The Train Ride Saga continues...

So finally we step into the cabin. Its a unique experience to see the railway tracks that we see everyday but now from the point of view of someone who's gonna manouver on them. Joe uncle is very kind and keeps up a continuous monologue describing all the little useful things that make up the cabin. Its fascinating to see the multitude of controls and signals that aid the motorman.

And that is when my misconception about driving a train broke once and for all! I used to think that like any other vehicle, one actually has to steer the train on the rails.........n now thats some job!! Taking care of the shifting tracks and all.. But thats not how it works. The motorman simply has two sets of brakes at his hands- air brakes and pneumatic electrically controlled brakes. And speed is the only thing that he has to control while moving between stations. Well sounds simple enough eh? Thats what I thought too.... but having to keep drifting your eyes between the host of signals and alerts built in the cabin, its quite a herculean task!

The train that karan had travelled in earlier had just one chair for the motorman and he'd had to stand. But this cabin, we were surprised to see, had two chairs and so we could comfortably sit and enjoy the view! (apart from Joe who had to worry about driving the train, for us it was quite a fun ride!) Joe kept filling us in about the three types of signals near every station that indicate the position of the preceding train in front, so as to adjust the speed accordingly. Joe was giving some sort of a directly proportional formula.. "yellow double signal..toh 35 ka speed. nahitoh we can go beyond 50" etc etc. And as many of you must've been sharing my doubt about "How do the specific train bogies like First Class always halt exactly near the stripes where its supposed to?? Driver ko kaise dikhta hai??"........Well the train comfortably halts at a position marked as EMU HALT. N thats the only thing the motorman has to worry about. (y am i giving you the impression that driving a train is no big deal :D hee hee) no offence to the skilled motormen haan.... they have to train for years to drive the "esteemed" Mumbai local! (esteemed eh?)

I also learnt about an "intelligent" auxiliary agent built in the cabin to take charge of the train in case of emergencies..which include the motorman sleeping off!!! Damn convenient na.. Then Joe told us how the control room at VT centrally keeps track of all trains and controls the track positioning and everything. All of this was amazing amazing info.. kinda felt bombarded at the time honestly :D but gaining info was nevertheless a part of our supposed "official college project" remember?

Then just after a few stations, we wistfully got off at Matunga cz we had to attend college. Otherwise Joe was willing to take us all the way till Kalyan! I never wished for this ride to end.. It was just something that i myself wouldn't have imagined me doing some months back!

Would just like to add...Karan.. thanx yaar! Adios

One of the most improbable things you get to do!!

Here come one of my instances after a long time here :D

One of my best friends Karan is a member of the renowned Indian Railways Fan Club of America; better known as IRFCA of course. Somehow I wasn't quite aware of it when he described it at first but later I was amazed at the close-knit network of its fan members spread all across the country.

Now these IRFCA guys keep having interesting conventions and stuff and hang out and basically do everything related to their beloved topic...trains! And one day Karan tells me he and another fellow fan talked to a Mumbai Local Motorman ( read train driver for laymen :P ) and got a chance to actually ride with him in the motorman's cabin!!!! Now this is something! N not stopping at that.. Karan's friend had met the motorman uncle once again and he actually had a chance to work the controls! n not js watch :D

While I was going bonkers with jealousy, there came a surprise call from karan... "Hey mona, remember my ride in the motorman's cabin? Wanna do that??? I talked to him.......n he's willing to take us on!". YESSSSSSSSSSSSSS! was my reply without a second's hesitation. I was supposed to meet Karan at CST Station at around 2 pm and our friendly motorman uncle was gonna take us aboard on the 2:34 Kalyan bound slow local. Now the only hitch was uncle warned us that women are not normally allowed inside the cabin! ( How chauvinistic, I thought ) But he'll make an exception considering we were such sincere engineering students engaged in an active project involving the SIGNALING MECHANISM IN TRAINS. Oh well... that was our alibi to substantiate our sudden interest towards train driving; complete with a permission letter on the most-easily-reproducible "official" VJTI Letterhead with our "project-guide's" signature underneath!!!



