Gaurav Purwar

After 14 hours of travel for Bhuntar, we were losing our patience. It was mainly hunger and desperation to reach our camp. Our focus was on the beauty of Kasol, which was visible from Bhuntar. But the struggle was, “How to get transport to reach Kasol?” __ “Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet”: Aristotle We had a tight budget so our first choice was obviously a public bus. Unluckily, during that period there was a huge crowd at Bhuntar bus stand. So we decided to alter the plan. We went to the taxi booth, but no success achieved. Now, we went hopeless and we were not sure how to continue. As usual, MC came with a conclusion out of the topic, “Let's skip all and have some momos!” No doubt we were hungry, and we couldn't deny his proposal. We settled at the Momos shop and we were eating like a monster. We spent an hour eating and resting. As we over, we ran toward the taxi booth as an empty taxi was approaching the booth. Luckily with some patience, we were final...

It's true when we expect the least then only we are able to enjoy the most. Or we can say expectations suck us, and stop us to enjoy the most. I learned this from my previous trip. My trip started with my squad and this time Bhaskar was with us. Cause of him we planned this trip (there is another story regarding the second trip, but let me stick to the post). We collected at R. K. Ashram metro station, from there we were supposed to board our bus. With private buses, I never had a good experience. But this time, it was upside down. Even I need to cross-check the bus number twice to confirm whether I am boarding the correct bus. With heavy traffic jams and a few on-road pickups, after 2 hours of boarding we were able to skip Delhi behind us. We were on the highway. And our bus was running on speed. We, all 5, were settled on the last 5 seats with mutual agreement. Along with this we were trying not to irritate couples sitting ahead of us. The bus was bounded to Manali and...

It was 4:30 am, we locked the doors of our house and headed towards our cab which was waiting outside. We were on the time, and I was excited as in a few hours it would be my first ever flight experience. Around 9:30 am, after the ticket collection and security checkup, I was on my seat of Vistara's flight bounded to Bhubaneshwar. This was going to be a 2 hours flight and our captain shared the brief description of the weather of Bhubaneshwar which was going to be a pleasant one. In the next 30 minutes flight take off and I was having goosebumps. As the flight taking a sharp turn towards the East, I was experiencing myself on a twister ride of Worlds of Wonder. In a few minutes, everything went normal. And from the window, I was able to see the shinning Himalayas range. I wish one day I could climb it. It was 3:00 pm and we were on the way to Konark from Bhubaneshwar. Although, Odisha is still known to be a warm place during March-April. But that day weather was all diffe...

In the aspect of a large population and connectivity, Kanpur owns one of the five central railway stations of India. The Kanpur Central connects major cities in India and yes India's capital too. Based on the increased demand for connectivity to New Delhi, on September 1st, 2002 Nothern Central Railway introduced a non-stop train, Shramshakti Express, between New Delhi and Kanpur. Since then this train is known as a night-rider of this route. However, to be in the busiest Delhi-Howrah route, there are already many other trains connecting Kanpur to New Delhi still, this train owes another level of a bond to every Kanpurist. __ What makes this train unique? Shramshakti express is a non-stop superfast train and preferred by common people, VVIPs, and ministers due to its punctuality, timing, and safety. The train equipped with RPF guards and with zero stoppage, for 410 km, anyone doesn't need to be worried about their luggage. And many times, you might witness yourself rea...

Kalka is not only a terminus of the broad gauge railway of India. However, from there one of the mountain railways of India originate. This railway line is around 96 km long and connects Kalka with Shimla. It passes through diversified scenes and shows marvelous engineering. There is a roadway that connects Shimla with Kalka, but to be the part of my bucket list, I chose this rail route. How is this rail route different from other rail routes?  This mountain rail route is identified by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. And do you know, this 96 km rail route has around: 988 bridges 917 curves (with a few which are too sharp) 102 tunnels (I counted it by myself) The whole route is covered with dense forest and rich diversity. In some instances, you might find clouds floating near you, plants waving you off, mountains running by your side and the Sun playing hide & seek with you. On 31st August 2019, I was lucky to witness this heritage rou...

** From running behind the time, to be on time ** It is the evening of August 30th, 2019. The squad is excited as it will be the first trip after we separated. Our bags are packed, all bookings are confirmed and we all are waiting to reunite. We decided to meet at the Old Delhi Metro Station and from there we will walk together to the railway station and there we will be going to board our train. __ August 30th, 2019 11:45 pm Everything was on time, but our train is not. When we boarded our train, it was running late by 3 hours, only God knows how much it will be going to delay. And with this delay, we are sure that we will be going to miss our first Toy Train ride from the Kalka station. We started to look at other possible options and just praying for some miracle. __ August 31st, 2019 01:00 am We don't know where we are on the Google Map, but the good news is we are running late by 2 hours, and our train is covering its delay time. With this, there is a go...