Monday, January 19, 2009

TRIP TO KOLKATA - PART 1

January 16, 2009
Boarded Sealdah Rajdhani on Jan 16, 2009 with much anticipation of having a nice journey onwards to Kolkata. It was supposed to leave from Platform 12 and in the last moment there was an announcement and we had to move to Platform 13. This was the beginning of a holiday with my parents and sister and my trip to Kolkata after almost 7 years. I am expecting my Pishi’s (paternal aunts) to pamper me out though. I will be staying in Kolkata for 6 days and 5 days at the Chilka, Bhubhaneshwar, Cuttack, and Puri. So I am expecting a nice holiday!


I was standing on Platform 12 and suddenly there was an announcement that the 2312 Sealdah Rajdhani will start from Platform 13. Thank god for small mercies! We didn’t have to rush over the foot bridge as PL13 was the other side of PL12. The Sealdah Rajdhani, one of the premier trains in India was being pulled by it’s standard locomotive, the WAP7. This one had a GZB WAP 7 #30221, looked newly painted and fresh out of the workshop. My coach A3 was right up in the front and in fact it was the 4th coach from the Wappie, which made me feel good.


I boarded my coach and found out that a Marwari couple seated on the side berth had conveniently parked their huge bag in our luggage space. I asked them politely and they said that it had Ganga Jal. After having asked him a few times, I just said to myself that enough is enough and I asked him to vacate it immediately. That is when his wife commented that Bongs (Bengali) people don’t talk like this. So I told her that well! You don’t poke a Bong too much and that also a Delhi bong. After that the luggage was removed and we had our own cozy and private space to enjoy the ride. The fight had got on my nerves and so I got down on the platform to get a breath of fresh air.



This is when the Shivganga Rakes were being brought in by a dirty looking CNB WAP4 22300. At the same time, WDS 19664 detached itself from the Poorva Express, which was scheduled for departure. At exactly 1630 hrs, the signal went green and the Sealdah Rajdhani departed. But within seconds someone pulled the chain not once but twice and the train had stopped. We had not even left the platform. I learnt from the TT that an elderly gentleman and his family had boarded this train thinking this was the Howrah Rajdhani. So they took 15 minutes to get down and their luggage took another 15 minutes. I saw the LKO Intercity headed by a mean looking LKO WDM 2A 16502 pass us by and then the Mumbai Rajdhani also left with WAP 7 while we were still standing outside platform 13. This made me wonder what kind of a trip could I expect? A nice and smooth trip or a really eventful one!


We did some great speed after crossing the Yamuna Bridge with the WAP 7 and reached Ghaziabad within 30 minutes. First the GMO 27502 WAG7 came in with BOXN rakes and then just outside the GZB station I saw an idle BHEL WAM parked with BOXN rakes. As we crossed GZB station, I saw three WAG’s in a row including an LDH WAG 7 23437. Soon after another GMO WAG 7 27479 (Tiger Face) went flying in the opposite direction with flat-bed rakes. I was enjoying the view as the friendly attendant of my coach came in with evening snacks that comprised of tea kit, tea, samosa, frooti, sandwich, and éclairs.


While I was having my frooti, the train jerked thrice when the brakes were applied. I was a little baffled because I was traveling in LHB coaches pulled by a WAP 7. This persistent jerking was unexpected, so I walked up to the engineer in my coach who was also handling the distribution of bed sheets, food, and managing the air-conditioning. I spoke to Suman Haldar, the manager in the 2nd AC coaches, and he said this is because the LHB coaches don’t have a buffer (a shock absorber system). Secondly, the WAP 7 has individual braking system, which is why the jerk is so prominent every time the brakes are applied vis-à-vis the WAP 4. (I was going to realize later that what he said was right)
We reached Aligarh Jn at 1820 hrs and an hour later, the attendant came in with soup and breadsticks. It was all dark outside, and I couldn’t see a thing except for lights in motion that told me that a train was passing by. Photography was not possible and I didn’t want to put up my tripod in the train – that would make a lot of people stare at me!

Dinner was served at 2030 hrs. My family had ordered chicken-rice and I had ordered egg-rice. At the end of the day the chicken-rice was better. The meal included 2 paranthas, chicken/egg curry, yellow dal (without salt), salad, rice, and curd and this was followed by Vanilla ice cream. The wappie was doing awesome speed and we reached Kanpur (CNB) by 2105 hrs, which is 10 minutes before time. We entered platform 3 and I saw an idle MGS WAM 20628 on platform 2. On the outskirts of the Kanpur station was a MGS WAP 4 22284, all lighted up and ready to take charge of a train.