For RailFans, seeing RAC-1/2/3 in Mumbai-UP Trains is more exciting than Election Results - rdb

A DIFFERENTLY ENABLED TRIP REPORT
Reached CBE Station at 2200 on 12th October to board 16525 Island Express, STA 2250, on my return journey to SBC . And now bringing you an account which relates to the pre-boarding phase ONLY because the journey by itself was uneventful and nothing much to post here at IRI .
I was sitting on one of the benches on PF4 and the just arrived JS from Mayiladuthurai was busy disgorging its human cargo . I was joined on the bench by a Bengali family consisting of...
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2 young men along with their wives and their mother , an elderly lady suffering from arthritis . They were returning from Ooty and availing the Island Exp to Blore. They appeared rather tense about boarding the train since its scheduled PF4 was occupied by an upstart and they had to contend with their mother's limited speed of motion . They were speculating if they may have to shift to some other PF . After a little while I assured them in chaste Bengali that they need not shift as our train would arrive in the adjacent PF3 in case 4 was not vacated by then . So there would be no necessity to crossover using the SUBWAY etc . They were astounded to hear me speak in Bengali and and started a good conversation with me narrating details of their trip to Ooty. While talking to them , I was logged on simultaneously at IRI through my mobile . Suddenly one of the boys remarked to me " Uncle, this Indiarailinfo is an extremely useful site . And it offers many facilities like reservation availability and running status , which you may not be aware of " . I told him that I was fully aware of IRI and its capabilities and happened to be one of the 200 odd administrators of this site . Suddenly there was an enhanced level of respect for me in his eyes and he hurriedly called his brother , who was then talking to his wife , and introduced me to him saying " This uncle is one the FOUNDERS (?) of IRI . " I corrected their misconception but it did not make much of a difference, as to them I was IRI , for all intents and purposes . Another misconception of theirs was their assumption that, like them, I too was a BENGALI .
(To be contd.....)