Purvanchal Express - Poorvottar ka Sikandar

Trip Report: Onboard the first run of the Double Decker Express on Konkan Railway.
Caution Order: Restrict tractive effort to two paragraphs. Load is very lonnnnng.
Waking up on a foggy winter morning, I check my phone as is the present gen tradition and amongst the numerous WhatsApp texts- some as irrelevant as salt in a cup of tea, while a few others being the epitome to my existence- I stumble upon some news! Very relevant news!
"DD...
more...

to run on Konkan Railway from this week!"
A few 'what-where-whens' later, the plan was in place. Yours truly would be on board DiDi's debut run. Now as luck would have had it, the inaugural run was to happen from Madgaon on December 7th, 2015. The problem here was that the same day, a few relatives who had come down to India on vacation would be tracing their path back to their home away from home, across the seas. This naturally meant that the first day-first run plan had to be quashed much to my dismay. Anyway, headed to the Mangaluru International Airport at dawn on the 7th, and after bidding good-byes to the folks flying out, I did manage to catch a glimpse of the Netravati Express from the airport premises, curving gracefully into the city of Mangaluru. While heading back home, I got to know from the ever reliable and hyperactive WhatsApp groups that the bookings for the first 'commercial' run of Miss. DiDi would be commencing 'soon'. How soon did the 'soon' actually mean, was nobody's guess. And as expected, this would be from the Mumbai-end...
TO BE CONTD.