Travelogue of trip to Goa

THE PRELUDE

Though Yours Truly and my Better Half have been to Goa before our wedding as a part of Railfanning trip and College Industrial visit respectively, we hadn't experienced Goa as a holiday destination. Our honeymoon was in Munnar, Thekkady and Alleppey, whereas our other short weekend trips involved Igatpuri, Lonavala and Mahabaleshwar. Hence, when we started planning in mid February for a holiday destination to celebrate my wife's birthday, we were pretty sure of a beach destination and that’s how we decided on Goa. As the second week of April had a long paid weekend and overnight journeys perfectly fitted into our itinerary, we booked by 10111 Konkankanya Express departing on 11th April from Mumbai and return by 10112 departing Goa on 14th April, with hotel stays in Estrela Do Mar Beach Resort at Calangute.  This itinerary ensured that we could work on 11th and board the train late night, sleep through the journey and reach afresh, the next morning. This way we could also welcome my wife’s birthday in Goa on 14th April.

We always start by shopping 2 weeks prior to our short trips and with a long 'To Do ' list prepared in our Smartphone to ensure we don’t forget anything in the last minute. The onus of researching the places of interest and logistics of getting to them always rested on my shoulders being a rail fan. As days progressed, our excitement was growing but, with a lot of office work we had very little time to back our bags and hence decided to do the same on the evening of 11th April after returning early from work by referring to our ‘To Do’ list.

THE D DAY (My Railfanning overtures might turn you off)

A Freight Coach derailment on the early morning of 11th April between Adavali and Nivsar had caused delays in Konkan Railways (KR). I knew the fate of my train depended on the incoming 10104 Mandovi Express as its Rake was shared with our 10111. I had come to work for a 07:00 – 16:00 shift and was glued to the Current Running Status Webpage of KR to see the immaculate controlling. When I left office to reach Andheri (ADH), my wife called up to say that she was going to be terribly late. We also had to pack our bags for Goa Sojourn. I decided to wait for her on the Borivali End Foot over Bridge of ADH and observe the WR controlling of trains as well as the Mumbai Metro zooming above them. I could spot AC Retros, ACDC MRVC, MEMU to Dahanu, WAP hauled Yuva Express and August Kranti Rajdhani express in that one hour railfanning session. Finally, Jab We Met and took a slow train to have a peaceful journey to Dadar, we were already in the Holiday mood. Surprisingly, we got a rather empty fast train to Amaranth at 18:43 from Dadar. After rushing back home, packing our bags with reference to the ‘To Do’ List, we dined with parents and left home at 22:30. Last update of incoming 10104 was that it reached Diva at 21:37 and was expected at 23:00 at CST.

We took 22:44 Fast to Thane (TNA). This was the same train I had taken from Kasara to Dombivli during my Mumbai Suburban Trip. We were made to wait for 11013 LTT Coimbatore Express to cross over to mainline as it departed from Pf 7. After alighting, we went to Pf 7 and moved 14 coach positions from loco to reach our S1 coach indicator. As we waited, 12115 Siddheshwar Express arrived on Pf 5 followed by Shirdi / Pandharpur Fast passenger behind WCAM2.The way it entered the station was so breathtaking as if it didn't have a stop. I told Bhavia to observe how this train which was entering TNA Pf 5 with utter disdain but will eventually stop with very hard braking. She couldn’t believe her eyes and was amazed at the way it came to a standstill within a few seconds.

The Public Address System (PAS) was continuously announcing that the 2 trains were indeed one, and the first segment was 11 coaches long and the remaining was the second train. Soon, Kushinagar Express arrived on Pf 7 with a customary WAP4, which cleared the Pf of a few commuters. In the meanwhile an ALCO brought the 12051 Madgaon Dadar Janshatabdi back to TNA. I explained to Bhavia how this train had left Mumbai early in the morning to Madgaon and returned back.  Ideally the next expected departure from Pf 7 was our 10111 Konkankanya Express but a delayed incoming arrival of our pairing train meant 10111 departed CST delayed by 20 min. I would still say it was a good turnaround story. The last Down Fast local of the day came and went around 23:58. LTT-Amritsar with Dhulia Slip coaches was allowed first use of Pf 7 at 00:10 and finally WDP4# 20043 in LHF mode brought 10111 on the pf. We boarded and got our preferred berths seats 23 and 24 (side lower and upper) in S1, next to Pantry Car and AC Coaches. By the time, we left TNA it was 00:25 and we moved slowly but surely on our path through Parsik Tunnel and then diverted to Panvel Line at Diva. We arrived Panvel around 01:15 and then I locked my luggage to the rings underneath the seats and made our beds and asked Bhavia to take Side Upper and I settled in Side Lower. With Emergency window and the adjacent window open, I dozed off to sleep. I knew our train was running late by an hour and it would keep losing time but it was in our interest as our Check-In Time was 14:00. By morning, we were running late by 2 hours. This meant we would eventually reach Thivim at 11:00hrs.

