good amount of crowd in the coaches when it was 5 minutes to go for departure. I was comfortably seated in the last coach as I always like to travel in a coach far from the engine.  BRC WAM-4#20561 was the power for my train and it was a good performer.  The train had a bang on-time departure, but there were 3 incidents of chain pulling even before the train moved out of Bhopal station. So the train stopped three times and a minimum of 5 minutes was wasted in each instance.

At last by 06:45hrs, we pulled out of Bhopal. Erode WAP-4 was spotted hauling Jaipur-Chennai Superfast Express and it was a treat to watch. The weather was good and it surprised me. I expected weather in Madhya Pradesh to be hot and it wasn’t at least as of now. The ride in passenger train was memorable. It maintained good speed too hitting even 100kph (I followed through GPS for few minutes).  At around 0745hrs, my train reached a station called Sehore. It was a typical Indian rural scene, with a couple of dogs sleeping in platform, women carrying pots on their heads, few men in typical North Indian dress(kurta ? pyjama?) sitting on a bullock and chatting about politics(maybe). The station master came out of his cabin only to bang the metal bar and my train started after getting the signal to go ahead. There was a station named ‘Shujalpur’ along the route and for some unknown reasons I liked the name very much.

In my opinion, the name 'Shujalpur' look a bit stylish in its own way. 

TKD WAG-9#31211 was spotted at Maksi Junction, 16833 at Kalisindh and 13530 at Tajpur. This route was double lined with electrification and had decent amount of traffic. There was a huge contrast of differences in lifestyle observed between the cities of Bangalore, Chennai and small towns like these.

Mangalnath Temple, Ujjain.

 

I was enjoying some good music in my Nokia Xpressmusic 5800 as usual like any of my travels. Sound effects were good and the lyrics matched well with the scenery of the route. ‘Ke Tu Ji Rahi Hai Meri Zindagi, Sochi Kya Baat Hai , Yeh Ankhon Se Tu Dhere Se Sunega, Kyun Na Rok Loon Mein Yeh Din Yahin, Kissi Se Bhi Na Kahenge Hum, Na Yahin Pe Kho Jayenge’. I was having a good time. I wasn’t travelling to US or UK for a project or assignment to earn more money, nor to Swiss for a honeymoon or to Australia to watching Boxing Day Test match. I was about to fulfil my childhood dream of travelling to the ancient city. I had this wish when I was in 4^th grade. It was a special moment in my life for me.

The passenger rolled into Ujjain Junction at 11:30hrs. It took less than 5 minutes for me to find a good hotel and it was near to the railway station itself. In 1 hour I refreshed myself and had my lunch. It was roti and dal again for lunch as well. After finishing my lunch, I came out and booked a tempo for Rs.200/-. It may sound costly, but I couldn’t bargain much. The initial rate was Rs.300/-. Tempos were previously used in Bhopal as well, but I believe they aren’t used now. The tempo ride was interesting. I haven’t travelled in a tempo earlier in my life and it was a great experience.

The following are the places which I visited in Ujjain:

Sandeepani Ashhram:

Lord Krishna and Sudama received regular instruction in this ashram of Guru Sandeepani during Maharabharata period. Beautiful photos and paintings of Lord Krishna were kept in display at the ashram resembling the glorious past of the country. The ashram was nice, clean and well maintained. The ashram still retained the same charm of Mahabharata era. The ashram was located on the outskirts of the city.

Bhartrihari Caves:

These caves are situated just above the bank of River Shipra near the temple of Gadkalika. According to popular tradition, this is the spot where Bhartrihari, the step brother of Vikramaditya, lived and meditated after renouncing worldly life.

Gad Kalika Temple:

This is an ancient Kali Temple. It is believed that poet Kalidasa was unintelligent without mental maturity. But after worshipping the Kali at this temple, he was blessed with knowledge and intelligence. He wrote many of his poems sitting on the banks of river shipra.

