Just about travels

MUMBAI's FASCINATING TRANSPORT: The secret behind the title – Mumbai, ‘The city that never sleeps’ are the excellent all-time available public transport of which an integral part are the ‘local trains’. The Mumbai Suburban Railway system is a part of the public transport system of Mumbai. It was here where the first railway train in India was run (Mumbai to Thane in 1853). It has one of the highest passenger densities of any urban railway system in the world. They are a very important part of Mumbai’s common man’s life. This mode of transport, that has grown leaps and bounds over the years, carries more than 6.9 million people daily and also is a source of income for some. They begin at 4 am and continue running till the last local of the day from Mumbai CST at around 1:40 am past midnight. Beginning from the office-goers flurry in the morning, continued by the youth (college-goers), followed by the famous dabba-wallahs (greatly benefited by the punctual service of the railways ...

SOUTH-INDIAN FLAVOR: Another of my wonderful trips! This time it was even more fun – Dada and C dada, both were there! Dada was to come to India for the second time after he had gone to the US for his MS. Just like the time prior to his earlier visit, we eagerly awaited his arrival. Due to the volcanic eruptions in Iceland, their plane had to take a detour over the North Pole and got delayed by 3-4 hours. After already having waited for so many days, those few extra hours seemed negligible. And once we met, it was lot of fun for me. We had planned this Bangalore trip since a couple of months ago. I was as usual very excited of travelling by Indian railways which gives me immense pleasure though I sincerely don’t know the reason behind it! It was very kind of R mama to give us his car to reach till Dadar comfortably. We were at the station well in time. Being an AC coach, it was comfortable to sit and wait for the train to depart. I frequently kept checking the route and schedule of the...

Welcome into a ride through Konkan! This is a travelogue of my Diwali ’09 trip to Ratnagiri and Ganpatipule. These two places lie on the Konkan coast of India. They are one of the most scenic places in Maharashtra. It was a chilly October morning. The wind from the open train window was slapping against my face. The train picked up speed and departed from Thane station even as we arranged our luggage and settled ourselves down into our seats. I was just admiring the beauty of nature when the train sped into the Parsik tunnel at top speed. The engine suddenly blared and the loud voice boomed and echoed in the tunnel. The train came out into the open sent the nearby grass almost flying away. But this display of majesty lasted barely for a few minutes. The train slowed down changed its track curved a bit and then zoomed into the Konkan railway. The fun began there itself. Soon, the usual thud-thud of the train, the loud horn, the screams of the tea-coffee vendors and the gossippi...

AGRA - FATEHPUR SIKHRI TRIP Welcome on the tour to the city of love! This is a travelogue of my Std.9 school picnic of five days to Agra and Fatehpur-Sikhri. Visit to Agra We were informed of this trip just before our final Std.9 exams. There was great excitement among all the students. We began planning all the things which we could think of for the trip. After the initial eagerness, we were counting down the days. Being a week-day on which we were to leave, I had packed my bags on the earlier weekend itself. Instructions kept pouring into us from all sides. The eagerness of being with friends for five complete days, away from studies, away from any thinking, only fun was reflecting from every student’s face. Finally the D-day arrived. We had our school in the morning. Hardly a couple of students were actually paying attention to which sum the Maths teacher was solving or which sub-section had the teacher asked to read. No one seemed to have the patience to wait ti...