Gatimaan Express: Raftaar meri Pehchaan - Sajid Akhtar

मुंबई - पुणे Railfan Meet, 2015...!
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Saturday 2nd of May witnessed a small RF cum wedding session of CR base Mumbai and Pune. Wedding was of our beloved Member of IRI, Pratik Nirhali from Bangalore was in Pune, Shivajinagar. Here I start off with our reports of the Day.!
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was early morning of 2nd May. We all Mumbai based Railfans had decided to be onboard Lokmanya Tilak T- Vishakapatnam Superfast from karjat to pune in Unreserved coach. At 6.10am, my Father and I boarded a local to thane. My father was accompanying me till thane. At thane I met with our humorous and little Aged Member, Paurav Shah from Panvel. Our plan was to catch Karjat local till Karjat. At 6.35am Siddheshwar exp with WDP4 20033 arrived Thane at Pf 6 and just after it, Matsyagandha exp with WDM3D 11121 arrived at PF #8. Later on both had a parallel departure from Thane. It was now 6.40am and time of some track burners to cross Thane. Soon in a minute, Howrah bound Geetanjali exp with its shiny WCAM3 crossed Thane at somewhat speed 75kmph and just after it, CST bound punjab mail had a skips Thane from pf6 adding spice to the blast.
It was now 6.50am, our Karjat bound fast local was scheduled before Tapovan exp. So now time to sat good bye to my father who accompanied me till Thane and a bye to Mumbai till evening. Paurav and I boarded the 2nd coach of the local. Our local slowly slithered through the Parsik Tunnel, diva, arrived Dombivli on time and also on time at Kalyan. So now its a slow local till Karjat. We arrived badlapur where our enthusiasts CR based member, Amol nikam had to board the local. But unfortunately neither Paurav nor I remembered that we didn't told him in which coach we were. I know he would be angry now but jaanedo. Ho jayega woh thanda. Our train arrived Karjat. So finally we met with Amol and one of his friend at Karjat. Amol was busy talking with him. Later on he joined with us and introduced us to that man. He said that the man was his travel friend from Pune to Mumbai and back in Intercity express. Later on at Karjat, he founded his many old travel friends. Meanwhile Mumbai bound Sinhagad Exp arrived on Pf 2 and at same time, Pune bound Intercity also arrived at Pf1. Amol seems to be enjoying meeting his old friends so we also didn't attempted to stop him and I started little Railfanning while Paurav bhau was just watching the rush of Intercity. After a 5 mins halt, Intercity departed and in few mins our train with WDG3a #13577 arrived. UR seemed to be empty but we didn't got seat so we decided to travel standing on Doors. After Banker attachment, we were pushed by the bankers in the mighty Bhor ghats. At the start of the ghat, the pride of CR, Deccan Queen crossed us. Once again the bankers gained power and pushed our train in beautiful ghats of Sahyadri Range. On the ghat, we just had a small competition of who will click the best click in the ghat. It was between Amol nikam and me and Paurav bhau as spectator. The war continued till monkey hills and the winner was nobody :P but I enjoyed the beauty and the cool winds in the ghats. Our train covered the ghat section in exact 27 mins. We arrived Lonavala bang on time. After de-attachment of the Bankers our train departed. It was now start of Pune Division. We crossed many Lonavala bound locals on route. At Talegaon, Mumbai bound Hyderabad exp crossed us with POH WDG3a #13307 in lead. Our train was continuously hitting 100kmph and suddenly chain pulling took place just at Pimpri outer. Chain pulling was done in S7 coach. After 20 mins halt, we finally departed. Now we were 20 mins late. We arrived Pune at 10.30am.
