My Ten Most Memorable Rail Photos

Genre: Life

A lot of my well-wishers have been repeatedly reminding me how much I will miss my beloved Indian Railways once I shift to USA. Today, when exactly one month remains before I leave India, I decieded to travel back in time and mine out some of the best photos I have taken over the years spent on the Indian Railways.

It is said that a photo is worth a thousand words, but sometimes a photo has memories associated with it that needs to be expressed in words. Here are my Ten Most Memorable Railway Photos alongwith the story behind each of them-

1. Swarna Jayanti Express at Shindawane Ghats

This photo remains closest to my heart because of the widespread appreciation it has received from all quarters, including IRCTC who have used it for their advertisement. But, very few people know the story behind this photo- we had gone to Shindawane Ghat near Pune with the Pune gang. After trekking for 3km, the others positioned themselves near a bridge, while Chaitanya egged me to go further and we both crossed the tall bridge, went through a rock cutting and as we were walking, we heard the horn of the approaching train. So, having no time to find a good location, I just managed to climb onto a small hillock by the side of the tracks by the time the train came out of the tunnel and took a photo. The result is what you see above!

2. Patna Express at Padli

This is another "luck-by-chance" photo that has received a lot of publicity, including appearing in DNA Newspaper alongwith the article on IRFCA. After spending around an hour in the blazing sun at Padli near Igatpuri, we decided to quit and move elsewhere. Just as we were making our exit, we heard a horn. Not having any time to adjust myself, I just turned around, pointed the camera at the train and took the shot. It was only on reaching home I noticed the very-European look of this photo.

3. KK at Akkalkot Road

This was during the journey to Bangalore for the IRFCA 2009 Convention. Our train was put in siding at Akkalkot Road just at sunrise time and immediately all of us jumped out onto the tracks to be told that the legendary Karnataka Express (fondly called KK) was to cross. Since there were four other guys also aiming their cameras at the approaching train and the sun was straignt in front of the camera, I decided to go behind the Flag-man. Needless to say, the result was absolutely unbelievable even to me at first!

4. Sewagram on Thull Ghat

This photo is special for it marked the end of hours of wait and a tiring day in the Thull Ghats which involved descending right upto the base of the bridge seen here and climbing up again to this spot. Just as we were packing up, Sewagram Express crossed the bridge and for once, I decided not to focus on the leading loco and rather let the entire train pass and wait for the three Bankers attached at the rear of the train to come onto the bridge.

5. Karnavati at Vaitarna

It was one of the monsoon days when the Mumbai and Pune gang decieded to explore the Western line. While the Pune gang was adamant on going to Saphale, I insisted on getting of at Vaitarna and climbed the hillock next to the station. Even I didn't know how the view from the top would be, but when I saw Karnavati Express slowly entering the bridge in the distance, I was just speechless.

6. Faceoff at Diwankhauti

It was the monsoon trip on Konkan Railway and our Janshatabdi was halted at this tiny station called Diwankhauti for a crossing. Amidst drizzling rain, me and Akshay got off the train and started walking ahead when suddenly the Ratnagiri Passenger approached from behind the rock cuttings. What makes this photo interesting is the red signal exactly in between the two trains, making it look as if two wrestlers are waiting on two sides, ready to pounce upon each other!

7. Rajdhani at Umroli

This was during the scariest railfanning evening I have ever spent. A couple of years ago, Umroli was a ghost station when me, Apoorva and Arzan went there. It was only post sunset we realised that the station has not a single light working! There was quite some time for our return train to arrive, so we had no option but to spend an hour amidst pitch darkness and barking dogs! In the midst of this, the August Kranti Rajdhani came charging in at 120kmph. Unable to see anything in the dark, I just aimed the camera towards the tracks and pressed the trigger, not knowing that the flash was on! The result left all three of us spellbound!

