ReDkp
20th August 2023
" You are an agent, Don't reveal the placement, until the coins were well placed!"
Disclaimer: This story is based on actual events, for convenience certain events could be twisted.
An Independence Day Week release.
The travel loop has been the reality, it was bound to happen when one happens to travel a distance of 2,352 kilometres within 70 hours across four different railway sections. Yes, such an expedition had occurred in real between the period of 18:30 hours of 3rd August to 16:30 hours of 6th August.
Technically at least until 9th August, I felt as if I was travelling on a train and that continued even in the classroom, I felt as if I was travelling in some intercity express coach and when I fell asleep back in the hostel room, the feel of travelling in a LHB sleeper coach persisted. It's weird, but that is a travel loop and it is extremely hard to break that
REDKP's Expedition plan is displayed below:
The Plan
This could be easily described as the picture of the phrase 'Meticulously Planned'. Yes, the entire mission was meticulously planned and at least 80% of the events went as per the plan. Just one phase of this travel loop couldn't be executed. That phase could be explored later in the write-up as we delve deeper into every arrow of this travel loop.
LES GO!
The Context
The timeline goes back to the 18th of July 2023, when the official mail ID sets pinging! Looking at the quotient of the incoming emails, that mail should have been treated as yet another mail but to my surprise this time though, there was a mail that my attention unusually!
Yes, it was a mail directed from NALSAR to my feed, which consisted of an invite to participate in their event titled "Interrobang." For some reason, I saw this as an opportunity to test myself and my temperament in all departments since this was the only event that fell early in the semester. Also, I treated it as a venture to adventure either.
But, in parallel, the buzz that the batch of 2027 was going to conduct a fresher's event during the days of my mission struck my ears. That made me a bit puzzled about my participation in the event. But as I had attained a stage of desperation, I chose to make my advances. I contacted the organisers significantly under the wraps in my room closed doors, to get a plan chalked out meticulously.
I wanted to keep this plan a secret since I primarily felt that my batch had for the first time stepped in for the conduct of a mission of a large scale and conveyance of my absence in the very beginning could lower the morale of my people. Secondly, I had a sense that revealing something before having the coins well-placed could only create an unnecessary pre-development buzz which could burden my shoulders with tonnes of expectations over anything.
Within a few days of making the advances, I had locked my mission and had most of the plan sorted. All of the IRCTC bookings took place over a telephone conversation back home, from the first bench of the second-year B.A. lecture hall during the longer breaks in a pretty audible tone. If anyone had taken the initiative to overhear my telephonic conversations, they could have managed to at least track that REDKP was planning something big under wraps.
In this mission, I had two confidants to whom I had confessed my plans, with one being the concerned club member through whom I received the mail and another being my roommate. Though everything was set, it was kept under wraps and I did contribute to the cause of Ignite '23 and it could be verified with the accounts before the departure.
2. Leg-1: The Code Red calling
The setup was something similar to this! It was a setup of my keezhadi trip!
D-day finally arrived on the 3rd of August. The departure from the campus was not so easy, since when people find a person with a bag packed like a rucksack on a Thursday evening, questions are bound to be raised. Tackling all these questions with different versions of different answers, and sticking to the plan, I left the campus at 18:30 and reached the bus stop. It was T-41.5 hours for the event at this point.
As fate tests its bravest soldier, there was no bus number neither from 120 nor from 1 series arriving at the bus stop for the next 45 minutes. It was a Code Red Situation. Naturally, tensions were set in and as I was towards contacting our regular auto service to reach the Junction, the design made sure that my economics professor bypassed the bus stop exactly at 19:19 hours and despite the darkness, he ended up spotting one of his attentive students. Fortunately, by 19:35, I was dropped at the central bus stand since sir was passing through that side, and the railway junction was just walkable.
Train Number16231( Mayiladuthurai-Mysuru Express)
I reached the station by 19:45 and train number 16231 (Mayiladuthurai-Mysore Express) arrived at 20:10, 15 minutes earlier than its scheduled arrival, which is a norm since the train has a lot of slack time. This train is one of its types which has two loco changes cum reversals within the 800 kilometres distance, once at Trichy Junction and Another time at Erode Junction. It runs on a rake-sharing basis. This train is the only daily running train connectivity between the Kaveri Delta Districts to a few districts of Southern Karnataka including the Silicon Plateau of the globe, Namma Bengaluru.
