On a fine day in 2020, when the world was still blissfully unaware of the impending lockdown, we got an invitation for a wedding at our friend's home, Jodhpur.
We made some last minute plans, and decided to book tickets as a connecting journey as direct trains weren't available. From AF-JP, we decided on the AF-AII ICE, and after a few hours layover at JP, we were going to take the Mandore Express, where another friend was joining us from Delhi.
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I was busy with something so another friend of mine booked the tickets and I was surprised that we got CNF window seats at such a short notice. Good for us. So, another trip to Rajasthan, what could go wrong. On the day of journey, we reached Agra Fort and we got to know what could go wrong, something we didn't even slightly imagine.
We boarded the C1, and started placing our luggage on the luggage rack. It was the center seat, and we had ordered from Domino's. Pretty chill friends trip. Except for the fact that after a few minutes a family boarded and told us that we were in their seats. No ma'am, we have the tickets, look at them. Yeah, C1 but same seats, same day. I, being the master of sweet talk, persuaded them to leave us alone and talk to the TTE about this discrepancy. Everything sorted out.
And then I asked my friend to show me the ticket. Nothing seemed wrong, until I saw the month of travel. In haste, my friend had booked the tickets for 18th March, that was exactly a month ahead of the day we were sitting in the train. So, I told everyone to calm down, and went to that family who were still beating their heads over their ticket. I told them that we didn't check the refreshed status of our tickets and we were allotted seats in the C2 coach. Apologized to them for the discrepancy and deboarded the coach.
Outside, all three of us gave the scolding of a lifetime to our friend who booked the ticket. But there still was an issue, how to reach Jaipur. After all, all the shopping and makeovers shouldn't go to waste, right. They checked and there weren't any trains taking us to Jaipur with enough buffer for Mandore. I asked everyone to calm down and let the expert do the work. I checked and luckily 4 seats got available in current in the 2S of same train.
What else could we do, let it be 2S for a few hours. First disappointment, bench type seats, no issues, there wasn't much of a crowd. Then came the second disappointment after the train entered Rajasthan, 2S became the GS and we had to adjust a lot more people on our seats, because that's what good samaritans do, not that we had another choice. Only relief being that due to our lady friends, the crowd was much well behaved in our cubicle that rest of the coach.
Anyway the journey went a lot better than expected, we got a lot of laughs over the incident that happened earlier that day, even my mother joked about it after the initial scoldings over the phone. Got to talk to a lot of Rajasthani people and it was fun. We deboarded at JP, took a stroll through the Bazars of Jaipur. We also went inside to take a look at the interiors of JP Double Decker as it was our first time seeing a Double Decker train.
After a well deserved rest, we went on the PFs to board our next train. Well, we were waiting on the PF when the HWH-JU arrived and looking at the empty coaches, it struck our minds that we could've got CNF seats despite the WL during bookings. And as the train departed, like a wave of regret, a wave of water soaked me. Have I told that we took the journey in February and it was still a chilly weather outside. Some lazy waterman left the pipe watering connected and it came out with pressure when the train departed.
You may think that here ends the string of mishappenings. But lady luck still had a last mischief up her sleeves. This second ticket was booked by our friend who was coming from Delhi, to have all the seats together. Just that he forgot to tell us a crucial piece of information. Since 3AC had WL status, he booked in SL, because how could five college kids afford a 2AC tickets which were available. As soon as the train moved, it felt as we were traveling through Siberia.
No one had brought blankets, well, except for me. I brought two, and the perk of being 6ft tall, my jackets could be used as blankets. Now who is laughing for over-packing stuff. Rest of the journey was uneventful, we enjoyed an almost empty SL coach, a beautiful sunrise and the scenic beauty Rajasthan has to offer.
After the celebrations, roaming around the streets of Jodhpur and a great hospitality, we returned. Yeah, you guessed it, in the JU-HWH Express. Although we had to book the tickets via the HQ quota, the onward journey experience was enough adventure for us. And needless to say, I slept all the way back and woke up only at ETW.
So, this was my journey to the blue city which had enough twists and turns to tell it apart from the plain, regular train journeys and give it a special place in the section called 'Travelogues'.
