Taking Chennai Rajdhani Train To Chennai City In South India

Taking Chennai Rajdhani Train To Chennai City In South India

The day I am supposed to leave for Chennai the previous night is spent admiring the fact that access to this South Indian city would be minus hiccups. Access to South India for pilgrimage that could well take me to Chennai, Madurai, Rameswaram, Kanniyakumari, Bengaluru et al. Still the thought is all about whether I would be able to gain access to tatkal train ticket and if so what would be the seating arrangement like. Elaborate arrangements have to made while travelling from Delhi keeping in mind the journey time spent in train may or may not be fine. The next day a little before 10 AM I logged in to Indian Railway train site and every time I tried to proceed the message would come the online podium hadn't been thrown open to public and try after some time. After 10.05 the online booking began and by the time I secured a ticket it was of upper berth in a coach about which less said the better. With seat number 14 and nothing left to imagine I left Safdarjung Enclave home at 1.47 PM with the traffic on road suggesting there would be diehard optimists who would be able to maintain sanity across spectrum even if vehicles were multiplying every passing hour. Go past INA Market at 1.55 and reach Hazrat Nizamuddin Station (Hazrat Nizamuddin Shrine Is Nearby) at 2.10 with the reminder that if auto has to make the commute complete then the passenger besides Rs 200 would have to shell out another Rs 50 for the toll tax in vicinity of station that had kicked in. 

Reach Hazrat Nizamuddin Station Platform Number 7 In New Delhi

Reach platform 7 at 2.20 with an assurance that Chennai Rajdhani would pull inside platform at 3 PM. It is porter Mr Subhash who carries the luggage to coach A2 and by the time I settle in many have trooped inside. Still thoughts are on upcoming train journey and the hassle free index. At 3.15 a middle aged woman takes the seat opposite mine and she is on a call elucidating what all she had to go through at home fixing the shower. Now train attendant emerges and wishes to know what is my seat number and where I wish to go and thereafter checking the facts on his mobile. I wonder how train attendant could double as TTE (Train Ticket Examiner) and perhaps Indian Railways moved this proposal with ease. The train leaves after 3.30 and recurring thoughts are on who all would be geared to launch offensive tirade with hints dropped by cops. There were three other trains which had left Hazrat Nizamuddin prior to Chennai Rajdhani on the same route and they were Gondwana Express, Goa Express and Vande Bharat. To expect this train to maintain steady speed would be akin to asking for moon and to maintain moderate speed was the staple diet it had been fed on. Right from its passage from Hazrat Nizamuddin the coach of this train would jerk every time it used to slow down and every time it used to speed up it used to jerk again. One wonders where is the need for high speed trains like Vande Bharat when there are no tracks and none to come up in future as well. Vande Bharat has been a drain on exchequer and it essentially entails the possibility that for it get a clear passage all other trains have to be set aside. 

The Big Game Has Begun

When finally the TTE emerges he verifies the details in his computer tablet and tells the woman that her seat is in A5 coach and she needs to vacate the seat here. No sooner the woman leaves and I start reading newspaper I can sense some conversation taking nearby and when conversation is laced with filthy abuse I can make out The Big Game Has Begun. When I remove the curtains I notice the coach attendant in animated discourse with a guy from North India (Punjab/Rajasthan) who is all thrilled to get the conversation peppered with abuse upshot. This guy is travelling without a ticket and on a previous occasion when I came out of AC environs I had noticed he haggling with TTE on the sum total that he would have to pay.  TTE was not willing to settle for anything less giving the reasoning he has to run his family. This guy from North India continues the tirade and train attendant joining the chorus without a break. There were umpteen number of vacant seats in the coach and why train attendant and the guy without ticket made to sit right next to my seat. It is all stage managed and nuisance of cops is in ample supply. By the time the train reaches Bhopal it is almost 11 at night and abuse platform has all along broadened. A word with TTE looked nigh impossible where I could request him to change seat of train attendant. There is no flicker of hope that Empire Of Abuse would recede and by the time the train reaches Nagpur at 4.40 AM the deed of the devil cop is done. I have quite often wondered why the cops make the proceedings look repulsive and make the abusive elements take seat next to mine in a society which has less parallels and mired in oscillation. Adventurism of these dirty cops who take pleasure in giving pain again and again over which Home Ministry has least control brings to the fore anecdotes of inconvenience bordering on abuse and abuse alone. 

Gentleman From Thanjavur In Tamil Nadu State Takes A Seat 

Much after Nagpur I take the lower berth and here a gentleman from Thanjavur in Tamil Nadu State In India takes a seat. He had been to a wedding in Nagpur (Maharashtra State) and wished to travel to Chennai and from where few days later he would be taking another train to Thanjavur. I apprise him of discomfort I had been all along with abusive characters having a field day. By the time the train reaches Warangal (Andhra Pradesh State) it is 11.20 and we hope it is no longer a hotbed of naxalites and here naxals and administration reach a clean understanding. The train reached Vijaywada (Andhra Pradesh State) much before designated time and here Mr Nageshwar Rao takes a seat. Mr Nageshwar Rao's Native Place is Vijaywada and settled in Chennai. His wife has taken a seat in another coach and seeks to know who is sitting across aisle. TTE persuades train attendant to vacate the seat and Mr Rao's wife takes the aforementioned seat  From here onwards Mr Rao begins conversation. Conversation is all about change of guard in Andhra Pradesh State/Province and state debt that has seen a steep increase to biggest beneficiaries of electoral bonds that gave a head start to just one wing of political segment. We both agreed electoral bonds would never be probed and those who gained would be biding time in idyllic surroundings. 

Andhra Pradesh State Capital Has To Start From Scratch

As for Andhra Pradesh and State Capital Development even 1 lakh crore in assistance would be less given the fact that it has to start from scratch. We both agreed some leaders across the aisle have been jailed for the mere fact that they spoke truth per se and here courts are scared to give them relief as they can well earn the ire of powers that be. As the convoy was going past various stations with enough jerking one thought when these dilapidated coaches would be replaced so as to make the journey smooth. Old coaches can prove fatal with much known about weak rail tracks. Finally Chennai Rajdhani pulled in Chennai Central Station at 8.40 PM on a Thursday. 

This Train Ride Would Be Recalled For Various Reasons

This train ride would be recalled for a range of reasons that train journey can be tiresome and here high speed trains in our country are a big misnomer. Mistermed and miscalled for the fact that there are no tracks to make them run and even if they get the requisite passage the off and on faulty signaling system can make it tricky. Trains In India run by virtue of the fact that those travelling inside wish the convoy has a polished passage and these trains are dotted with people coming from varied background. Though trains in India carry millions each day the creaking infrastructure can be bothersome. Let the ride be such where narratives after each station be of hope and none to swindle them. Let the ride be for the good of common man and here deliberations with those in vicinity be about measures that should set in fast to check erosion of faith that people by and large have in ruling regime given high price rise and unemployment. High Price Rise And Unemployment have brought down regimes and here policies not wrapped in oscillation should come in. Time is running out and sooner the effective measures come in the better it would be. 

YEDU KONDALWADA VENKATRAMNA GOVINDA GOVINDA