When we booked for Konkankanya express, I was excited to be onboard the Food Express with Ahuja Caterers to pacify my hunger for train food. Bhavia is not a great fan of Sleeper Class rail journeys and prefers AC accommodation contrary to my aspirations. My day started with equal shares of Tea and Coffee, followed by Idli and Medu vadas. I had cajoled Bhavia to not bother dissuading me from tasting food in this train. After a few minutes, we tasted the Veg Cutlets followed by another round of Tea. After Chiplun, we were chugging along at sedate pace with the innumerable stops for this train. The continuous bridge and tunnel saga continued as we crossed a few trains enroute. Bhavia is a very cautious train traveller and doesn’t like to get down at stations, exactly opposite to my nature. Finally, I convinced her to get down at Ratnagiri as the train will have crew change here. We strolled for a few metres before being back in our hut. Konkankanya stops at almost all stations in Konkan railway after Ratnagiri and serves the population well. Our coach barely had a few people left after Kanakavli and we reached Thivim at 11:00 on the main platform. It’s a miniscule station by Indian Railways standards but quite okay when compared to other stations on Konkan Railways.

GOA  DAY 1( Sedate Start)

The station building exit leads to the ticketing counter as well as a ramp to get out of the station. We used the ramp to slowly come out to the scores of Auto and Cab drivers waiting for passengers. An auto driver offered to take us to our resort in Calangute for Rs.350. We decided to take the bait and off we went in the Typical Goan Auto with doors, sliding glass windows and curtains separating the passenger and driver compartment. The ride was mesmerizing for both of us as suddenly we could feel the narrow roads, the red sand and farming plots with huge billboards almost similar to our native place, Kerala. I had already mapped the journey on my Smartphone and the auto was tracing all the right dots to finally end up at Calangute Panchayat. It was more like a small town with hustling and bustling shops. We entered the Kingdom of Honda Activa and Avenger Bikes. They were omnipresent and riders looked in no hurry to zip through the small alleys. We could see a lot of bare chested men in shorts and skimpily clad women roaming around without any sense of insecurity. Goa gives you the freedom to live your life on your own terms. There is no culture policing here and even though I was coming from Mumbai which is considered to be one of the most cosmopolitan cities in India, this nature of Goa made me feel very liberated from within. We reached Estrela Do Mar Beach Resort within 40 minutes from Thivim.  The Bell desk helped us with our luggage and welcome drink was offered at the reception as we enquired on our reservation. The receptionist asked us to wait for a few minutes at the reception lounge as the check-in time as 14:00 and the resort was running to full capacity.

After sitting for a few minutes, I decided to take a go-around and study the place. The direction signs led me to the beach and I was really excited to see the blue and white waters just at the end of the beach shack of our resort. There were innumerable guests waiting for check-in and check-out. We decided to quench our thirsts in the Resort restaurant. We went back to the reception after sipping on Fruit-Juice to find our rooms ready. After completing the check-in formalities, we were escorted to the Luxury Room 218 located quite close to the restaurant and reception on the 1^st floor. We were happy that the room was very clean and enticing. We decided to freshen up, munch on our already delayed lunch and rest before we hit the beach in the evening. Lunch included Fish Fingers and Chicken Club Sandwich. We dozed off for a few hours and then got ready to hit the beach in the evening.

We walked onto the pristine sands of the beach. The instant sinking feeling and the alluring waves got the better of us and we ventured into knee deep water. The water was very clean. Our resort is on the border of Baga and Calangute. So we decided to stroll through the ankle deep water to as far as we could. April 12^th was a Polling day in Goa and there was blanket ban on Liquor till late evening. All the beach shacks wore a deserted look. The boys and girls on the beach could be heard asking the shack owners about the time when the Liquor would be served again. We are teetotallers and this never bothered us. We were lost in the arms of each other in a lazy stroll. As the sunset approached, Tourism Police started persuading people to return to the beach from deep inside water. Neither was their call imposing or enforcing, yet majority of the revellers took the good advice and returned to the safer environs. We spend a few hours of dusk and night on the beach, reliving our togetherness and charting a new course for our lives. The place is so full of energy, yet gives you some great private moments.