Kal Bhairav Temple:

This temple is dedicated to Lord Bhairav, a form of Shiva. Liquor is offered to God in this temple. I felt this practice to be strange. After having a quick darshan I came out of the temple. I didn’t really want to loiter around in a place where liquor is prominent. It’s always better to be safe than experiment when you are travelling alone.

Harsiddhi Temple Temple:

An important shrine with the image of Goddess Annapurna.

Mangalnath Temple:

This is considered the birth place of planet Mars. People having manglik dosha also visit this place if they are facing problems like marriage-delays.

Bade Ganeshji ka Mandir:

There is a sculptured image of Lord Ganesh in this temple, close to the tank near Mahakaleshwar.

Chintamani Ganesh:

An idol of Ganesh is worshipped here. It is believed to be self-formed.

Ram Temple:

Near the banks of river shipra, a beautiful Ram Temple is present.

Lord Venkateshwara Temple:

This is a private owned temple dedicated to Lord Vishnu located at the center of the city. The shikar or (gopuram as known in Tamil) is in South Indian style.

Mahakal Jyorthirlingam temple:

I kept this temple as last in my list as I believed that it would take time for darshan. I expected that it would take a couple of hours for darshan, but darshan was over in 30 mins! I really couldn’t believe that I was in front of jyorthilingam which I wanted to see 15 years back when I studied about Ujjain in my history books. I saw this city just 4 months before I completed 25 years on earth. There wasn’t much crowd too so I seized the opportunity to stay for more time near the lingam. I couldn’t believe that I have just fulfilled my childhood ambition. Thanks to God for giving this opportunity.

I sat on one of the elevated steps opposite to the lingam and enjoyed every moment. There was no hurry. Since there wasn't much crowd, the volunteers weren't pushing anyone out of the place and people took their own time. There were numerous televisions installed which showed live pictures of the jyothirlinga in different angles.

Kal Bhairav, Ujjain.

 

After spending a good time at the temple, I decided to return back to the lodge. The tempo driver was waiting for me patiently outside. It was already dark. I settled him and I made a choice to return back to lodge by foot. I wanted to see this ancient city in action during evening hours. Purchasing a bottle of Sprite, I started to walk through the bazaar filled with shops. Reminded me of Acharapakkam (Tamilnadu), Chakradharpur (Jharkhand) and Kalahasti (Andhra Pradesh). I liked the simplicity in the minds of the people.  It gave me sense of satisfaction and happiness. By evening 7PM, I was back at lodge.

In the night at around 9AM, I took a walk for 20 minutes to watch night life in Ujjain and it was plain/simple. Shops were closed by 9:30PM.  Then I went on lift to the terrace in my lodge and had a glance of the entire city. It looked beautiful just like any other Indian city, but this one had less light. The railway station looked beautiful. As I stood gazing at the trains, I wondered whether good moments in life would come often? I had to make the best of it now itself.

Date: 20^th April, Tuesday.

Location: Ujjain

The entire day I spent exploring the city. As I have said earlier, the city resembled its glorious past. I observed a strong sense of work culture and activeness. I suddenly had an idea of catching a bus to Ratlam. Ratlam was a good 3-hr run away and I managed to get a direct private bus. The bus went through small towns and villages of which I had no idea. The vehicle was less crowded.

I could observe that these areas lacked some development and I personally wished that it should be little more developed with more schools, hospitals and other facilities. It is easy to say that a state is undeveloped. But what I believe is that a developed state should help an undeveloped state rather than leaving the undeveloped to suffer. The real smartness is to help others and to progress oneself on top of it and help other’s progress too rather than creating ‘politics’. 

In a human body, a brain, heart, kidney, lungs function by co-ordinating with each other. If each organ were to compete in an unethical manner, I wouldn’t be alive to write this travelogue. It is to be noted that these organs were created by God, so maybe they know how to work and behave. After all, states and linguistic barriers were created by humans and humans are no good managers or administrators. The sad fact is that states would like to secede away to form a separate country. Imagine pair of kidneys trying to move away from a human body? What will the human body do after that? Or even the kidneys can survive alone? It could be a bit stupid to quote such examples to promote National unity, but sadly this is what is happening.