This train is the real Kaveri Express since it covers a solid majority of the districts through which the river Kaveri and its tributaries pass through. Naming a few including Mysore, Mandya, Dharmapuri, Salem, Erode, Trichy, and Tanjore could prove the same. Rockfort Express is a sleep killer but this is a mind killer and it's real.
Erode Junction Railway Station
Scenes of Loco Change at Erode Junction to head towards Salem Junction
I reached my seat, which was a side upper berth. The train departs and for some weird reason, I lack sleep. As time ticked 23:15, the train entered Erode Junction, which is an important mid-point in this train route. I just slipped off my berth to refill my water bottle, since I was aware of its second loco change cum reversal and knew that stoppage time was at least 25 minutes. I later decided to capture the loco change and by doing so, I realized the greatness of Indian Railways. The journey resumes at 23:40 hours.
A Brief shot of the Kaveri River in the darkness around timestamp 23:50 as the train crossed Erode Junction! A good start to the mission.
A good morning was the next scene, The timing ticked 4:35 hours, and the start of the day itself was irritating as people turned the lights ‘ON’ as the train crossed ‘Hosur’ and that people began preparing for deboarding at Bengaluru stations which happened to be a good 45 minutes away. A good precaution for them, a not-so-good action towards others who deboard at KSR Bengaluru and beyond. I deboarded at KSR Bengaluru city and the time stamp was 5:57 hours.
TIME STAMP @6:45, A grey area between TIN FACTORY AND BAIYAPANAHALLI! Blooming grey to blue skies to a sunrise, Typical Bengaluru Morning
The easiest leg of the journey came to an end as I reached home at 7:00 hours and for the next 11 hours, I was slotted to recover from the sleepless journey for the tougher leg of the mission.
3. Leg-2: The Luxurious yet unforgettable train journey
Those 11 hours meant I ended up getting two meals of home food along with some quality home time since the tougher leg of the mission was just on the way. In the due course, I ended up resting for a few hours, and after lunch around the timestamp @15:30 hours, I met a friend whose contact name is saved in my device as Aditha Karikalan, with whom I continue to share my friendship roots for the past 13 years now. Yeah, I am capable of maintaining long friendships, you just gotta try to be one and it's really easy. I have a 16-year-old friendship too!
When the time stamp ticked 18:00 hours, I turned to the code red mode again since any sort of adventure with the Bengaluru traffic would only make matters worse. It did feel weird moving out of the home so quickly, but as a soldier such disappointments are bound to be handled. The rucksack is repacked. I reached the Baiyappanahalli metro station and the time ticked 18:30! It was T-17.5 hours for the event at the entrance of the metro.
Baiyappanahalli Metro Station! Time Stamp @18:45! To a transitioning yellowish evening!
As I boarded the metro bridge, I ended up colliding (not literally) with a Tanzanian National. After further deliberations, he confessed that he was a student at Jain University in Bengaluru. I did take a selfie with the man and all this conversation happened within a minute.
As I boarded the metro at 18:45 hours, it was nothing short of a mess. It was a typical Friday evening with the commuters being office returnees making weekend plans and others who already. I fall under none since I had spoilt my weekend by travelling on a loop.
22691 (Ksr Bengaluru-Hazrat Nizamuddin Rajdhani Express) ready for departure at KSR Bengaluru Station
Train Number 20662 (Dharwad-Ksr Bengaluru Vande Bharat Express) at platform number 9
As I reached platform number 8 of KSR Bengaluru station, I knew I was going to live my dream for the next 11 hours. At T-16.5 hours, I clicked this picture of train number 22691 (KSR Bengaluru-Hazrat Nizamuddin Rajdhani Express) and also clicked the picture of Vande Bharat Express in the immediate platform as spotted.
I never had the intention to travel in a Rajdhani Express, since me being the IRCTC.net of my class according to a few of my folks back in my batch, I was completely aware of the faring and its dynamicity as well, but the curse is, this is the only daily running train that connects KSR and Secunderabad Junction. Though the train frequency to Kacheguda was daily from Bengaluru, the mere fact that it was already risking alone towards an unknown territory with a hell of a lot of guts, and risking further by deboarding at an extremely unknown side could only make things worse. I was fully aware of the presence of the Hyderabad MMTS (Multi-Modal Transport System) but I was confused about the lines. Which line to where? Lingampalli line or Falaknuma line? At any point, I had to reach Secunderabad. By bus, the aptest option of KSRTC or TSRTC had fared in similar lines to that of Rajdhani Express! Just break the nib here.
