38. DELHI TO BHOPAL BY TRAIN

(This is first of the five blog series covering our Bhopal trip)

As I logged on to the Facebook, the chat box popped up.

“Hi Aunty!”

“Hey! Howdy?”

“Gd news 2 share J”

“Tell me fast.”

“Gtng married on 8^th Feb in Bhopal n u hav gotta come.”

“Gr8! Of course! We’ll b there.”

Train journey always fascinates me.

I have a great weakness  for train travel and have loved it right from my childhood. The train started beckoning me and I logged onto http://www.irctc.co.in without any delay and booked our tickets to Bhopal... 50% discount on my ticket and 30% on hubby’s. Wow!!! Benefits of being senior citizens of this country!

The day before the journey, I was ready with everything. Printout of tickets was taken although it is not required anymore. Indian Railways do accept the SMS on mobile as the proof of your on-line ticket. Stay arrangements made, transport arrangements in Bhopal made and a Radio Taxi booked from Easicab for local transportation. Delhi-Bhopal Shatabdi leaves at 6 am from New Delhi Railway Station. But from which platform? Another SMS reading “PLAT 12002 011” was quickly sent to 139 and pat came the reply by SMS “Platform No 01”.  Wow! It works. Indian Railway is progressing. 

Incidentally, Delhi-Bhopal Shatabdi is one of the fastest trains of Indian Railways covering a distance of 701 kms in 7hrs 45 minutes with very brief stop-overs at Mathura, Agra, Jhansi and Gwalior on way.

On the day of the departure, we got up at 4 am as we were planning to leave at 5am sharp. We got ready and realised that it was already 4.40am, but there was no trace of the cab. I frantically tried dialling their toll-free number, but the voice on the other end kept repeating the pre-recorded menu. And then, there was this most disturbing SMS, “Dear Customer, due to non-availability of the cabs in your area, we cannot process your booking. We apologize for the inconvenience caused.” 

We panicked. What do we do now? I immediately scrolled down the contacts in my mobile and there was this Himachal Taxi Service in the vicinity. A call to them was responded by a sleepy voice but a very encouraging response. “Yes. Taxi is available. Please give your address. The cab will be there in 2 minutes,” and sure enough, even before we locked up the house, the cab had reached. Don’t they say the old is gold?

As the cabbie was speeding away, I asked him, “How will you get a passenger on the return from New Delhi Railway station? What is the system there? Do you wait in a queue or what?”

His reply astonished me, “No Ma’am. We do not ever take any passengers from the railway station or for that matter even from the roadside.”

“But why?” I was curious.

“See I am driving the taxi and wearing a seat-belt and can't move. If I happen to pick up a baddy, he may kill me from behind and run away with the taxi. We always pick up passengers from their residences for our own safety.”

I was amazed. We almost always feel insecure in a cab thinking the driver may turn out to be a criminal and here was a cabbie who was actually scared of passengers without credentials!

Service on the train was excellent.

Anyway, we reached the railway station well in time and boarded the train. Then on, it was a feast on wheels. First came mineral water bottles followed by a number of free newspapers. Soon we were served the first round of tea complete with Tata Tetley teabags, Marie Biscuits, Chocolates etc.

The sumptuous breakfast.

Tea over, it was time for breakfast which consisted of fruit juice followed by a tray load of goodies, corn flakes, with choice of hot or cold milk, eggs with choices, omelette or boiled, cutlets, idly, sambar, upma and bananas. One could also opt for aloo parathas. Oh, my my…were we spoilt for choices!

The ravines of Bhind & Muraina as seen from the train

By noon, we were hungry again and before we could even express our need for lunch, there came mixed vegetable soup with breadsticks and butter. This was again followed by a big tray of lunch comprising 2 hot parathas, chicken curry, dal, veggies, rice, curd, pickles, salad. At the end of it all, I felt guilty that I had to leave half the food. Next was the good old Butterscotch ice cream as dessert to which I said, “Noooo…no more. Enough is enough!”

The rocks stand like walls as we near Bhopal

Chair reclined to invite a lovely post-lunch snooze and we reached Bhopal, the capital of Madhya Pradesh (MP) which is said to have been established as "Bhojapal" by King Bhoj in the 11^th century, bringing our highly enjoyable 8 hour train journey to an end.

The wires are the birds' night shelters..as seen on our return journey.

*****