That Journey!!!

Well it was quite bad time as I lost my Grandmother at Mumbai. Due to my job I had to come back to Pune on the next day!

I was missing grandma, and however with heavy heart and mind I had to travel alone.

Basically Mumbai – Pune journey is of 170kms. Even though there is an expressway, still Mumbai traffic is a headache. It was 15.30 hours and I went to Bus stand. Lots of shivneri were in que. The earliest was at 4PM. I knew with traffic, it will take atleast 4 hours to reach. So I decided to take the Pragati Express which was an hour later and takes only 3 hours to reach!

I was waiting at Dadar station and I was exhausted looking at all the locals passing by. Not a single person to share what I was going through. Lonely looking at tracks.

I was well aware of that train will be full. I was traveling without reservation but its okay I am used to it. It was just the natter of 3 hours and intercity trains are cool. Train arrived and surprisingly it was not as full as I thought and a lot of seats were empty.

This was the first relief. Got the seat and even tc was so kind he did not charged 20rs extra saying “Rehne do baitho aaram se”. More relief. I spent some time at Door, looking at suburban stations passing by. Then again on seat. The chaos inside mind was not letting me seat quietly at one place.

Then finally arrived Karjat. The Bankers “WCAM 3” series locos were ready to help our train climb “Bhor Ghat” by providing more power! Empty doors, My favourite scenic Patch, a cup off coffee in cold drizzling weather, everything was perfectly set.

Train was slowly moving upwards towards ghat. My chaotic mind now started to cool down with every cold breeze. The light rain pouring on my face was taking away all the exertion. As train climbed the first part finally a tea vendor came across and this thing became perfect than ever. (I am a tea person & was having coffee for last 1.5 hours, so that tea was not less than a boon).

With every passing tunnel my mind was getting relaxed. For the first time (after traveling almost 100s of times) I was actually able to see the whole Tiger Valley, which lies on the northern side of the ghat. It was totally filled with the clouds. It was early evening and started to get dark. The valley filled with clouds was a treat to watch! This amazing scenary just cooled my mind and gave such a comfort that I will never forget.

Just a try!

I also tried to capture it through my mobile camera but later on I realised that I should better enjoy the view and capture it in my own memory than of my phone’s.

This was the only photo I was able to capture neatly!

Train arrived Khandala, and I was relaxed both physically and mentally. Those 28kms and 40 minutes of Bhore ghat were memorable one. Finally my train reached 30 minutes late. But still I was happy. I dont know but at that time I wanted to spend more time traveling in that train. this was a perfect journey without any troubles. May be it was due to my Grandma’s love and her blessings.

I never thought, that a Train Journey will become so special and take all my sorrows away!!!

Nature have the power to heal you whereas Travel can take out the best in you!

Love you Grandma!!!