So, among our travels the week after marriage, was a trip from Shimla to Kalka on the toy train ( ask google mama for the curious ones) ... 2.20 pm from shimla was the passenger train, supposed to reach Kalka at 8.15 pm, more than enuf time left for our Kalka-Delhi train supposed to leave Kalka station at 11.55 pm
The narrow guage train had a few general compartments , two reserved second class, and a reserved first class- well the first class had one section with 3 seats and another with 5 .. Seeing the general full, I got our general ticket changed to first class ( which is the only place where the seats were left) - for the first time I was travelling Indian Railways on a class greater that II SL ... - may be thats why I was destined not to complete the journey
The route was scenic, the enthusiasm dampened only by the incessant rains that had been pouring for over 20 hours by then ( a record of sorts say the locals) - and thats the excuse I shall give for not getting nice pictures.....
Come 5.30 ( half way into the journey) , a big boulder fell onto the compartment right behind us with a big sound - to one of the II reserved ... Thankfully it fell onto the door, so none got injured ( the stone was big enuf to kill 1 or 2 ) ... 2 hrs they tried breaking the stone and letting the train move, but hearing that there were further landslides ahead on the route, the railway - yes the railway arranged for taxis for the first class passengers upto Kalka ... as we were leaving I heard them say "Let the first class people go first - we will take care of the rest after that". Leave it to u for ur own comments and conslusions abt IR :-)
Here are coupld of snaps I took of the stone - but with all the rain and the darkness by then, I could not do much justice ...
On the road trip too ( the taxi), at one stage there was a big tree fallen on the road and blocking traffic - the driver was smart enough that instead of waiting for the Army ( !!) to come and clear it which could have taken 2-3 hrs , he took us through an alternate route , and safely got us at Kalka an hour and half before midnite ... quite a trip that was !!