KSR Bengaluru Station
As the train started at T-16 hours from KSR Bengaluru towards the next destination, exactly at that point something in parallel brewed in. As time passes @T-15.5 hours, things get heated up. What the hell brewed and what got heated up? That was a disturbing phase of this mission.
At 19:59 hours just when Rajdhani moved! A message pops out in our batch's WhatsApp group. I reacted to it with a smiley symbol that it would be something funny and would be subsiding in the next five minutes. But what I just saw in the next ten minutes made me realize that I wasn't signing up for an Ashish Chanchalani episode but a full-fledged action film like Border (1997) or Pathaan for that matter. The TTE verified my identity and my blanket kit was given. In that time frame, bang on, I had a backlog of 150 messages.
Oh as I was reading the messages and taking those messages as an entertainment system from my side upper seat, I was served my dinner around T-15 hours, the group and its messages just became a popcorn entertainer with things just becoming a passive aggression between multiple camps of my batchmates. I felt it was entertaining, but only until T-14.5 hours as my dinner and the dessert were done. Being a popcorn entertainer was fine but by T-14 hours the rendition into a full-fledged passive-aggressive war drama was something that I didn't expect at any point and it seriously heated my head in a 3rd AC coach with the max cooling. I have a dangerous mind voice in this matter and my mind's voice is even more dangerous than mine and my words.
The brunt finally ended, by then 22691 had crossed 160 kilometres and reached Satya Sai Prashanti Nilayam. It was T-13 hours already, and the total length of this line segment called the passive-aggressive war of messages just made my journey a luxurious yet unforgettable one. My sleep time was halved due to the bone-shivering effect these messages delivered. As they said, things did go well later on in both the parallel frames according to the quote:
"The show must go on!"
Phase 3: The OG mission
The time stamp was 6:30 hours, it has been a good 36 hours since I left campus, I have now travelled at least 23 hours and spent 20 hours on the trains and now it's T-5.5 hours. I brushed my teeth as I had some time to reach the d-location.
A very very far-off view of Hussain Sagar Lake from the window panes
Timestamps 6:52 and my train crossed the Sanjeevaiah Park station which meant I had a four-second glimpse of the Hussain Sagar Lake.
Not the most advisable action that one should be doing! Capturing shots from the doors of a Rajdhani Express as the train approached the d-location.
Entry moments into Secunderabad be like
Just Indian Railway Things
By 6:59 hours @ T-5 hours, the train enters Secunderabad Junction. Platform number 1 and its atmosphere were so intimidating that the situation was similar to that of a typical Indian Movie protagonist, who was saving some of his loved ones from the wrongdoers of society by running away from the problems and waiting to be left alone to be involved in an action block!
The Intimidating platform number 1 of Secunderabad Junction. Intimidating since it was my first time at this station and the fidgety in my cold feet was real, I could feel that up to my nerves for the first minutes.
The Initial plan was a risky one. The plan was to freshen up at a waiting hall at the station and head towards Jubilee Bus Station to catch a bus towards Shamirpet. The campus is three kilometres from the Shamirpet highway. But I had a relative there at Secunderabad. So, I had my freshened up in their home and I was also dropped off at the campus.
Yello! Time stamp@ 10:10 hours. Approximately T-2 hours to go for the ultimatum. One straight: Shamirpet! Directions from Secunderabad Junction: Reach Jubilee Parade Ground Junction, Head towards the right, the Jubilee Bus Station could be spotted some 550 metres from this point! Continue for some 20 km on the Hyderabad-Mancherial Highway at one point, there is an intercept point into Hyderabad-Karimnagar Highway and in sometime bingo, you reach Shamirpet! Then to the left, you find a board directing towards NALSAR: Justice City. Enter the left and maintain for three kilometres to find...
The NALSAR LAKE
The campus is extremely off the Hyderabad-Secunderabad twin city region!
Time-stamped 10:18 A.M. when I entered the campus of NALSAR, the grandeur of the campus made me realize that:
"Ok it might be big, it might be aspirational to enter into for many, but did I just breach something of that sort? Though it has great levels of Infrastructure, does this match the ambience of TNNLU?"