Now the question arises, where we will buy our gifts? As said by locals outside the station, we booked a Rickshaw till Deccan, Shivajinagar. A prepaid Rickshaw cost us Rs 93 + 10 Rs service tax. Lookimg at the cost, I thought Deccan might be far away from Pune. But was shocked to see that it was in Pune just 2.5kms away from Pune station. At deccan, we spotted a shop named Archies. Shop was looking good. As we were running short of time, still we cracked some jokes, had fun inside and we quickly decided our gift and took a greeting card from shop. The shopkeeper quickly wrapped it and at 11.25am we left the shop. Wedding was of 11.38am. We informed Himanshu Sharma from Pune, our new admin and Piyush Bhilegaonkar, our admin to meet us at the entrance of the hall. At 11.35am we arrived at the entrance of the hall and we met with both Piyush and Himanshu who arrived there with Chota Shunter of Pune, Honda activa :P. Piyush introduced us to himself first and later we all Entered the hall, had some fun taking pics. Came out, again tooked a selfie with selfie stick and cracking jokes. We were now centre of attraction for the people around us. Again entered the hall, sat there on the seats and relaxed for a while. Took a selfie with a selfie stick. I was just wondering that Pratik, our groom may have guessed who were we :P. There was a big queue of people giving gifts and congratulating Pratik sir on his wedding and having a photo session on stage. Meanwhile we went out and started out topic on Infrastructure of CR. In the due course, Amol shared his experience when he met the officials for discussion of CR. The topic started outside and ended inside the hall. We were just chatting and chatting sitting in a circle inside the hall. By 12.30pm the queue was almost ended and we went on stage. First of all we congratulated him and offered him the gift from our whole group. Had a small photo session and we were off to have lunch. Menu was quite good. We all enjoyed the lunch. We came back near the stage and had a small chat with Pratik sir and his wife. So at 1.30pm we left the hall and came outside. Had some chats and cracking of jokes. Now a question arises how we will go back? There were now 2 options- one is deccan Exp and other is Koyna Exp. Himanshu said, let Piyush and I go to Pune station and check if any empty seats. So Himanshu and piyush sir departed onboard teir chota shunter. Soon we also boarded a Rickshaw till Pune station. We arrived Pune by 2.30pm. The climate was very hot in Pune, more thane Mumbai. We grabbed our UR tickets at Pune and headed towards station where Deccan express was shunted. We were not much fortunate as we didn't got seats in Deccan Exp. So a quick decision was taken by Piyush and himanshu to go and check the seats in Pune Indore Exp which was shunted at Pf1. It was 3pm now, more 20 mins left for Departure of Pune Indore exp. We founded 3 HO seats in S3. The HO people were boarding from KYN. Seats were empty till Kalyan. As the train was about to depart, Amol Nikam met with his old friend at Pune station. She was too onboard Pune Indore Exp till Lonavala. She was Amol Nikam's College mate. We were now shifted to S5. BRC Amul WAP5 was coupled and now its time to depart. We thanked Himanshu and Piyush for accompanying us in Pune.
As we left Pune, Amol with his friend sat on the side upper seat of S3 while Paurav and I had a seat in next coupe. Train had an MPS blast till Lonavala. It was now time to say good bye to Pune division as well as Amol's college mate. Looks like amol had a great day recalling his old memories right from the morning. We arrived khandala where 11041 Chennai bound Exp was patiently waiting for us. It departed first and later after a 5 mins halt, WAP5 with its Amul shakti starts descending the ghats. Later on I went on the Side upper seat and had a small nap. WAP5 took almost 35mins to descend the ghats. We arrived karjat at 5.10pm and boarded a CST fast till Thane. Amol deboarded the local at Badlapur while Paurav and I continued Local journey till Thane. We arrived thane by 6.30pm. Paurav went on the Harbour line platform to board their Panvel slow. Meanwhile WCAM3 with Panchavati Exp had a blast through Thane. Later I went on Pf4 to board Dadar Slow till Bhandup. At bhandup I met with RF Pranit shivalkar who accompanied me till my home after a tiring journey. Finally the day comes to an end.....!
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Thanks to Amol Nikam, Himanshu Sharma, Paurav Shah and Piyush Bhilegaonkar for attending a small meet. It was one of the memorable meet ever had....!!!
ONCE AGAIN HAPPY MARRIED LIFE PRATIK BHAI..!!