Kumud.
please wait...Translate to EnglishOn a fine day in 2020, when the world was still blissfully unaware of the impending lockdown, we got an invitation for a wedding at our friend's home in Jodhpur.
We made some last-minute plans and decided to book tickets as a connecting journey, as direct trains weren't available. From AF-JP, we decided on the AF-AII ICE, and after a few hours layover at JP, we were going to take the Mandore Express, where another friend was joining us from Delhi.
I was busy with something, so another friend of mine booked the tickets, and I was surprised that we got CNF window seats at such short notice. Good for us. So, another trip to Rajasthan, what could go wrong. On the day of the journey, we reached Agra Fort, and we got to know what could go wrong, something we didn't even slightly imagine.
We boarded the C1 and started placing our luggage on the luggage rack. It was the center seat, and we had ordered from Domino's. Pretty chill friends trip. Except for the fact that after a few minutes, a family boarded and told us that we were in their seats. "No ma'am, we have the tickets, look at them," I said. "Yeah, C1, but same seats, same day," they replied. I, being the master of sweet talk, persuaded them to leave us alone and talk to the TTE about this discrepancy. Everything sorted out.
And then I asked my friend to show me the ticket. Nothing seemed wrong, until I saw the month of travel. In haste, my friend had booked the tickets for 18th March, that was exactly a month ahead of the day we were sitting in the train. So, I told everyone to calm down and went to that family who were still beating their heads over their ticket. I told them that we didn't check the refreshed status of our tickets, and we were allotted seats in the C2 coach. I apologized to them for the discrepancy and deboarded the coach.
Outside, all three of us gave the scolding of a lifetime to our friend who booked the ticket. But there still was an issue, how to reach Jaipur. After all, all the shopping and makeovers shouldn't go to waste, right? They checked, and there weren't any trains taking us to Jaipur with enough buffer for Mandore. I asked everyone to calm down and let the expert do the work. I checked, and luckily 4 seats got available in current in the 2S of the same train.
What else could we do, let it be 2S for a few hours. First disappointment, bench-type seats, no issues, there wasn't much of a crowd. Then came the second disappointment after the train entered Rajasthan, 2S became the GS, and we had to adjust a lot more people on our seats, because that's what good Samaritans do, not that we had another choice. The only relief being that due to our lady friends, the crowd was much well-behaved in our cubicle than the rest of the coach.
Anyway, the journey went a lot better than expected. We got a lot of laughs over the incident that happened earlier that day, even my mother joked about it after the initial scoldings over the phone. Got to talk to a lot of Rajasthani people, and it was fun. We deboarded at JP, took a stroll through the Bazars of Jaipur. We also went inside to take a look at the interiors of JP Double Decker, as it was our first time seeing a Double Decker train.
After a well-deserved rest, we went on the PFs to board our next train. Well, we were waiting on the PF when the HWH-JU arrived and looking at the empty coaches, it struck our minds that we could've got CNF seats despite the WL during bookings. And as the train departed, like a wave of regret, a wave of water soaked me. Have I told that we took the journey in February and it was still chilly weather outside. Some lazy waterman left the pipe watering connected, and it came out with pressure when the train departed.
You may think that here ends the string of mishappenings. But lady luck still had a last mischief up her sleeves. This second ticket was booked by our friend who was coming from Delhi, to have all the seats together. Just that he forgot to tell us a crucial piece of information. Since 3AC had WL status, he booked in...
please wait...Translate to Hindi2020 mein ek sundar din tha, jab duniya abhi lockdown ke darr se bekhbar thi, humara dost Jodhpur mein shaadi ka invitation aaya.
Humne last minute plan kiya aur connecting journey ke liye tickets book karne ka faisla kiya kyunki direct trains available nahi thi. AF-JP se humne AF-AII ICE ki booking ki, aur JP pe kuchh ghanton ka layover ke baad hum Mandore Express lene ja rahe the, jahan Delhi se humara ek aur dost hamare saath join karne wala tha.
Main kuchh kaam mein busy tha toh mere ek dost ne tickets book kiye aur main hairan reh gaya jab mujhe pata chala ki itne kam time mein humne CNF window seats mil gaye. Humara bhalamanas. To, Rajasthan ki ek aur trip, kya galat ho sakta hai. Journey ke din hum Agra Fort pahuche aur humko pata chala ki kya galat ho sakta hai, kuchh aisa jo humne sapne mein bhi nahi socha tha.