The Answer is since I have been part of TNNLU for a year now and that it is only through the University that I have got an opportunity to be there at this moment, I honour my university over any another one. Yes, at times, I might be found being critical towards its people and of course my batchmates, it is bound to happen, we do express our criticism towards our leaders. But never I would have anything against my university. It is just like holding high regard for patriotism to one's state.
As I entered the registration desk, I understood that I was solely representing the University in this event on the 5th of August, since the organisers promptly asked about my contingent that had pre-registered for the event. As the event spun across three days between 4-6th August I was attracted towards this one particular quiz event i.e. the Attorney General Quiz and none of the other events attracted me from the very offing. It would have been fun staying throughout but my plans were always laid in the direction. I observed that most of them in the events were mostly in not-so-formal attire whereas I was in my formal attire.
I was guided by one of the volunteers from the organiser's camp and I was given a campus tour. I thoroughly enjoyed the buffer time I had as a visitor to the hosts. As I was guided to the SAARC Law Centre where I was going to be quizzed, the Time stamped to T-1 hours and for the next hour, I was nervous after realizing the fact that I was the only one and all the other teams were in a trio. I just should have made sure at least another one joined to form a contingent, but my damn travel loop, the travel time, fatigue along with many other factors would have never materialised the same.
Time-stamped @12:00 hours which meant the T had finally arrived and that T was equal
to noon to the 5th of August,2023. The sheets were distributed and the quiz master arrived on time for the quiz. The event was being conducted under heavy surveillance as the stakes of the event were high.
The electrifying and intimidating atmosphere at SAARC LAW Center, NALSAR during the Attorney General Quiz! Felt similar to a batsman batting at the Bull Ring i.e. the Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg, South Africa.
As I filled out the details, I did have a sense of pride and patriotism as I was representing yet another time within three months. The last time was in June 2023 at the "South Indian Legal History Conference," where we were the hosts and a few teams from my batch had presented papers in the first year itself. I co-presented a paper too. There was a calming factor there since we were the hosts and expressing ourselves in our den was always not very difficult.
But this time the dynamics were quite different though, I was the only one in the hall and the atmosphere was electrifying and intimidating, the very reason why I chose to participate in the event. Winning something was always a bonus, but gaining experience was the ultimatum. In the end, I didn't win anything but I understood that I was reasonably close to winning or ending as a runner-up in the event. I understood that I had weaknesses crept in the sections of World Affairs and World Cinema and Literature either and I gracefully acknowledge that I could not answer questions from those sections.
As a question was shot, all the other teams from contingents indin discussing the answers whereas I had to play the aggressor's role by trusting my instincts to fill the answer. That itself was a big disadvantage posed towards us. But I just was a soldier who gave his best for the cause.
Leg 4: The Charminar return was "Dumpster Fire"
From this point, the value of T=15:00 hours and the clock would move in T+X hours
The quiz and the subsequent answer discussion took place until the timestamp of 15:00 hours.
The time-stamped 15:15 as I found my way out of the SAARC Law Center, I Spotted food stalls out there but I knew it was getting too late and If I did not reach the highway by 16:00 hours, I could probably miss the train as the Initial Plan was to reach "Hyderabad Deccan Nampally" and board the Charminar Express since I had a RAC ticket upto Chennai Egmore. Also, I wanted to have a door view of Hussain Sagar Lake as the twin cities are geographically separated and viewing it would be an experience in itself. The train was scheduled at 18:00 hours from Nampally and 18:20 at Secunderabad Junction.
From what I understood by metropolitan traffic on a weekend, the plan was promptly dropped and I decided to head back to Jubilee bus station and then reach Secunderabad Junction to board the train. Yes, I quote it right, I had a sleeper RAC ticket on weekend travel. The real adventure started at this point. I sacrificed my lunch and decided to depart towards the city. I tried to call back some of my friends to reveal my current location, but that didn't happen since for some weird reason, the outgoing calls from my side were not being received by the other side. When the time had been frozen, the mobile was switched off either.
Time-stamped 15:20 and with satisfaction that the Ulitamatum was done, I bid adieu to my five-hour stay as a representative to NALSAR and opened OLA and UBER apps looking for a baxi up to the bus stop. However, I realized that since I still had the stamina to walk the distance up to the bus stop. So instead of waiting for a Baxi service, I started walking at 15:30 hours, covered three kilometres and reached the highway around 16:00 hours, but before that, I spotted:
Just on the way between NALSAR and Shamirpet! No time to visit it though.
