Eastern Escape: The journey begins - Getanjali Express

The planning had started approx 3 months back when we thought an East India trip would be exciting. The tour had to begin with a trip to Kolkata which is 1969 Km from Mumbai. The very thought of a 31 hr train journey sent shivers down our spines, but considering the budget we had in place, we had no choice. Also to top it we had Rahul with us , which meant every second would be an event. We boarded the train at CST with Sachin sticking to his plan of not getting up before 04:30 am. Eventually we all got there and the train rumbled towards Howrah Jn.

The train journey was a eventful one , to say the least...
The first thing which comes to my mind is Rahul solving Sudoku which was mind boggling.. He completed it in style and we have a photo to prove it.

The highlight of the train journey was when we were all eating food. The NV guys were eating chicken and to avoid my hand getting sticky I was eating it with a spoon. There was a man outside the compartment who saw something funny in eating the chicken with a spoon and passed side remarks about the same . Sachin who was sitting on the Top half of the side berth did not not see the funny side of it and started shouting at the man. He got quickly down from the berth and went towards the man to ask him what he meant by the chicken episode. He also tried to tell the man to get off the train without realising that the train was still moving. While all this was happening Akshay and Ameiya also went outside the compartment to deal with the stranger. The man was frightened and was ready to apologise. He got down from the compartment at the next station which again bought calm to the compartment.

We were also troubled by a mouse who managed nibble at the "theplas" which Rutuja had made. The mystry was that the bag in which the "theplas" were kept was untouched.

A bengali babu in the next compartment frustrated us with Bengali songs which went on and on and on like a never ending desert with no water all the way...

It was a long wait the next morning, as it was a matter of time before we reached Kolkata. Rahul kept us entertaining throughout and he also compared Rutu with a Dog (What he meant was: How a dog is attracted towards a Bone likewise Rutu is attracted towards Football).

All in all it was a pleasant journey and nothing like we initially thought it would be. The train reached Howrah 1/2 hr late and Abhijeet was there to pick us up to take us towards Tollyganj where we were put up.