Exploring Indian Union~~सत्यमेव जयते~~: 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?