A view of Shamirpet Bus Station (If One prefers to call it a bus station). I didn't board a bus from here
As I reached the highway bus stop, in no time, a TSRTC express bus stopped at the bus stop and the conductor chanted "JBS non-stop." The fifth second from that chant, I was on board since I was in search of such a service. I had another plan in my mind, so I had to reach JBS as soon as possible.
As the bus traversed through the stretch, I observed many defence sector establishments in the Secunderabad Region. And some metropolitan traffic as well. As I asked for a ticket to JBS, I ended up speaking broken Kannada without realizing I was in Hyderabad: " Anna, Ondhu JBS!" to which the conductor was like come again. Quickly realizing he didn't get what I asked for, I reiterated in Hindi " Sir, EK JBS," to which he replied " Nalavattu Rupayi kodi. (Pass forty bucks)."
Yeah, I understood where he was coming from, some parts of Karnataka were under the rule of the Hyderabad Nizam back then. The present-day districts of Raichur, Bidar, Kalaburgi, Koppal, Vijayanagara and Ballari comprise the region of Hyderabad Karnataka or Kalyana Karnataka. So people here do understand basic Kannada.
But my knowledge of the Hindi language made my 11-hour stay easier here as a good chunk of people do know Hindi and I had zero knowledge of spoken Telugu though I could understand it quite a bit.
A Glimpse of Hyderabadi Traffic Around Secunderabad
After some hustle and bustle, the bus finally reached Jubilee Bus Station at the time stamp 17:15. Without wasting any sort of time within the next five minutes, I hustled towards the Parade Ground and covered the next 550 meters to reach the metro station. The railway station (Deboard at Secunderabad West Metro station) was the immediate station from the Parade ground when traversed through the green line towards the MG Bus Stand (Hyderabad Bus terminus). The ticket cost was ten rupees for this distance.
This station was an Interchange cum terminal station. The Blue and Green lines intercept at this point.
An open web grinder around Secunderabad West METRO Station
Some City View from the Parade Ground Metro Station
Hyderabad Metro explored
As the time-stamped 17:35 reached the railway station, I had a feeling of missing something important. Yes, I had already skipped lunch and I had no intention to skip dinner and the upcoming journey was going to be a tough one either. As per the advice back home, despite it being a Saturday, a day as per belief back home, non-veg consumption is avoided, I walked to the nearest biryani centre and bought a parcel of Hyderabadi Dum Biryani as my dinner option ( I was anyway not consuming it on daytime). If I had not subscribed to this idea, as per Vloggers who have Vlogged this route, they made a mistake by purchasing Biryani at Kazipet Junction and had to regret it big time.
Secunderabad Junction@ 18:00 hours
WHEN I ENTERED THE STATION, THE TIME HAD STAMPED T+3 Hours i.e.18:00 hours. Charminar Express had left the Deccan Station on time but there the trouble started. This train post covid has had the worst reputation of entering Secunderabad late every day and the same happened this time. But this was the most blue sky I had seen in the past three days at 18:00 hours. Maybe the Deccan's geography could have influenced the same either.
Train Number 12760 [Charminar Express (Hyderabad Deccan Nampally-Tambaram) entering Platform number 1.
Charminar Express arrived exactly at 18:30 hours on Platform Number 1. It was exactly 48 hours since I left the TNNLU campus and I had already travelled for a good thirty hours by then. All trains bound towards Kazipet Junction mostly pass through this platform. It was smooth sailing for me to traverse through the station since I had no business beyond platform number 1.
As I boarded the train and settled on my RAC seat, I texted my confidant about the happenings of the event and as the train moved slowly out of Secunderabad Junction, I started posting Instagram stories of what had happened till that point, whose rationale was to open the knots of what was happening around and in the parallel. By 19:00 hours, after scrolling through WhatsApp, I understood that "Ignite '23," was a runaway success despite all the apprehensions raised some twenty-four hours ago.
Time Stamped @19:30, but the TTE was out of the scene for too long now. This trend of TTEs missing onboard on Mail and Express trains has been a trend for some time now. Due to such actions, it is the RAC passengers that suffer the most, since there was a probability of getting a confirmed birth but that didn't happen and such passenger has to sit through their journey in a shared side-lower seat. It could cause body breakdowns and sleeplessness and could make the journey a "dumpster fire." Before any drama began, I pumped in my energy by consuming my second meal of the day, something which I had after a gap of 11 odd hours.