8. CST on Diwali Night

Long before I even owned a digital camera, on the Diwali night of 2006, I was passing by CST by car when I saw the station building beautifully illuminated. Immediately I took out my Sony Ericsson k750i and took this photo from the car itself before the signal turned green. Till today, a lot of people refuse to believe that this was taken using a cellphone camera!

9. Inside Ukshi Tunnel

Ukshi on Konkan Railway is India's only station where trains stop inside a tunnel. I always fantasized how it would feel stopping inside the tunnel but since no express trains have a scheduled halt here, getting this opportunity is totally a matter of chance. I got that chance on recent Kerala trip by Mangala when we were made to wait in siding at Ukshi for Mandovi to cross and my coach being at the fag end of the train, we stopped right in the middle of the tunnel. While a few passengers were getting worried seeing their train stopping in a tunnel, this kid in the next coach was nicely enjoying making for a beautiful silhoutte.

10. The Tourist

It is not necessary to always focus on trains and locomotives alone, sometimes the travellers make for better subjects and one classic case is this photo. I was onboard the Udaipur-Bandra Express where this British lady was my co-passenger. The way she was engrossed in enjoying the Indian countryside intrigued me and I couldn't resist capturing her emotions on camera.

So, is this making you feel that railfanning is an interesting hobby to pursue? Check out IRFCA now! Join the IRFCA Yahoo Group!

PS: Everyone who has the 2009 IRFCA Calender, check out the photo for the month of July! What a coincidence!

I've Got The VISA Power!

Genre: Life

Three months of preparation for those crucial 30 seconds- this is how I can describe my US Visa procurement procedure in one line!

The D-Day was 26th June 2009. Scheduled appointment time- 08:15 am. I reached Mahalaxmi at around 7am and was thanking my fortune that inspite of it being late-June, there were no signs of rain. But I guess, I did that a little too soon. The moment I took the last turn towards US Consulate, it began to rain. And how! Within a minute, it was pouring cats and dogs! The typical Mumbai Monsoon was here!

Protecting myself, and more importanly, my documents, I rushed into the US Consulate building, was asked to go through Security Checks in a tremendous hurry, immediately put in line for Finger Printing and asked to take a seat. All this was done so fast that it took me full ten minutes to regain my composure. And then began the long wait for my turn for the interview. As a policy developed for reasons best known to US Consulate alone, token numbers are called in absolute random order and called out only once. If you miss yours, you are gone! After hearing scores of random numbers being called out, my friend M who also had the interview scheduled at 8:15am was called at 9:00am. I was not so lucky. I had to sit through the number-calling for another 30 minutes before a male voice in American accent spoke from the loudspeakers- "Token Number 954, Window Number 6!"

Immediately I rushed to the counter and this is the unabridged version of what happened in the next minute-

The Visa Officer (VO) was an American male in his thirties, looking quite relaxed and smiling.

ME: Good Morning, sir.
VO: So, which university you going to?
ME: Virginia Tech.
VO: Why Virginia Tech?
ME: Coz it has great courses in my field of specialization- Wireless Communications
VO: What's a Hokie?
ME: It's a bird which is the mascot of Virginia Tech..
VO: Is it really a bird?
ME: It looks like a bird to me..
VO: (interrupting me, concentrating on typing something) You know what, its actually not a bird. Everyone thinks that it's a bird, but nobody actually knows what it is..you'll come to know all this when you go there.
ME: Ok..
VO: What's your GRE score?
ME: 1460
VO: Smart guy, eh!
ME: (with a smile) Thanks sir!
VO: Your Visa has been granted. Your passport will be couriered to you in three days.

This entire conversation didn't take more than a minute! Yay! I've got the Visa!

When I exited the Consulate at 9:40am, it was still pouring heavily and the road outside was half water-logged already! And the best part- by 10:30, the rains subsided and by noon it was dry again! It was as if the Rain Gods wanted it to pour only during my Visa Interview!

