It was in the mid of summer, Scorching heat, enough to roast anyone live. This time I decided to do something TOOFANI. I planned to book a SL seat for going to BKSC. My 1st preference was 12818 but sad to its poor performance I dropped the plan. I tried to look for other options, like Puru, HD and all. But somehow it clicked my mind, and I booked a ticket in 12398 NDLS - GAYA Mahabodhi. Honestly I knew, I would be roasted in the great grand summer, /pnr/post/1852035. I was fearing that if I get a SU or MB or UB I may cancel my ticket. Why ? The fun of 130 is experienced mainly in Side Lower seat in SLeeper Class. The track sounds, the loco honking furiously, thrashing all stations and flying like a Pergerine Falcon, ( Flying at whizzing speed but target always on the...
more... radar ). Finally the day arrived. I packed my luggaeg a day before, and was happy for the trip. I enquired to Piyush Kr. Singh from Gaya several times before booking the ticket if he would come to Gaya Jn, and he nodded in Yes, but I was not sure coz of extreme heat. Anyway in the morning, seeing the temperature i was sweating in my thoughts, what would happen. I was praying to Surya Bhagwan, Aaj kam aag barsana ( Please shine less brighter today :p). But it looked, as if God was saying, today is the hottest day, wait and watch :(. My best friend Priyatosh was accompanying me to NDLS. I thank to him too for his effort.
.
Finally after making up my mind, I departed for NDLS, and the heat was increasing every second. Somehow I arrived NDLS. and after seeing the rush, I was like Oh My God. This is gonna be a nightmare for me. Heavy Rush, Skin Roasting summer and many more factors. Another RF from ALJN, Keshav Saxena was to meet me at ALJN. I also thank him for coming to ALJN in such worst weather. Fiinally the train arrived and I landed at my seat. I thought the train would be dirty, but in contrast, it was very much clean, and the passengers were boarding one by one. My Co Pax arrived, with gutkha in his mouth. I asked him, Bhaiyya, train mai gutkha nahi khana, aur kha bhi liye to khidki se naa thookna. Jaa Ke Basin mai thookna ( Do not eat gutkha in the train, and if u have eaten, kindly spit in the dustbin and not from the window). He was looking at me, as if I was speaking a language in alien language. But somehow, I managed to get him to spit in the basin, and didnt allow him to consume gutkha, till he went to another seat. The TTE came and confirmed my seat as someone didn't turn up. So, I asked the co pax to go to another seat ( another seat was MB :p ). Once we crossed GZB, I never felt it was the same Mahabodhi which used to run delayed in hours. The loco was honking continuously and awesome track sounds. It was my 1st 130 ride in SL class. The food served was of good quality. 4 stars out of 5, but samosas were costly, but tasty. Dinner and Lunch costed 200 exact. 100 rs each. By the time CNB outer arrived we were running too much early. and had a long halt there and till then didn't face any OT. DBRT Rajdhani was way behind. We entered PF, and departed in a few mins. Another Superb run was waiting for me, in the 194 km stretch. But finally got overtook by DBRT Raj at FTp after waiting for 5 mins. Arrived ALD with min delay. Went upto the loco to catch a glimpse of the loco with its lights on. Also spotted a WDM of MGS and the lone WAM4 of CNB shed resting at ALD. Pics would be uploaded later. After departure from ALD, tired after the day's heat I went in for a nap as i knew, now the run wont be aggressive, lots of slack induced till Gaya. In the morning around 3 AM I woke up to see the train halted a station. Tried to regain myself, and then I suddenly remembered, Oh NO, Rajdhani OT. Let Me make some videos, by the time I got ready, SDAH Rajdhani had already overtaken till I came at the gate. The station was RFJ. I tracked 12302 and 22824. They were behind and I heaved sigh of relief. Later made their videos, which I shall upload later and share the link. Reached Gaya on time after waiting for a long time at RFJ. Met Piyush and had a long RF session with him till my another trip commenced in PNBE RNC JS. Pics from the RF and others would be uploaded in the upcoming blogs. Till then Enjoy and stay Tuned
