RailFanning is an art-form; RailFans are the paints - Ayush Kumar Singh

It was almost 11 years back, I wanted to travel to Jodhpur for some college work. There were no trains from Kurnool to intended dates and destination.

My fathers friend was a railways employee and he helped me to book in this train in tatkal. One of my friends had some work at kazipet so I made change in boarding point to kazipet so that we can go there together. Unfortunately, his plans got cancelled and I preferred my original journey route that is from BZA.
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On that day, I went to Kurnool APSRTC bus stand and boarded 10:30am super luxury to bza. Road condition was not good and apparently this is my first trip to bza via rood. Road condition could not be improved because of Nallamala forest and getting approvals is nearly impossible. I reached BZA around 7pm and based on the suggestion I went to hotel Ilapuram. I was completely exhausted because of road condition and summer heat. So, I opted for full meals and it was around Rs100, it was really good. I walked a bit and reached railway station.There was no indication of PF number so I checked with enquiry and went to that and waited for the train. Train delayed by 10-15 minutes and I quickly occupied my UB.

TTE came after 30 minutes and I showed my ticket. He told me that I should only board from my new BP that is warangal so he asked me for the bribe Rs100. I didn't have an option and I was not sure of rules so I had to pay and sleep quickly.I woke up somewhere in Maharashtra and I didn't have much details about the route at that time. I remember grabbing some food at Surat and went for sleep again. Next day I was surprised to see greenery in Rajasthan as I was thinking Rajasthan is full of desert :)

Train reached JU around 12pm and I went to my booked hostel straight away. I had some lunch at nearby hotel and I made friendship with other students. They took me to a local eatery near railway station for dinner and it was dal and baati with churma. It was first time I tasted this dish and it was very delicious especially with ghee and churma. I didn't have return ticket as I didn't know when my trip will be over.

Return part will be in part2