If you think this was fun- wait a minute..it's not over yet! The impatient people that we are, we decided to personally collect our Visa-marked passports from the VFS office the sme evening rather than waiting for them to courier it. To kill time we went upto Sterling and saw New York - first-day first-show sitting in the first-row! (Don't ask me how was the movie!) Finishing it, we took a cab to go to VFS and the peak hour South Mumbai traffic played the villain. The Passport Collection window at Mahalaxmi is open only from 5:30 to 6:00pm and at 5:45pm, we were still at Peddar Road, stuck in a terrible jam. Our cab driver suggested we take Bhulabhai Desai Road but it was equally packed. It was 5:55pm and we were still around a kilometre from VFS when one of M's friends informed that the counter was probably closing! This sent M into a panicky, tense and almost-hysterical mood (something I have never seen before from her!). The cab dropped us at 5:58pm, we ran across the road, gave our bags to some of M's friends waiting there, ran downstairs to the VFS Office, had our documents photocopied and collected our passports just when they were about to shut down all counters! Success at last! What an amazing race against time!

For me the last part of the adventure was the ride back home- since I had all my original documents with me, instead of braving the peak-hour locals, I decided to take the BEST's AC bus. I boarded AS-4 at 6:25pm from Haji Ali and 2.5 hours later, using three different modes of transport and spending Rs 65, I eventually reached home only at 9:00pm, beaming with joy, proudly carrying in my hands the passport with the shiny bright US F-1 Visa stamped on it!

Tagged...Again!

Genre: Life

Off late I have been in hibernation mode, coming out only once a month or so to post. This apparently has my well-wishers worried and as a result, I have been bombarded by quite a few of them with all sorts of Tags that I am expected to fill out. With nothing much else to do, I've decided to fill out a really long one! Here we go-

1. Last beverage
Ice-cold water. The best way to beat the sweltering Mumbai heat

2. Last phone call
Incoming: Citibank- "Sir, we can offer you a free credit card blah blah..."

3. Last text message
Vodafone- "Your bill is overdue. Please pay immediately. Ignore if already paid. "

4. Last song you listened to
Arziyaan from Delhi 6. In love with it off late

5. Last time you cried
Yesterday while bidding adieu to college friends after the last trip :(

HAVE YOU EVER..

6.Dated someone twice?
No such luck yet

7. Been cheated on?
No

8. Cried yourself to sleep?
Once upon a time

9. Lost someone special?
If "lost" refers to death, thankfully No! "Lost contact", yes!

10. Been depressed?
Often.

11. Seen ghosts
Yes. On TV

12.LIST THREE FAVORITE COLORS.
Blue, White, Red

THIS YEAR HAVE YOU

15.Made new friends
Yes, a lot of them.

16. Fallen out of love
No

17. Laughed until you cried
Yeah... on the Kerala and Uttaranchal trips!

18. Met someone who changed you
No

19. Found out who your true friends were
Yes! Very much!

20. Found out someone was talking about you
Surprisingly, yes!

21. Kissed anyone on your friend’s list
Naah

22. How many people on your friends list do you know in real life ?
50% I guess

23. How many kids do you want to have
One. Small family, Happy family

24. Do you have any pets
No, unless you count the fat rodent that refuses to leave my home

25. Do you want to change your name
Never

26. What did you do for your last birthday
Met up three of my most special friends and had a small dinner party with family