Humne C1 mein boarding ki aur luggage rack par luggage rakhna shuru kiya. Ye center seat thi aur humne Domino's se order kiya tha. Bahut mast friends trip tha. Sirf ek baat ko chhodkar, kuchh minutes baad ek family boarding ki aur humse kaha ki hum unki seats pe baithe hain. Nahi madam, hamare paas tickets hain, dekhiye. Haan, C1 lekin wahi seats, wahi din. Main, sweet talk ka master hone ke naate, unko convince kiya ki humko akele chod dein aur TTE se baat karein is discrepancy ke baare mein. Sab theek ho gaya.
Aur phir maine apne dost se kaha ki mujhe ticket dikhao. Kuchh bhi galat nahi lag raha tha, jab tak maine travel ka mahina nahi dekha. Jaldi mein, mere dost ne 18th March ke liye tickets book kar diye the, jo ki aaj se ek mahina aage tha. To maine sabse kaha ki shant raho, aur us family ke paas gaya jo abhi bhi apne tickets par sir peet rahe the. Maine unko bataya ki humne apne tickets ka refreshed status check nahi kiya tha aur humko C2 coach mein seats allocate ki gayi thi. Unse is discrepancy ke liye maafangi maangi aur coach se utar gaya.
Bahar, hum teeno ne apne dost ko lifetime ki scolding di jisko tickets book kiye the. Lekin abhi bhi ek problem thi, Jaipur kaise pahuche. Aakhir, shopping aur makeup waste nahi jaana chahiye, hai na? Unhone check kiya aur koi bhi train nahi thi jo Jaipur le ja rahi thi jisme Mandore ke liye kaafi buffer ho. Maine sabse kaha ki shant raho aur expert ko kaam karne do. Maine check kiya aur khushi ki baat hai ki wahi train ke 2S mein current mein 4 seats available thi.
Hum kya kar sakte the, kuchh ghanton ke liye 2S mein baithe rahe. Pehli disappointment, bench type seats, koi dikkat nahi, bahut zyada crowd nahi tha. Fir dusri disappointment train ke Rajasthan mein enter hone ke baad aayi, 2S GS ban gaya aur humko apni seats pe bahut zyada logo ko adjust karna pada, kyunki yehi to good samaritans karte hain, aisa nahi tha ki hamare paas koi aur choice tha. Sirf raahat ki baat yeh thi ki hamare ladki dost ki wajah se, humari cubicle mein crowd bahut acche se behave kar raha tha, jaise ki baaki coach mein nahi ho raha tha.
Anyway, journey bahut expected se bhi acche se nikal gayi, humne us din hue incident par bahut hasi ki, meri maa ne bhi phone pe initial scolding ke baad yeh baat par joke ki. Bahut saare Rajasthani logo se baat ki aur bahut maza aaya. Humne JP pe utar kar Jaipur ke bazaron mein ghumne gaye. Hum JP Double Decker ke interiors dekhne ke liye andar bhi gaye kyunki ye pehli baar tha jab humne Double Decker train dekhi.
Ek acche rest ke baad, hum apni next train par board karne ke liye PF pe gaye. Hum PF pe wait kar rahe the jab HWH-JU aayi aur khali coaches dekhkar, hamare dimag mein aaya ki booking ke time WL hone ke baavajood humko CNF seats mil sakte the. Aur jaise hi train chali, regret ki tarah, ek paani ki lehar mujhe bhigo gayi. Kya maine bataya ki humne February mein journey ki thi aur bahar abhi bhi thanda tha. Kisi aalsi waterman ne pipe se pani connect chhoda hua tha aur jaise hi train chali, pressure ke saath pani nikla.
Aapko laga hoga ki yaha mishappenings ki dori khatam ho gayi. Lekin lady luck ke haathon abhi ek aakhri shaitanat baki thi. Yeh dusra ticket humara dost ne book kiya tha jo Delhi se aa raha tha, taki saare seats ek saath ho. Bas itna hi ki wo ek jaruri baat batana bhool gaya. Kyunki 3AC mein WL status tha, usne