Kal Bhairav Temple, Ujjain.

I stayed less than 20 minutes at Ratlam and I immediately caught another bus back to Ujjain. Before boarding the bus, I had some genuine Ratlam Sev with pickles. Before evening I was back at Ujjain.

I just had one more plan remaining. That was to visit Omkareshwar for Jyothirlingam darshan which was 132km away from Ujjain. The hotel owner was a kind man and suggested that I can travel in a small lorry belonging to hotel up to Indore which was on its way to Indore for some business purpose. From Indore, I can take a share taxi or a bus to Omkareshwar

 

Date: 21^st April, 2011.

Location:  Ujjain

I started in a lorry towards Omkareshwar at around 6AM. The journey was smooth. The roads were huge, wide and clean.  The lorry ride was exciting and adventurous too. After reaching Indore, I travelled in a city bus to a place where I could get a direct bus to Omkareshwar. I managed to get one easily and I reached Omkareshwar by 10AM. The darshan was excellent and I spent a good 10 minutes near the lingam. I felt that I was passing throuh a good stage in life as I had the luck to have jyothirlinga darshan at ease without having problems like dealing with heavy crowds.

I spent around one hour at the temple premises taking photos. Kids were playing around, running here and there. Few people were enjoying the boat ride in the river below. The bridge was the one that fascinated me a lot. It reminded me of Howrah, but it wasn’t so massive and wide, but still it had some charm of Howrah. I liked this place more than Mahakal. But I don’t know why. Maybe because this temple was situated in outskirts unlike Mahakal which was situated inside the city. This place seemed to be more close to nature with mountain-like rocks around.

After spending some time at the temple, I took a walk around the town. It was calm, silent and peaceful. I haven’t felt peace like that in cities. City life is also peaceful, but still there is always a bit of “hurry” in a city. My idea of a good time is to work smart in city and then take a break and live rural for a week.

I managed to get a bus till Indore for my return journey. On my way back, I took some snaps using camera mobile as the bus went through rural areas of Madhya Pradesh. The driver halted the bus at a small tea shop on the high way which was near a Navagraha temple. Few passengers got down to refresh themselves. A small boy carried tea cups and went around the bus trying to sell tea to passengers sitting inside the bus. I know I was luckier in life than him. But when it comes to patience I must learn from him. It was evident by the way he picked the cups and filled with tea from the can. Not even a single drop was spilled. Living economically is not a shame, but it’s a talent. I seized this opportunity to visit the Navagraha temple. To my surprise, the bus started only after 30 minutes. Why the need for such a long break ? No one in the bus bothered to ask as well.

Gadkalika Temple, Ujjain. It is believed that Kalidas was blessed by this Kali

After arriving at Indore, I waited close to 30 minutes for a bus to Ujjain. Had a couple of samosas as well to pass time. There wasn’t bus available, but there was a taxi returning empty to Ujjain. He charged me Rs.100/-only as he was returning empty handed. I thought it was a good deal. By this time, the climate was damn hot and I could observe “water vapour like” things on the road ahead as my car flew at 100kph+ on the high way. There weren’t many cars in the high way. Not even lorries! I was surprised!

 

 

After returning back to the lodge, I informed to the hotel owner that I would be checking out the same day night. I took a 3-hr nap and when I woke up it was around 6PM. I watched one of the IPL matches for some time and killed the remaining hours as well by browsing through various TV channels. At around 9PM, I checked out. This was probably my last day in Ujjain. Not sure whether I would travel again to the same place, but I would like to extend my thanks to the people of Madhya Pradesh for their hospitality and care they showed on me on those three days.

