Last minute passenger confirmation to an already confirmed IRCTC tickets, quick packing post midnight and an early morning cab to train station, picking up Prachi and Komal on the way – thats how I began 22nd April 2016. By god, aaj tak kabhi ek train miss nahi hui but I have always managed to raise the hearbeats of everyone with minute to minute calculated entry to the train. Always. Well, we got in to the train and Tyagi & Aakriti also boarded the train in the next stop. And that brings us to the next part.

Chapter 4: Rail Gaadi, Rail Gaadi…chhuk chhuk chhuk chhuk

The Biryani Capitals, Hyderabad & Lucknow, are placed at a distance of about 1200 km. For someone who has given up on life and enjoys a dull day its just a 2 hour flight but for the HRC turned Barati Bros, who would never settle for easy story, it was going to be a long train journey clocking about 30 hours. Mind you, the change of trains at Jhansi as well at 2:00 am the next day.

Hyderabad – Jhansi – Lucknow. Simple!

Yeah, as simple as getting hot steaming Idlis with sambar and chutney in the city of Nizam for breakfast. Seeing one of those, the pseudo hyderabadi inside Komal craved for some and we ended up having our breakfast in quick time. After all that’s the beauty of choosing a 30 hour train ride over the 2 hour flight, one gets to have breakfast – lunch – dinner and next day breakfast as well. In simple words, the flight will cost you chaar time ka khana. (Pun Intended). As soon as we had our breakfast, the blanket and the sleeping berth urged, forced and invited us to complete the half-done sleep. See! Chain ki neend bhi – another plus to the train journey. And with how the last few hours unfolded, sleep was must. In no time, I started snoring and have no idea what others did but was almost slapped around 10:15 am by Prachi. Well there’s a reason I adopted her as Mummy coz she woke me up from deep sleep like mom would do in school days, only difference was that here it was Chinkita on the phone.

Chinkita: Maity, Tatkal ka site nahi khul raha. I tried using my 4G.
Me: Abey yahaan meri aankhen nahi khul rahi. I tried using all energy.
Chinkita: Joke baad me maar, ab ye bata kal ki train ka kya hoga.
Me (in deep sleep): haan wo maine ticket as back up karwa li hai, no worries – tu soja.

And I went back to sleep.

Again Prachi woke me up, Adopted Mummy!!!

Prachi: Maity, Lunch ke liye bolna hai kya??
We had no idea where Komal was sleeping but all we know was she heard this and shouted from some corner in the compartment, Lunch sabke liye packed hai, ghar se. No need to order from train. The foodie inside me & Tyagi killed the sleep and were curious to know, what is in the home cooked food. Tyagi ka toh sasural hai – he can’t deny but trust me Komal’s home cooked food by aunty is something to relish. But the curiosity was when was the food prepared coz chronologically speaking, untill 11:59 PM last night – there was no trip and we picked up Komal around 5:45 am today. So when was the food prepared. Komal, again shouting from some corner of the compartment – ‘arey wo maine ghar pe kal bataya nahi tha ki plan dicey hai, so mom cooked for all of you. In case plan nahi hota toh office me Lunch was on me.’ And that’s when my eyes and ears opened wide and sleep was done. Eventually all woke up and decided to see how Joey reacted on his 30th Birthday. I turned 30 this year and I feel a lot like Joey. Loves food, doesn’t wanna share it and still laughs in crowd over the stuff I don’t understand. Joey was fun but then we decided to watch the movie – The Interview. Unlike flights, we did not have a personal screen but had Tyagi’s laptop to fill in for that.

It was lunch time and the ghar ka khana tasted even more homely when you get to clean up the vessel till the last morsel. I curse myself for not remembering the food in details but I know that there was poori and aloo ki sabzi. Post lunch we walked around the train, got down at Nagpur to buy Tinkle for 50 rupees and went on to curse the inflation since childhood. Started watching another movie – The Internship but then had to shut down as Tyagi’s laptop had taken up the shape of Single Screen theatre and the movie was not U/A rated for the kids in the compartment. Time passed between the chit-chat and sips of tea and the clock turned to dinner time. I was waiting for Komal to shout again- Dinner bhi packed hai but with no luck this time, we ordered from the in-house pantry. And it started raining inside the compartment. No No, don’t blame the IRCTC, their trains are amazing but it was one of the fellow passenger’s water tank that leaked. In chaos and commotion we started lifting our luggage but in contrast to all the upliftings, I sat down on my dinner. Daal ache hai, Daag bhi. And of all the people, it was my bag that got wet the most. Finding my luck in a dry t-shirt and shorts, I changed and finished the dinner and took off to our sleeping berths as we were 4 hours away from Jhansi.

Jhansi – 2:00 am.
Next train at 6:00 am.
The April night in a North Indian Railway station.

We could see all sorts of people at the station and were confused if they were waiting for a train or enjoying the summer night at beach. It was crowded like day and we had planned to go to a nearby hotel earlier. Even though this was not Ratlam but Hotel Decent did cross the mind. But that was for another day as we decided to find even cheaper option to spend the 3 hours. IRCTC’s waiting cabins. We got 1 room for Komal, Aakriti and Prachi with proper bed and attached bathroom and I & Tyagi took to the dorm, leaving all our valuables in the room with the girls. All had quick nap and were ready for the next adventure – 6:00 AM | Jhansi – Kanpur – Lucknow Intercity Express me aapka swagat hai…