The day of complete excitement!!! I was traveling on the train after a very long time and had completely forgotten the experience of the Indian railways. The last time I had journeyed on the train was twice in the same year to Delhi, once in an A/C Coach and once in a sleeper. Both the times the experience was excellent and had quite made some good friends with people of different states and walks of life. I had expected the same to happen with this journey.
The reality of the journey started to hit when our in between transit - a tempo traveller arrived at our house. There were 12 members - five old, five young and two kids. A lot of ideas started to come out with each member giving their own views of how we should be sitting in the tempo traveller and how the luggage should be arranged. The luggage consisted of around sixteen bags for clothes, snacks, water, back packs, camera etc. To add to all these the two kids were restless and were trying to convey their own message which any of us seemed not to get.
Anyways, once the transport to the railway station arrived, we loaded up our luggage and ourselves and started the journey towards the railway station. The mid-day traffic made it difficult to cross every signal junction, but somehow the driver of the transport managed to get into the service roads and got us to the railway station.
And then, a new set of decisions had to be made - which platform, what train, where will it arrive, which bogie number for our coach, how to carry the luggage and so on and so forth. Somehow we carried the luggage to the right platform which as completely on the other side of the railway station. This was a mood killer since you had to carry the luggage - one back pack, one on each shoulder and one in each hand and run across the elevated pedestrian walkway. Finally we reached the train, boarded our luggage and settled down. For the first time since morning everybody seemed to getting back to their own characters and relaxation seeped in.
The journey to Goa as such was uneventful, and I wished that I had packed my laptop along with my camera to pass a good amount of time by watching movies or using the internet. But alas.. that did not happen and I had to pass the time by standing at the doorway of the coach and walking around. I did manage to get some shots of hills and stones from inside the train, but was too tired carrying all the luggage to hang out of the coach door and get some dynamic shots. So here goes...
Frankly speaking, there were a lot of other pretty sights of interest which I should have captured but I did not. I don't know why.
Some things that you ought to know when you travel from Yeshwanthpur to Goa on a train
The next post will be on Day 1 of the journey which I will be posting shortly.
Enjoy!
the Photograchar.
The reality of the journey started to hit when our in between transit - a tempo traveller arrived at our house. There were 12 members - five old, five young and two kids. A lot of ideas started to come out with each member giving their own views of how we should be sitting in the tempo traveller and how the luggage should be arranged. The luggage consisted of around sixteen bags for clothes, snacks, water, back packs, camera etc. To add to all these the two kids were restless and were trying to convey their own message which any of us seemed not to get.
Anyways, once the transport to the railway station arrived, we loaded up our luggage and ourselves and started the journey towards the railway station. The mid-day traffic made it difficult to cross every signal junction, but somehow the driver of the transport managed to get into the service roads and got us to the railway station.
And then, a new set of decisions had to be made - which platform, what train, where will it arrive, which bogie number for our coach, how to carry the luggage and so on and so forth. Somehow we carried the luggage to the right platform which as completely on the other side of the railway station. This was a mood killer since you had to carry the luggage - one back pack, one on each shoulder and one in each hand and run across the elevated pedestrian walkway. Finally we reached the train, boarded our luggage and settled down. For the first time since morning everybody seemed to getting back to their own characters and relaxation seeped in.
The journey to Goa as such was uneventful, and I wished that I had packed my laptop along with my camera to pass a good amount of time by watching movies or using the internet. But alas.. that did not happen and I had to pass the time by standing at the doorway of the coach and walking around. I did manage to get some shots of hills and stones from inside the train, but was too tired carrying all the luggage to hang out of the coach door and get some dynamic shots. So here goes...
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| A Bunch of Trees |
 |
| A Stone Formation |
 |
| Fields Ploughed |
 |
| Some kind of domestic vine... |
 |
| Some kind of a stone formation |
Frankly speaking, there were a lot of other pretty sights of interest which I should have captured but I did not. I don't know why.
Some things that you ought to know when you travel from Yeshwanthpur to Goa on a train
- Food - Not Nice - bland biriyanis, oily vadas and pakoras and spiced up fluffed rice. Better to carry something good on your own to eat on the train.
- No entertainment - since the journey will be overnight, it is better to have a laptop / ipod or any other entertainment device, fully charged so that you can use it at your leisure.
- Tea / Coffee - "Thermossed" - a term I refer to tea or coffee which are left to heat in thermos type flasks and carriers which will give a very distinct aroma to the tea / coffee - surely not good.
- For Smokers - It is banned, but a lot of people smoke in the toilet when the train is on full speed. There was a waiting list of young people waiting for their turn to get into the toilet to smoke...
- For non smokers - It is literally a pain in the neck when you smell the typical toilet smell on the train interspersed with the cigarette smoke...but no one seemed to be complaining - Strange!
The next post will be on Day 1 of the journey which I will be posting shortly.
Enjoy!
the Photograchar.