So, I reach CST, haunted somewhere by flashes of images of the very same place ravaged by the gruesome events of 26/11, but nevertheless undauntedly excited bout this extra-ordinary ride. After waiting outside the officers' cabin for a while, inside which were a horde of people working on a host of controls and displays that centrally governs our entire central railway system, Karan pointed out to the motorman uncle (Lets call him Joe) who amicably led us to the 2:34 train that he'd be driving. While passing the compartments, which normally never earn a careful glance from hurrying commuters like us, Joe explained to us that, there are three types of dabbas comprising the train:

1. the 76 ones: comprising the motorman's cabin
2. the 70 ones: carrying the driving motors of the train and
3. the 72 ones: extra compartments having only seats.
These 3 dabbas make up ONE unit and THREE/FOUR such units make up the whole 9/12 coach train; which therefore, in technical terms, is called an EMU (Electrical MULTIPLE Unit)! Now thats info for u, right? :)

Thus,I found myself beginning to learn tonnes about a field of info completely new to me and it was fun! After walking the length of the train, we reached the front cabin. Joe rolled up the destination indicator to Kalyan and then we entered into the small cabin for one of the rarest rides I'd ever be on!

What happened once the train started??........to be continued.. Keep dropping in..

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Something from my retrospective n' poetic diaries...

HAVE YOU EVER NOTICED….?

Like every other day we wake up gray
Cursing the alarm for ringing so shrill
Then drag outta bed and get on with the day
Of boring routine and a mechanical drill.

Surprises are few, happy ones close to perish
The whistle goes off to an endless race
What do we stand by? What do we cherish?
When the person who’s your friend becomes just another face..

And then suddenly when ourselves lonely we find
Drenched, shivering in the rain with the tea gone cold..
When you conclude that nothing can ever be kind
Have you ever noticed the world that you sold?

Beautiful things, have you ever noticed
Are not merely what you can keep and hold
The wonders that lie deep, you should notice
Are not always polished, they don’t always glow.

The most beautiful things in life are veiled
Beneath the wings of the feeding mother
Who soars far and high from field to field..
To provide her child with all of her gather.

The majestic sunrays piercing the dark night
Announcing the dawn of a new day
Is a gift in its own, when we absorb it all in sight
A promising new beginning expunging the gray.

The words of a friend, his contagious laughter
The sweet tears shared when he’s in pain
Feeling there’s nothing else worth running after
Such beautiful things know of joy as well as the tortuous lane.

The raindrops lined on the edges of the leaves
Glowing like diamonds and defining beauty
The rainbow so perfect, the admiring heart heaves..
And then we drench in relief of sheer purity.

The smile of a student, when you’re the teacher
A baby curling his tiny fingers around a single one of yours
Have you ever noticed how the world hates a preacher..
Yet I say anyway, doing good and helping needs no cause.

So learn to notice the small things around thee,
Imbibe it, grow to love and learn to be free..
On the most beautiful thing you may not agree..
But the most beautiful thing is all you can really be.

Freeing my li'l digits..

Hiya!
Just got TOEFL under my belt today afternoon......... well u can say evenin becoz wat was supp to start at 9 n end at 1 started, to our excruciating irritation and boredom, at 11 and ended at 3-ish. Its very few days that get the honor of seeing me awake at 6 am n sorts so this was one of those lucky bastards.. but then its very few days again that actually respect this fact! Reaching there at dot 8 am with kedar and other vjti-mates-eager-to-get-done-with-toefl, it eventually meant a loooooong wait in a makeshift lookin coffee house..with.....well.....no coffee.

Then finally when i was called in (second among every1 to be called inside cz of alphabetical order) i could feel the blood returning to my brain and fingers which had earlier concentrated on working out at the yawning centre solely! After gettin a few "ATB's" i went inside, had an awfully indecipherable pic taken of me, and was delegated my portal. And from there it was actually more fun than the boring wait outside.