As I entered Ujjain railway station, I heard a typical diesel honk. Some goods train was passing through Ujjain junction without stopping. The night wasn’t cold and overall it was a good weather to do some night rail fanning. Lot of Ratlam diesel locomotives like WDM-2, WDM-3A were seen busy hauling their respective goods/freights/expresses. WAP-5’s were also spotted. I also remember spotting a Royapuram (Tamilnadu) locomotive in Ujjain when I did an afternoon rail fanning on the first day I arrived.

Lakshmi Venkateshwara Temple, Ujjain. (South Indian style)

Shanti Express was expected to arrive at 00:10hrs. To my surprise the train arrived 5 mins in advance. A Ratlam WDM-x rolled in with my train in a grand manner. Trains are amazing things to watch. I got into my 3AC coach and went to sleep immediately. When I got up again the train was at Ratlam, patiently waiting for signal. I was interested in taking rest, so I went back to sleep again. When I got up next, the train has entered Gujarat and was nearing Anand.  It was a good run till Nadiad. From Nadiad onwards till Ahmedabad, the train wasn’t so fast. At 08:55hrs, my train rolled into Ahmedabad.

I rented this tempo for Rs.200/- for 6 hours.

 

Date:  April 22^nd, 2011.

Location:   Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India.

At 08:55hrs, I kept my foot at Ahmedabad railway station marking my first visit to Gujarat. After drooling at trains for some time, I searched for a good accommodation near the railway station itself and got one too.  I didn’t do much on that day, except for rail fanning. For my entire duration of stay at Ahmedabad, I had rice with various different type of parathas like Gajjar Paratha, Sugar paratha, Aloo paratha, Methi Paratha, Mix-Veg Paratha with curd and North Indian side dishes like Panneer Butter Masala, Palak Panneer, Kaju Masala. These were my breakfast, lunch and dinner. I prayed to God that I shouldn't fall sick. Thank God, I didn't....

Ram Temple, Ujjain. Near the banks of river shipra.

I was certainly enjoying this trip, but still it lacked a family touch. Everything is fine, but it doesn’t look nice to leave parents and taste various food items. Not really enjoyable to roam around the country side leaving parents at home. But my parents were not willing to travel much due to extreme weather, so it was a solo journey all the way. In the evening, I attended the wedding reception of a friend’s marriage.

 

Mahakal Temple(Jyothirlingam sthalam), Ujjain.

Trip to Madhya Pradesh & Gujarat-Part 1

In my erstwhile hometown, Chennai, Tamilnadu, India.

 

Year: 1996.

Location:  Chennai, Tamilnadu.

One rainy October evening, a 10 year old kid (or a boy) walks to a shop near to his house to buy an outline map of India. The reason was due to the fact that there was a history examination at school the next day. The child practiced marking various historical places and cities of India. Trivandrum, Bangalore, Chennai, Mysore, Bhubaneswar, Kolkata, Jamshedpur, Mumbai, Vishakhapatnam, Mumbai, Indore, Ujjain, Ahmedabad, New Delhi, Jaipur and various other places were marked in the map by the boy. Next day, after completing the History exam including the questions related to the map, the kid opened the map and had a glance at the places marked. The eyes of the child rolled from east (Kolkata) to west (Ahmedabad). The small gentle hands moved over the map with a hope that it would physically travel to see these places in reality one day by its own efforts. The bell rang at 11:00hrs signalling the close of exam hours.  The kid handed over the paper to the invigilator and exited the room. After buying a slice of mango for Re.1 the child walked on its way back to his house.

The path was not easy. It needed God’s blessings and even money, most of all patience. It was a patient 15 year wait. As years went by, the kid completed schooling and bachelor’s degree. Suffered during recession in 2008-2009 and then got a proper job. Saved some amount of money every month for future and saved some money for trips as well.  Right now in the year 2011, the kid is now 25 years old and ready to board 12610 Bangalore-Chennai Express to start the journey to Ujjain.

Trip Plan: 
     Bangalore to Chennai by 12610 Chennai Express.