But something serious was brewing in parallel. The coach number I was travelling was S8 and the very next coach was a general coach. Our coach had a contingent from a girl's school and their seats that were under dispute include 73-80. The contingent had around 20-25 girls who should have been around the age of 14-15 and they were being escorted by three teaching faculties.
People with general tickets or maybe with no tickets we found onboard on our coach. The faculties understood that maintaining surveillance at that part of the coach was always going to be difficult. So they began negotiating with the RAC Passengers to vacate their RAC seats for their confirmed berths. The first in this bilateral negotiation was none other than REDKP.
Time-stamped @20:00 hours and I was shifted to seat number 75, an upper birth and subsequently, at least seven other RAC passengers in that coach unofficially got confirmed berths. But the TTE was nowhere to be seen. I was anticipating him to board at Kazipet Junction or Warangal. That also never happened. The move of shifting eight warriors to the last deck received some flak from the people onboard. I settled onto the upper berth. Since my BOAT Airdopes had lost charge, I put it to charge. The charging points near my berth were working perfectly. So, I exploited its services quite well. I turned my phone into a Walkman-like setup by connecting wired airphones and tuning into the Spotify App. This is a norm whenever I travel long.
I laid down on the berth since if I was found awake at any point, I was being pointed by gestures which meant the berth could be occupied at any point of relaxation. These people were mostly bound to deboard around the KAZIPET-VIJAYAWADA Stretch. The train was running late by forty-five minutes and the last thing that came to my senses was that the time-stamped @20:30 the train had finally made its landing at Kazipet Junction and my homies back there were enjoying the DJ night.
As the train crossed Kazipet, I could spot products of the "Vimalverse," whose tagline is " Bolo Zubaan Kesari," were being sold in the open and that vendor has made his business in general coach and he moved into S8! It is getting terrible a read now. So, I fell asleep with Spotify remaining on.
This picture was taken in real time. I had it tough! They were having it more challenging!
The time-stamped @T+7.5 hours and the train stopped with a hard rebound. I woke up to reality to realize the train had pushed itself into the "Khammam" station with an overhead delay of one hour. I turned up to drink some H2O only to realize that my sipper was empty. But I did have a 500 ML bottle in my bag. I grabbed it and sipped it. It had been three hours and I had not moved an inch from my berth.
I scrolled into Instagram and I found the "Ignite '23" stories overflowing, Then I decided to call a friend back there to inform my coordinates and as I informed everything, the person was awe-struck by hearing what I was doing. The fifteenth minute into the call, I began to cough heavily. I abruptly ended the call. The reason was that someone was smoking cigarettes in an already not-so-clean washroom and I was directly affected since my berth was in extreme proximity to the door and of course the washroom.
One of my creator friends used the phrase "Dumpster Fire," to describe her life and these incidents were making my journey "Dumpster Fire," despite having a berth now. Contributing to this was my loose formal attire which was making life difficult on the berth. It was extremely inconvenient to change back to casuals since the washrooms were quite wet.
Train number 12760 Charminar Express snapped at Vijayawada Junction!
Finally, when timestamped T+ 9.5 hours the train reached an important midpoint. Vijayawada Junction is an important junction in this route and there was a 10-minute official halt. I needed to refill my sipper. After being trapped on the berth for four and a half hours, I finally got down to refresh myself. Vijayawada Junction is an important junction. It has food stalls and it is the most reliable option for a breakfast, lunch and dinner stop according to the time a train would pass through. Knowing midpoints on a train journey could come to help big time. Erode, Vijaywada and Villupuram are some extremely important midpoints I came across in my train journeys and happen to be important junctions in the respective routes.
Ok, the train moved and I abruptly missed capturing the Krishna River quite close to the junction. Thanks to the pre-occupied doors. It has been a long day to cross and write either. Now it's a good night!
Final Leg: The last ten hours!
Chennai entry! Crossing Chennai Fort station!
The write-up, The journey and the reading, everything is getting frustrating at this point. But the show must go on! I woke around 6:30 A.M. just because the train had slowed down considerably and I understood the train had made its entry into the territorial limits of Chennai. Since this train does not terminate at Chennai Central, it was to take a cut around Basin Bridge Junction (The only Junction in Chennai as other stations either serve bypasses or terminals).