We returned back to the resort restaurant for a special ‘Ghazal Night’.  When we settled at our table, the singer was still dabbling with his instruments. Not knowing, how good or bad the concert was going to be, we decided to wait and watch. Bhavia ordered for a Triple Schezwan Plate and I decided to take the Dinner Buffet to satisfy my hunger pangs. Dinner Buffet included unlimited supplies of ‘Tomato Soup with bread crumps’, ‘Veg Pulav’, ‘Paneer Butter Masala’, ‘ Fish Fry’, ‘Chicken Curry’, ‘Butter Naan’, ‘Gulab Jamun’ and a host of few other Veg curries. I had a paisa vasool meal as the singer had started his renditions. He had belted out some of the most famous ghazals of yesteryears of Jagjit Singh, Pankaj Udhas, Roop Kumar Rathod and Anup Jalota.

After dinner we returned to the reception to enquire about the places to visit. The Travel Desk Agent offered us a one day trip of Goa covering most of the places at a rate of Rs 430 per person. We decided to enrol ourselves for the group trip in a tempo traveller. We returned back to our room and watched TV for sometime before hitting the sack. We had to wake up early to be ready for our Tour, departing at 08:45.

GOA DAY 2 (Sightseeing Spree)

We woke up at 07:00 and after finishing our morning chores and packing the essentials for the day in a single bag pack, we rushed to the beach shack to feast on the buffet breakfast. Our options included Tea/Coffee, fresh fruit juice, bread toast, jam, omelette, idli, poha, cut fruits and porridge. With not much time on our hands we hurried through the first meal of the day. The foreigners were already in their sunbathing suits ready to hit the scorching beach beds as the waves continued to lash the shores while we finished our breakfast. We have an unwritten Service Level Agreement between us. We have granted each other full permission to glance at the beach babes and studs, instead of being hypocritical and pretend to not watch. We believe, window shopping is good for health, since marriage as an institution has instilled a great amount of respect, physically and emotionally to us. There was a lot of skin show on the beach and I did enjoy some uninterrupted viewing from our beach shack.

It was 8:50 by the time we reached the reception for our group trip. The Tempo traveller was waiting for us. We occupied the last 2 seats. Besides us was a Maharashtrian kid with his uber chic mom. Ahead of us were a newly married couple from Bangalore, a small family of 2 kids and parents again from Bangalore and a Tamilian family of 6 members including a pregnant lady, an oldie uncle and an infant. Basically we had representation from most of South West India. We left the resort by 09:10 and hit the highway soon. Hot Indian summer was making it unbearable inside. The driver turned on the AC to cool things a bit. Our first destination was Coco Beach. Each of us contributed Rs 250 to the driver to ensure the ticketing for the forthcoming rides/visits is taken care off.

Coco Beach is rather a jetty were you can walk through shallow waters to get onto medium sized motorboats. Our group decided to stick around together and hence the motorboat hired was exclusively used by our fellow members. As we steered away from the shores the first spotting was the Millionaire’s Palace which overlooked the seas from the high ground. It was supposed to be built in 1960s by a Diamond Merchant at Rs 60 Million. Next on our radar were the overwhelming Fort Aquada and the accompanying Central Jail.  The light houses could be seen on the coastline. Though the old grandeur had taken a back seat, it is still worth a watch from the seas. We must have moved almost a nautical mile into the sea. It was time to spot Dolphins.  Around us were about 5 other motorboats with equal number of enthusiastic tourists like us. We were told that Dolphins peek over the water surface hardly for 3-4 seconds before going down. Everyone within the boat was on the lookout for the elusive dolphins now. After a few minutes, one of the kids in our group yelled out pointing towards one dolphin which was taking a dive back into the ocean. We got a glimpse for 2 seconds. We wanted more. Our boat moved to a different spot and we all waited with baited breath. The dolphins came up once again and this time it was cheered and clapped. After spending another 15 minutes spotting Dolphins in their natural habitat, we were contended and each one of us had a Kodak moment of the Dolphins. We headed back to the shore and returned back to our vehicle.