Now for info, the TOEFL consists of listening and speaking sections for which u'r provided headphones wid a mic n all d bling. BUT.. the big catch that we discovered bang in d middle of d test and something that we had sort of feared from the beginning..was.....everyone has their speaking section at more or less the same time!!! Needless to elaborate, u can imagine the noisy, confusing mini chaos that took place as each one of us dug our earphones hard into our ears and focussed our concentration like the saadhu's who go into meditation. Only we were high-tech saadhu's wid headgear and compulsion of NO 'maunvrat' coz we had to speak to answer the sections. Funny things like people hearing other's responses and picking up tips, some others getting helplessly distracted and amused by others speakin in a "put-on" american accent, KD cursing me speaking and trying hard to crack his listening section instead, and me trying hard to speak without gettin conscious by the paaji in front of me staring at me as a way to pass his break-time!

Fortunately it was smooth sailing if you look at the bigger picture. Some lazy(read self-obsessed :P ) friends of mine remembered to wish me all the best AFTER i had already finished it! I was relieved it was finally done and more because no scores instantly after the test which would put me in instant score comparision mode with others and spoil my mood if i'd hav got lesser. I guess i knw y my bf calls me Monica personified :D(sorry if it doesnt ring a bell for non-F.R.I.E.N.D.S watchers)

And now its the perfect rest with me blogging with my fave music booming in my ears.. aaah.. this is the life...!

For you..hakuna matata >:D<

Okay....this post was supposed to come up on 24th Jul. Was really moved that day like one of those days when you think you're the alpha female with energy bursting at the seams and a determination to change your attitude towards everything in life.. so.. without further ado in your patience, the day, like the 24th of every month now, was significant for me and tushar........who's rite now in Germany(woohoo!) participating in international formula racing competition, FSAE, oh......hold ur horses....not as a racer....as a member of the car construction team.

For my newbie friends.....or just ppl who dont know this.. tushar aka TJ is my better half.. the one i love :D I had known him since school days and then out of the blue... i call it serendipity... we decided to join guitar classes. The guitar lessons..well...ahem.. lets js say if my guitar could talk, or rather had hands, it wouldn't like to treat me like a princess. But as we kept meeting n trying to work the strumming of the guitar strings, the strings of our intertwined lives sure found a symphony. If this sounds too love-struck and sweet for ur taste.. well .. dont bother reading.. wat else..? I blame it on d weatherman :)

On the 24th, as usual, i insist on hanging out and having fun together given the demanding and sometimes crazy gf that i hav discovered myself to be :D and surprisingly not reprimanded but cherished for it! Seriusly..guys in love go to any lengths eh..? The flip side of the coin has brought on ugly encounters of that length from a person too. But hey.. coming back.. so we went all d way to VT just to take a stupid membership of sorts and we didnt mind as long as we had a reason to hang out amidst the lanes of old-british archi bldgs exuding an aura which is wat VT is all about.

But then as if fate conspired against poor lil me, TJ had to cut short all of our plans of spending time together which also included "Batman-The Dark Knight" which neway the ticket costing 220(!) at metro adlabs had already sabotaged. It killed my mood n' apetite and then with a pit in my stomach and a lump in my throat we boarded a train so TJ can go back to college and i'd while away my time at mine. And then for the first time ever, i overshot Matunga Station thinking itne jaldi toh Matunga..imposs! Stupefied (and me still upset) we got off hurriedly at sion and i told TJ that i'll manage from here. He can attend to the work he has. But he chose to disregard the undless calls he was receiving, comprising of "abe kidhar hai? U better reach somaiyya in 5 min or else...", and came to drop me back to matunga despite my protests.... a girl cant help her narcissism can she? but it made me realise it just takes an entirely selfless view of love to put ur urgencies on hold and assign something so important as topmost priority to something so trivial as a girl's undulating feelings!

I've been experiencing a change in myself since then. And this is saying something coz i dont find anyone interesting enough to change me :) Agreed that every relationship has its strengths and weaknesses........but at the end of the day when u sit in d train after having a date go awry and simply 10 min of compensation making it more meaningful than it would hav been otherwise, it makes the whole journey worth it! Thanx TJ !

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Hey fellow blogga's and people hungry for expression and expanding one's horizons..

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