By the time, I freshened myself up and was back to my senses, the train had ended its 130 KMPH run along its route from Deccan Nampally to Korrukupet and around this Korrukupet to Chennai Egmore stretch, the train moves slower than the suburban train sets and the passengers tend to deboard at stations such as Washermanpet, Royapuram, Chennai Beach and Park among others. The reason that I heard from my grandfather as per his experience since ICF days is that probably it is difficult to get a signal in the express line in
this stretch since it is a single line for express and goods between beach to egmore as per the footages I possess.
Park: An interchange station for Chennai Central on the beach-Chengalpattu line.
Time-stamped @7:20 and as I was standing near the door, I could see the red signal and the train at the Park Station. I slipped off at this station since Egmore was one station behind and planned to capture a parallel view of the Charminar Express from a suburban train. I rushed towards the ticket counter, passed 5 bucks and purchased a ticket. The ticket said that I could travel up to "Tirusulam" station which is near the Chennai International Airport across the GST Road (Grand Southern Trunk Road) or NH-45. I had just missed the EMU to Chengalpattu by the time I purchased the ticket and Charminar also moved! I thought fine! Mission failed, but then...
Thy View
An EMU TICKET Rippon Building AAVIN Milk BISCUIT
And Mission success! Parallel run and desire to travel in Chennai Emu also fulfilled! And that wraps the dumpster fire.
After some wait! I met my uncle at the station and I was handed over some homemade breakfast and lunch. They were exclusively prepared for me early in the morning. It has been some crazy travelling as across three days, I was spotted in three different states and their capitals. Now it was time to return to the Den.
Train Number 16127 Guruvayur Express snapped at Chennai Egmore. This ICF-raked train takes 22 hours to reach Guruvayur. An essential daily running daytime train bound to southern districts beyond Trichy and Madurai. To Trichy, this is the second train in the day with the first one being Cholan Express.
General Info: As per the revised schedule, Cholan Express is bound to depart from Egmore at 7:45 and reach Trichy around 15:00 whereas 16127 departs at 9:45 and reaches Trichy around the same time. Cholan traverses through the MAIN LINE via Villupuram, Cuddalore, Chidambaram, Mayiladuthurai, Kumbakonam and Tanjore. Whereas Guruvayur Express traverses through the chord line via Villupuram, Vriddhachalam. The route is 65 kilometres shorter than the Main Line. Both these lines divide at Villupuram Junction and converge before Tiruchirappalli Junction at the Ponmalai or the Golden Rock station.
Time Stamped @9:00 hours and the signal turns green 16127 departs Chennai Egmore and I settle on my seat whose number was 67 and it was an upper berth. Peace! And the washrooms were clean and dry, so I switched to my casual and I completed my breakfast sitting on my berth and again tuned to my walkman-like setup and fell asleep.
Villupuram Junction is an important midpoint in the Chennai-Trichy stretch. It is an underrated place of sorts in the state of Tamil Nadu.
Time-stamped some @11:10 Hours as the train crossed Tindivanam, I found out that both my sipper and the spare water bottle were all empty. The mercury was soaring that day. I was aware the next stop was Villupuram Junction. The halt was just for two minutes. The time-stamped 11:30 hours. I carried twenty bucks in my pocket and as the train entered the station, I slipped off and sprinted to the food stall past 20 bucks and bought the bottle. I ran back to the coach and snapped that pic from the door. The train moved off and I went back to fall asleep since it had been a long and exhausting journey by now.
Captured around @13:50 hours as the train crossed Srirangam Stopping. A Divine source of water for many Tamil Nadu districts. Started with Kaveri and ended with a Kaveri Shot.
Time Stamped 14:30 hours and the train pushed into Trichy Junction's platform number 5 with half an hour delay, which has been a norm for this train. I had emptied my lunchbox before leaving the station and at 15:00 hours, it was scorching heat at the Central Bus Stand and the wait for the 120 series bus extended for at least 30 minutes and finally got one around 15:20 hours and I signed the campus incoming register around 16:00 hours. This means this long read and my mission, both come to an end.
It's Bovonto time! Stay tuned until next time under this new category known as T-Blogs. Keep routing until then! More Future Adventures are upcoming! Next en route...
Vera level da magane ,very lengthy.how did u write this in between your project work? amazing your effort
Appreciate the feature Nanba :)
That start to end shot of பொன்னி நதி was just brilliant.
After 2300 kms and 3 days in 3 different states fighting a solo battle en-route, if anyone deserves that Bovonto it's you Anna!
T Blogs are 🔥, waiting for the next one already...