Next Up on the chart was Old Goa. The feeling of being blessed and an aura of positivity and innumerable prayers could be felt in the church of Bom Jesus, Se Cathedral, and the Archaeological Museum. We offered our prayers with candles for the well being our family and returned to the Bus parking bay to irresistible ice-cream stalls. The summer was getting to us and what better than taking in a lot of fluids. We ensured that we tanked up on a lot of water to avoid dehydration. Our driver insisted on taking us to the Wax Museum. Though not everyone was inclined, eventually everyone succumbed to his persistent requests. The Wax idols were kept in a very cold ambient temperature to prevent melting. We had a guide who took us around showing all the models. Some of the eminent and notable models were of M K Gandhi, Albert Einstein, Radha-Krishna, Mother Teresa, and George Washington, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and a host of Bollywood personalities. After driving along the highway for a few kilometres we took a break at a Trimurthi restaurant. The AC enclosure was empty and we made it our own. We sat with the Honeymoon couple on the same table. We ordered for Naan and Chicken Tikka Masala. The breakfast, we had in the morning was filling and hence we shared the lunch between us. The other couple had ordered for Fish Biryani and Prawns Biryani. Our food was palatable but going by the feedback of the other couple, the fish biryani wasn’t that great as it had just a piece of cooked fish with biryani rice.

We all huddled back into our Tempo and made it to our next destination, the Mangeshi Temple. The parking lot was slightly away from the temple, so we had to walk up to the temple gate. We climbed the steps and were treated to a very visually pleasing Temple structure. To me it looked as if it had drawn inspirations from Hindu-Syrian Culture. At the entrance to the inner sanctum decorum, we realised that we had chicken for lunch and hence decided to not venture any further. We moved around the outer periphery of the temple and clicked the soothing temple pond. The way to the Parking lot has a lot of shops selling Kokam Sharbat. We sipped in 2 glasses to tap some more fluid into our system. Bhavia wanted a temporary tattoo and the hawker promised that it would stay on for a month. It’s a 30 second job to get yourself inked and she proudly showed it off on her wrist for a few more snaps.

The journey continued through the plush areas of Panjim. Our driver halted near a shop to ensure the shoppers in our group could fill up their bags with Cashews and Wines. As we went past many government administrative buildings, we ended up climbing small hills to reach a stretch of promenade called as Dona Paulo. We get great views of the river and sea confluence in the distance. The Zuari Bridge could be seen in the horizon and the steps lead you to the statue of Dona and Paula after whom the place is named.  Some Bollywood movies have been shot here. A doze of Fresh Lime Soda revitalized us and we moved further to our next spot which was Miramar Beach. This is a sandy beach and vast tracts of sand kept a lot of kids engrossed in building their fantasy castles. We couldn’t stop ourselves from having Paani-Puri Mumbai style and Frostik Ice-cream as we sat on a bench close to the beach. The final destination for the day was Boat Cruise.

We headed to the parking lot below the beautiful twin bridges over the Mandovi River. It was 17:10 and the queue to board the cruise was extending onto the adjacent road. After an agonising 20 minute wait, we managed to get on to the topmost deck of Princesa De Goa. The seating capacity was more than 300 and after everyone settled down, The Compere introduced us to the itinerary of the Cruise. DJ started as our Boat left the shore heading downstream to the Arabian Sea. Kids of all ages were encouraged to shake a leg on the podium followed by a traditional welcome dance by Goan attired performers. This was followed by an impromptu session for couples on the boat. We both have left feet and decided to watch it from a distance. The other performances for the day included 1 Portuguese and 1 Konkani dance which were well Time separated by providing the dance floor for men and women to let their hair down and dance to the best of their abilities. Bhavia and your truly had good time spotting the weird dancing uncles and dumb girls. The cruise reached the neck of the river at sunset and as we turned around back to the jetty, Miramar beach and the Marriott’s with their private beach could be seen from our cruise boat. We returned back to the resort by 20:00.

The whole day was very well spent and we wanted to hit the bed as soon as we freshened up. Our bed was nicely decorated with a heart and a swan made from the bath towel. I guess, the Housekeeping staffs were intimated that the room was for a couple. We really appreciated that kind and sweet gesture. Instead of heading to the restaurant, we ordered from in-room dining this time. We feasted on Chicken Biryani and Chicken Lollipop and decided to call it a day.