2.        Chennai to Bhopal by 12615 Grand Trunk Express(GT)

3.        Bhopal to Ujjain by passenger.

4.        Ujjain to Ahmedabad by Shanti Express.

     Ahmedabad to Yeshwantpur by YPR special.

 

Date: 16^th April, 2011

Location: Bangalore Railway Station, Karnataka state, India.

I arrived at Bangalore Railway station at 6AM, almost 2 hours before the scheduled departure of my train. As usual, I roamed around the station drooling at electric locomotives and even spotted two WAP-7 series locomotive. I have the habit of noting down train engine numbers, but as I grew up I lost interest in noting numbers.  My train 12610 Bangalore-Chennai Express had a delayed departure by 3 minutes, but it didn’t matter much to me. The train was hauled by a WAP-7 locomotive and I was travelling in AC Chair car located in the middle of the train. Without wasting time, I switched ON my GPS in my mobile and monitored the speed. GPS consumed lots of power in my battery, so I had my mobile charger plugged on all the way up to Chennai. It was a pleasure to watch the train blasting at 110kph. The route was scenic and this was the first time I was travelling in Bangalore-Chennai route in daylight after nearly 16 years. I had travelled only thrice in Chennai-Bangalore route in my life so far, once in 1994 by Brindavan Express, in September-2010 by Kaveri Express and now I am travelling to Chennai again by Chennai Express.

It has always been a passion for me to observe travel movements in GPS maps and I eagerly waited to watch the border crossing LIVE in my navigator.

As my train simply blasted at high speed, the red dot in my navigator moved slowly towards Tamilnadu border. I watched it live in my navigator as the red dot indicating my position crossed the border lines and it was a heavenly feeling to be in your home state. Sometimes, travellers experience ‘feels-like home’ experience when their train enter home state/territory. I use to feel the same when my train enters Karnataka, Tamilnadu and West Bengal.

Posing with WDM-x at Chennai Central.

I had breakfast comprising of two cutlets and chutney. The train reached Jolarpettai (JTJ) at 10:42AM. WAG-7#28028, WAG-7#27776, WAG-7#27904 were seen just before entering JTJ from Bangalore side. Spotted WAP-4#22661 with a passenger and WAG-5HB#23402 with a goods train at Jolarpettai (JTJ) outer. The run was very good and I really enjoyed the speed. As my train neared Vaniyambadi, WAG-9#31107 crossed my train with a BCNA rake. At Vinnamangalam, WAG-5#23588 was spotted hauling a parcel rake. As my train neared Tiruvallur, I had a mini-lunch comprising of Veg-Biriyani and it was a forgettable experience. It wasn’t so great but I couldn’t get any better item so I settled with Biriyani for the time-being.

A middle aged lady was sitting next to me and she spoke first to me stating that I looked like her son very much. I just smiled at her as I didn’t know how to respond to a stranger as I always prefer to be 'reserved' when it comes to strangers that too especially when I travel alone. She was interactive and she told that she was travelling back to Chennai after seeing her son who works at Bangalore.  On further conversation, I learnt that she was a widow and currently lives with her brother in Chennai while her son works at Bangalore. She was an orthodox woman I believe as she had vermillion powder on her face and dressed up neatly in typical South Indian Brahmin style. Her son loved a girl from Gwalior of Rajasthani origin but still she had approved it and now her son is happily settled in his life at Bangalore. I believe the lady didn’t have much company in her life as she was sharing her personal life with some unknown person who looks like her son. Though there are many castes, reservations and religious sentiments in India, there is no such barrier when you are travelling in Indian Railways. You are welcome to show signs at a nearby small child or a baby, lift it, play, shout and sing cinema songs. I believe such things aren’t possible even in the western world.

