Gujarat Mail - as good as Undhiyu

Krishna Express, with this name, it's very common to hear terms such as crawler, late runner, too many halts, never comes and goes on time, patience tester, fast passenger, etc., etc. Well, all these might be true, but this legendary train has its own place in the timeline of Indian Railways. One of the oldest running trains, it recently completed its 50 years of service. A lifeline of rural Telangana & Andhra Pradesh, it connects devotees with Lord Balaji in Tirupati. Most of the passengers on this train are from simple village backgrounds who don't know much about reservations (might be irrelevant now, at least back then it was so). They can come to your reserved seat and may request you to give some space to sit with an innocent smile on their face :). If I could give another name for this train, I would name it as "Temple Express" for the fact that it not only connects to Tirupati but en route, it touches many temple towns like Kinwat (Renuka Devi temple, Mahurgad), Basar (Saraswati Temple), Hyderabad (Capital City), Yadadri (Yadagiri Gutta Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy Temple), Warangal (Bhadrakali Temple), Vijayawada (Indrakiladri Kanakadurga Temple), Sri Kalahasti (Srikalahasteeshwara Temple/Vayu Lingam), and Tirupati (Venkateswara Swamy/Balaji Temple). As a kid, I did my first train journey by Krishna Express from Warangal to Mahabubabad, a distance of 60 Kms back in the early 2000s. I still remember, a night before my first train journey, I couldn't sleep out of my excitement that I will be getting into a train tomorrow. That day my parents couldn't get a seat as the train was crowded but they requested a lady who was on an aisle seat to make me sit beside her. As the train was going, I was continuously looking through the window. After some time, that lady asked me "what are you looking at so interesting?" I looked at her once and again started looking through the window. She didn't know that it was my first train journey. Nostalgic moment for me :). All thanks to Indian Railways. While thinking of writing this blog, I noticed that this train was introduced on 2-Oct-1974, which means recently this legendary train completed its 50 years of service. I have seen birthday wishes on other legendary trains like Telangana, Secunderabad Rajadhani, etc., but not a single birthday wish for this train. Belated Happy Birthday Krishna Express :).

Krishna Express, yeh naam sunte hi, kai baat yaad aati hai jaise crawler, late runner, bahut saare stops, kabhi time pe nahi aata, sabar ka parikshan, fast passenger, aur aise hi bahut saare. Haan, yeh sab sahi bhi ho sakta hai, par yeh legendary train ka apna hi ek mahan itihaas hai Indian Railways mein. Sabse purani trains mein se ek, isne recently apne 50 saal pura kiye hain. Rural Telangana aur Andhra Pradesh ki lifeline, ye train devotees ko Tirupati ke Lord Balaji se jodti hai. Is train mein zyadatar passengers simple gaon ke log hote hain jo reservation ke bare mein zyada nahi jaante (shayad abhi nahi, par pehle toh aisa hi tha). Woh aapke reserved seat pe bhi aake baith jaate hain aur muskurate hue aapse kuchh jagah dene ke liye kahte hain :) Agar mujhe is train ka koi aur naam rakhna hota, toh main isko "Temple Express" naam deta, kyunki yeh sirf Tirupati hi nahi, balki aise bahut saare temple towns se bhi ho kar jaati hai jaise Kinwat (Renuka Devi temple, Mahurgad), Basar (Saraswati Temple), Hyderabad (Capital City), Yadadri ( Yadagiri Gutta Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy Temple), Warangal (Bhadrakali Temple), Vijayawada (Indrakiladri Kanakadurga Temple), Sri Kalahasti (Srikalahasteeshwara Temple/Vayu Lingam) aur Tirupati (Venkateswara Swamy/Balaji Temple).

Jab main chhota tha, toh maine apni pehli train journey Krishna Express se ki thi, Warangal se Mahabubabad, 60 kms ki doori, yeh 2000 ke shuruat mein ki thi. Mujhe abhi bhi yaad hai, meri pehli train journey se ek din pehle main excitement se so nahi paya tha, ki kal mujhe train mein baithna hai. Us din mere parents ko seat nahi mili thi kyunki train bhari hui thi, par unhone ek aurat se request ki, jo aisle seat pe thi, ki wo mujhe apne paas baithne de. Jab train chalni shuru hui toh main continuously khidki se bahar dekhta raha, kuchh der baad us aurat ne mujhe puchha "kya dekh raha hai itna interesting?" maine ek baar usko dekha aur fir se khidki se bahar dekhna shuru kar diya, use pata nahi tha ki meri yeh pehli train journey thi. Mere liye yeh ek nostalgic moment hai :) Indian Railways ka dhanyavaad.

Jab main yeh blog likhne wala tha, toh mujhe pata chala ki yeh train 2-Oct-1974 ko chali thi, matlab is legendary train ne recently apne 50 saal pura kiye hain. Maine Telangana, Secunderabad Rajadhani jaise aur bhi legendary trains ke birthday wishes dekhe hain, par is train ke liye ek bhi birthday wish nahi dekha. Belated Happy Birthday Krishna Express :)