GOA DAY 3 (Freelancing, Birthday & Anticlimax)

Bhavia always complained about my obsession to check Whatsapp messages on my varied railfanning groups. Today, 14^th April was her birthday and I wanted to give her all the attention and give her no reason to complain. Today was also our last day in Goa as we had to check-out at 11:00 am and catch the 10112 at 18:55 from Thivim. Since the time gap between check-out and train departure was a humongous 8 hours, we first tried to book for a late check-out. The resort was full to the capacity and the Duty Manager conveyed his helplessness. Coming from a Hospitality background, I could understand his dilemma. I had a backup plan in place. We packed our bags and had our Buffet Breakfast, which included Puri, Chole and some English breakfast along with the other accompaniments. We checked-out at 11:00 and kept our bags in the Resort’s Cloak room as the Manager assured us the safety of our bags and also allowed us to return back and use the wash and change facility of the resort near the swimming pool. I checked washrooms on offer and gladly kept our luggage. We ventured out to the Bike stand and hired an Activa for Rs. 300 per day. The vendor kept my Aadhar Card for proof of identity and we tanked up 2 litres for Rs. 80 per litre in 2 intervals during the day.

We started from Calangute and headed north. The road signs in Goa are very good and you rarely need to stop and ask for directions. We left the Calangute Panchayat and after riding the bike for 20 minutes we reached Anjuna Beach. This is a rocky beach and after going down the steep pathway to reach the rock and soaking in the scenery, we returned back to the bike and rode through Arpora and went past Double Tree by Hilton. We headed further north and reached Vagator. There were a lot of college girls playing in the calm beach waters. I wrote Bhavia’s name in sand and we sat and played around in the waters for few minutes. The Chapora Fort can be seen from Vagator on a hill overlooking the beach. It was 13:30 and we had set ourselves a deadline of 16:30 to reach our resort back to freshen up. The Rs. 1000 voucher from Dominos was lying in my bag for a long time now. We go crazy when we see a Dominos outlet. We returned back to Anjuna’s Dominos Pizza Outlet and ordered for our all time favourite, “Chicken Golden Delight Pizza with extra Chicken Toppings”, with “Garlic Bread” and “Chocó Lava”. These are the only items we like in Dominos and we feasted on her birthday in style with these free vouchers.  Next up was shopping for some ethnic bags, T-shirts and Shorts as souvenir for the trip. As I took her around the numerous shops in Calangute, she completed her shopping and was brimming with joy. Finally, we reached the resort by 16:45.

As planned earlier in the day we freshened up and returned the bike to collect my ID Card. We filled the Hotel Feedback Form generously and hired a taxi to Thivim to reach the station by 18:00. After paying off the Taxi Driver as we were moving towards the Station Ramp, an old worried lady of around 60 yrs was waiting with luggage. She looked in our direction and announced, “Don’t leave your Taxi. Trains are all cancelled. Go back to your hotel. There has been an accident.” We were shell shocked to hear that. We reconfirmed it from her and still couldn’t believe our ears. Not wanting to take a chance, we walked up the Ramp to PF1 and the dreaded PAS announcements of 10112 being cancelled were heard loud and clear. The agony on the faces of the passengers waiting on the platform could be seen. We looked at each other in disbelief and uttered the same three words simultaneously, “What the F***”.

Had I kept the Rail fans Whatsapp group ON, we would have been informed about the issue earlier in the day itself and could have chalked out a contingency plan but Digital Detoxing therapy (no whatsapp day) which I practiced meant that I was clueless of this mishap. Immediately turned on my data connection and after 2 minutes the number of unread messages stood at a staggering 1289. I swiped through the messages broadly and found the press release from Mr. Rajendra Akklekar about my train being cancelled. I rued my mistake and was feeling very bad for my wife. It was her birthday and we had spent 3 fabulous days in Goa and the return journey was screwed. I had been on many rail journeys earlier where trains have got late but this was the first time when my train had got cancelled. Bhavia was still in disbelief of the turn of events.