27. What time did you wake up today
07:55am- by the deafening horn of Rajdhani Express as it sped past my house!

28. What were you doing at midnight last night
Sleeping, what else?

29. Name something you CANNOT wait for
Shift base from Mumbai, India to Blacksburg, USA

30. Last time you saw your father
Today morning

31. What is one thing you wish you could change about your life
Too many to jot down

32. What are you listening to right now
The fan inside my CPU humming loudly

33. Have you ever talked to a person named Tom
Yes. He was with his friend named Jerry.

34. What’s getting on your nerves right now?
My MTNL net connection. Getting disconnected every ten minutes!

36. Whats your real name
The same as my imaginary name

37. Relationship Status
Single and Happy, though open to getting committed if I find that special someone

38. Zodiac sign
Gemini

39. Male or female
Male

40. Natural Hair color?
Black

41. Hair color now
Black

42. Pet Peeve
Hypocrisy

43. Need Glasses
No!

44. Long or short
Long.. for most of the things that can be categorized into these two

45. Height
Almost six feet

46. Do you have a crush on someone
Yes. More than one at present.

47. What do you like about yourself?
My knack of paying attention to minutest of details

48. Piercings
Naah. I like my body as it is.

49. Tattoos
A few times in childhood- the blue and pink colored ones that I got free with chewing gum!

50. Righty or lefty
Ambidextrous

FIRSTS.

51. First surgery
None yet. Touchwood!

52. First piercing
See #48

53. First tattoo
See #49.

54. First best friend
Kinjal

55. First sport you joined
Cricket

56. First pet
A pair of pigeons making my room their maternity home

57. First vacation
Valsad, my hometown!

59. First crush
A certain girl at school when I was in third standard!

60. First alcoholic drink
Benadryl Cough Syrup

RIGHT NOW

61. Eating
Cadbury Dairy Milk

62. Wearing
White tee and track pants- my uniform when relaxing at home

63. I’m about to
shut down the pc

64. Speaking to
Myself

65. Waiting to
have food... can smell Palak Paneer being made in the kitchen

66. Want kids?
No. There's still time for it.

67. Want to get married?
No. There's still time for it.

68. Careers in mind?
Professional Photographer at Nat Geo

WHICH IS BETTER WITH THE OPPOSITE SEX?

69. Lips or eyes
Eyes

70. Hugs or kisses
Both, depending on the situation

71. Shorter or taller
A little shorter or same height

72. Older or Younger
Younger

73. Romantic or spontaneous
Both

74. Nice stomach or nice arms
Nice hair

75. Tattoos or piercings
Actually none but since most Indian girls have atleast one piercing, will go for that

76. Sensitive or loud
Sensitive and a little loud

77. Hook-up or relationship
Relationship

78. Trouble maker or hesitant
Hesitant trouble-maker

HAVE YOU EVER.

79. Kissed a stranger
No!

80. Drank hard liquor
No!

81. Lost glasses/contacts
No!

82. Sex on first date
No! I am not that despo!

83. Broken someone’s heart
Maybe yes, though intentionally, never!

84. Had your own heartbroken
Yes!

85. Been arrested?
Yes- while playing Road Rash!

86. Turned someone down
Never had to face that situation so far

87. Cried when someone died
Yes

88. Got someone into trouble intentionally
Yes!

DO YOU BELIEVE IN

89. Yourself
Very much

90. Miracles
Sometimes, though I prefer calling it Destiny

91. Love at first sight
Yes

92. Heaven
Yes

93. Santa Claus
No

94. Kissing on the first date?
Yes

95. Angels
Yes! I have three in my real life!

ANSWER TRUTHFULLY

96. Is there one person you want to be with right now?
Yes

97. Had more than one boyfriend/ girlfriend at one time?
Never

98. Do you believe it’s possible to remain faithful forever?
Yes

99. What’s the one thing you cannot live without?
My parents and best friends

100. Posting this as 100 truths?
Gita pe haath rakhke kasam khaata but then I would be charged for misbehaving with a woman!

An open invitation to everyone- if you find this Tag interesting, please go ahead and answer all these questions on your blog and leave a link to it here or answer them in the Comments area of my blog if you do not have your own blog. Go ahead, enjoy!

Jai Ho!

Genre: Current Affairs

A lot has been said and heard about how the politicians in India are lazy, indifferent and out-of-sync with the real world and the issues that bother the Common Man. However, very few of them are 'smart' (read: stupid) enough to publicly demonstrate these qualities. Fortunately, it seems I have found one such sample-

The newly-elected MP from my constituency- Mr. Sanjay Nirupam, in his first interview to The Times of India after winning from Mumbai North quotes- "My first priority now is quadrupling of Borivali-Virar railway tracks which has been the long standing demand of 18 lakh commuters."

