It’s Done !!

We finally made it !! At 0730 on the 18th of August, we finally got off in Kanyakumari after 8 gruelling but enormously fun filled days of travel.

Enroute, we missed trains, changed trains, slept on trunks, platform benches and even made it to the papers !! All of that will slowly make its way to these pages, but for the moment all we want to do is sleep….. sleep in a bed that does not move, where kids don’t bawl in the middle of the night and you don’t wake up to find strange men sleeping half wrapped around you…..

We had to made some alterations to our original route due to missed connections, but still we stuck to diesel, nothing else would do. Here is the final route map

Hectic Preparations

The D-Day is almost here, we are leaving tomorrow. Hectic preparations are going on, check lists are being created and hectic text messages are being exchanged. I was in Chandigarh yesterday for some work, and a fifteen minute break was utilised to buy boxers !!

News of the day is that permits for photography from Northern Railway have arrived, and there is a slight change in schedule as well. Now we are taking the Gokul Exp from Mathura Jn. to Bhojipura Jn. and then changing over to the Nainital Exp. at Bhojipura for our onward journey to Aishbagh. This change in plan allows us to cover the Mathura – Bareilly section mostly in daylight and also catch the Ganga Crossing at Kachhala in daylight.

For those who don’t know, at Kachhala the road and the rail bridge are common and travel on the same level. So when the train comes, all road traffic is stopped and the train is allowed to go ahead. Very unique and worth the change in plan.

This may be the last post before we leave… don’t know if I’ll get time tomorrow. Am not carrying the laptop as planned earlier, but will still try and post updates if we manage internet access on the way.

Bharath is arriving by the Indigo flight tomorrow afternoon and then we’ll be off……