We decided to sit on a bench and plan our further course of action. With a deep breath, I told her that no matter what, we will go home today. Returning back to stay in the hotel was not an option on our mind at 18:30 in the evening. The RED signal lights at both ends of the platforms were a sign of things to come. I told Bhavia that we will take the next flight out and not worry about the expenses incurred. She started looking for tickets on the Panjim-Mumbai sector and found tickets at Rs 9800 for a late night flight of GO AIR departing at 23:55. She said that she will call up her office travel agent and check with him for a cheaper flight. Unfortunately, he answered in the negative and offered tickets only for the next day afternoon. I told Bhavia to not worry about the costs and simply go ahead and book the flight tickets for the same night visible in Cleartrip App. As soon as she checked again for availability, even that flight was out of bound and no flights tickets were available. Immediately, I decided to use the Redbus.in App to ensure that at least we get a seat in a bus as all the alternate modes of transport were filling up fast. We could see last few seats available on Neeta Volvo departing from Ambedkar Garden at 20:30 and 21:30. Not knowing how far the place was from Thivim, we decided to take a safe bet on the 21:30 departure. That gave us 3 hours to reach Ambedkar Garden. I booked 2 seats for a 21:30 departure after enquiring with a railway police and an auto driver for the approximate time and cost needed to reach there. Smartphones saved the day for us. We made online payment and after securing our reservation and receiving an email from Redbus, we ventured out of the station with our luggage back to the Auto stand.

The Auto driver settled for Rs.450 for the ride to Ambedkar Garden from Thivim Railway Station. We were not in a mood to bargain and decided to take it without any further discussion. We left Thivim at 18:45 and decided to inform our parents only after we reach the Pick-up point as these disruptions might cause unwanted headache for them. The ride was very fast and soon we were threading the same routes we had taken to our Boat Cruise on Mandovi. We realised that Ambedkar Garden was in fact near the boat jetty in the busy city centre area near the intra state bus stand. We reached by 19:30 and had 2 hours to kill. We spotted the Neeta office and after confirming our bus timings, we went around the place in the night and then returned back after purchasing a few snacks for the journey. I consoled Bhavia that even though we were struck with an adversity we did the best to circumvent the situation. She agreed and promised to be happy and not worry about the issues we faced in the last leg of the journey as it was something which we did not have a grip on. We called up our parents and described the situation in brief. My mom is very inquisitive in nature and I had to be stern and tell her upfront that she had to listen clearly what I was going to tell before she asks me any further questions. She agreed and then I gave her a gist of the events. She was relieved that we had managed to get ourselves booked on a bus. We asked our families to not worry about us and have a peaceful sleep.

We used the power points at Neeta Office to recharge our mobiles to ensure they lasted till we reached home. At 21:20, the bus arrived and after marking our luggage for Vashi, we ventured into the Neeta Volvo Multi Axle Semi Sleeper (2x2 seating) B9R Series of TNA registration MH-04 8788. Our seat numbers were 15 and 16, which were the third last row in the bus. Seats were reclining and the AC was cooling. There were curtains and bottle holders for every seat which are a standard feature in all the Volvos nowadays. But the comfort of a train journey was missing. With a Bollywood movie playing and some stupid parents with young kids inside the bus, the peace which you look forward to in a night journey was missing. It was very uncomfortable to pretend to sleep in those semi-sleeper seats. Being from Kerala, our long journeys have always been by trains and we were quite accustomed to the environs of free movements in trains. By 00:30, our bus had made innumerable stops to get more passengers onboard. We had wrapped ourselves in the blankets provided on every seat. Yet the feeling of sitting through this agony for the rest of the journey was killing us. With seats reclined, there is hardly any space for even shifting in your seat. Bhavia had a niggling pain in her knees for the past few days and this posture was going to worsen it further. I somehow manage to sleep through the pain but Bhavia had a very troublesome night. At 6:30 am we had entered Pune and early morning as we started the descent down the hills; we stopped at the Food Mall on the Expressway. For some much needed relief, we got out of our seats and walked around the area for a few minutes. Bhavia was in pain and was limping. Gradually after soaking up some sunlight and walking for a few meters, her condition was bearable. We sat through another 90 minutes to get down at Vashi Naka at 09:00. We took an auto back home who charged us 350 and we were home by 9:40.

We spent the rest of the day resting at home and relishing the good moments spent together. I copied all the snaps onto a pen drive and played it on our LCD TV for everyone at home. We also decided to never take Semi-sleeper buses for long journeys. Trains will always be our preferable mode of transport to see India. Hope you were with me through this cumbersome post and did not leave it midway. Thanks a lot for the patient reading.

Nikhil P Karunakaran

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