Just to let you know Mr. Nirupam, the Borivali-Virar Quadrupling Project has already been completed more than two years ago! Itne saal so rahe the kya? Jaago Re!

Thank You for letting us know how "informed" neta we guys have chosen to represent us for the next five years! I am feeling glad I did not waste my valuable vote on you.

Jai Ho!

P.S.: It seems our "techno-savvy" netaji writes a Blog too! See it here. No prizes for guessing who actually posts on it.

The Monsters That Prowl VJTI

Genre: Humour

Disclaimer: All creatures mentioned herein are purely fictitious and any resemblance to any dinosaur- living, dead or otherwise is purely coincidental.

It is a well known fact that it is a jungle out there in VJTI but very little is known to the outside world about the mysterious creatures that prowl the place. Here is a scientific lowdown on some of the species unique to the VJTI Jungle-


Billasaurus Linguica
One of the most documented creature of the region, it has a peculiar trait of communicating in a language which is difficult to comprehend for creatures of other species and is known to express itself with phrases like "Once Gones The Gones" and "Both of you Three Get Out!"

Deolekasaurus Corpulentii
This heavy creature once used to dominate over the helpless creatures of Studenticus Firstyearisis species but is now extinct. Fossil records show that this creature made many Studenticii wait outside its den for long periods of time for a process known as Vivasis.

Daruwalus Geniusii
This creature was born with an exceptionally high IQ which allowed it to prove his dominance over all other creatures; however, it has a great dislike for Rattus rattus. Due to spending most of its time in the extremely cold climate inside Mup Laboratarica, it has developed a mutation which causes it to sometimes behave in a very unnatural manner and perform amusing tasks like pointing a remote control at a blank screen in an attempt to turn it on.

Sulbhasaurus Giganticus
Probably the most gigantic creature ever known to reside in this forest, Sulbhasaurus suffers from a rare genetic disorder known as LCLO (Lengthy Continous Lecture Obsession) which makes it difficult for it to stop once it starts talking and is known to make irritating shrill sounds to scare away Studenticus.

Rathodosaurus Bevdapii
Living on a staple diet of alcohol, this creature resides in a secluded dark corner of Electrical Laboratorica and is known to come out in the open very rarely mainly because of its inability to walk straight and speak clearly.

Narayankhedosaurus Innovacus
Little is known about the daily chores and routine of this extremely hard-to-see creature which is believed to reside in one exceptionally huge den and use an expensive Innova to travel.

Lokegaonsaurus Procastinatus
Like all other creatures residing in Exam Departmentica, this creature is known to be sluggish and has developed the unique ability to hide itself from other creatures, especially Studenticus. Its language consists of limited vocubalary which is a characteristic trait of Exam Departmentica and includes phrases like "Udyaa Yaa!" and "Chaar baje ke baad".

Charlisaurus Nonchalantii
This creature was once known to be possessing an absolute lack of reaction to stimuli, not showing any response even when objects were physically hurled at it. The reason for this is still unknown. This creatue has not been spotted since a long time and many assume it to be extinct.

Satishosaurus Eccentripus
It has been postulated that this creature is the missing link between Rathodosaurus and Devlekosaurus; however no scientist so far has been able to ascertain the reason behind the eccentric behaviour displayed by this creature which includes comparing Computer Programming to selling a ball pen among other things.

Amuthosaurus Disciplinicus
Closely related to Shardasaurus in behaviour, this creature is known to dish out long lectures on the need for discipline whenever possible. It has also been noticed that it insists on having the entire corridor empty for it when it wants to take a walk and anyone found coming in its way is subjected to a long verbal torture.

Besides these, several other creatures like Rapasaurus, Bhosalosaurus, Patilosaurus, Sarvadosaurus are known to exist in remote corners of the forest and efforts are on to retrieve substantial data about their behavioural patterns.