My train reached Chennai Central (MAS) bang on time at 14:40hrs. The lady requested me to carry her luggage till the station entrance as she couldn’t lift. But her younger brother was already there waiting at the coach entrance so I handed over to him. The person looked at me in a surprised manner. Maybe he thought that I looked like his ‘nephew’. My friend Vimalakar (IRFCA-MAS) was waiting right in front of the coach and gave a warm welcome. We wasted no time and immediately rushed to Ratna Cafe to find if Chilli Parotta is available. Sadly, it wasn’t available and I need to settle for some ordinary Parotta at Saravana Bhavan. We waited for few minutes and Aswin Kumar (IRFCA-MAS) joined us. We spent some time chatting and Vimalakar left around 4PM as he had personal work. The lunch was sponsored by Vimalakar.

Grand Trunk Express negotiating Sewagram curve

Aswin and I spent some time roaming around Chennai Central station taking some photos, cracking jokes, gossiping etc. The rake of 12615 Chennai Central-New Delhi Grand Trunk Express was shunted at 17:45hrs itself. After spending some time inside the coach, Aswin wished me good luck and left. From here on, I was all alone for the rest of the trip.

 Grand Trunk Express had an on dot departure. The train was hauled by ET WAP-4#22755. I ordered dinner and it never came even after crossing Gudur. This agitated me a bit and I purchased curd rice packet from a vendor at Gudur platform. As the train departed from Gudur, the vendor came with dinner. I wasn’t in a mood to argue with him for the delay and purchased that as well and had one heavy dinner! The dinner served had two roties, curd, dal, some sabji and rice. Rice was pathetic and the rest were good.  A Muslim family was accompanying me- a gentleman named Taufiq, a boy named Aslam and his two younger sisters.

I was awake till Nellore and I went to bed only to wake up at Tenali. I was awake for a few minutes and wasn’t really interested in rail fanning so I hit the sack again around midnight hours. GT was nearing Manchiryal in Andhra Pradesh, when I got up and the early morning climate was good. 

Throughout the day, the weather was good and pleasant.WAG-7# 27038 was hauling military rake which was spotted before Balharshah. As the train neared Sewagram, I got ready to take a snap of the curve and went to the door. Sewagram is well known and famous for a 90 degree curve the train negotiates on its way to Delhi. Comfortably seated at the door, I took a few snaps of the Sewagram curve using my camera mobile. It is always a treat to see a train negotiating a curve.

GT reached Nagpur bang on time! The run was good. It had a lot of stops, but still the train had a lot of quality with it. WDM-x#17338 locomotive was spotted with a caboose, a narrow gauge loco ZDM-3B#180 was spotted alone in a narrow gauge line and the platform was flooded with Sev Puri/Panipur vendors. My mouth did water, but I was a bit concerned about the hygiene, so I didn't eat anything. WAG-7#27409 and 31153 were other locomotive spottings at Nagpur station. 

After deparing from Nagpur, GT had a halt of nearly 20 mins at a station named Teegaon at 1430hrs. This was a rare opportunity as I got a chance to observe a machine laying railway track and photographed the same as well. There were a college group from Tamilnadu travelling along with us in the compartment and every time the train went inside a tunnel they were yelling at top of their voices. Even the girls whistled and that surprised me as I always had the opinion that the girls of Tamilnadu were shy and conservative.

My train reached Bhopal at 19:20hrs. I kept my foot on Bhopal and Madhya Pradesh became the 10^th Indian state in my travels. I found an accommodation near the railway over bridge close to railway track. It cost me Rs.800 for non-AC (24 hrs). But I would be staying there only for 9 hours. But I had no choice. My plan was to leave for Ujjain the next day morning passenger. Since this was a new place, I was also a bit concerned about safety. So I settled for this expensive lodge.

After taking a good bath, I went to the restaurant below and had Roti/dal with onion salad for dinner. I love rotis since my childhood and I really enjoyed it. After dinner, I tuned into Kolkata Knight Riders versus Rajasthan Royals IPL match on Sony Max. KKR bundled up Rajasthan for less than 100 and won the match comfortably. Considering the fact, that I love Kolkata very much and being the most favourite city of mine in all of my travels it was a treat to watch.

Teegaon, Madhya Pradesh, India.