-----------AN INTERESTING YUVA JOURNEY---------
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‘Yuva Express’ as we call it, had been one innovative, but an unsuccessful experiment of the Indian Railways. Such was the magnitude of the failure that there could be no more, and the two introduced initially are only kept alive by the heavy rush on their respective routes. There are plenty more reasons, and have been discussed umpteen times. So I would rather get to my report than trying to repeat things no one is interested in.
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My brother was supposed to appear in an entrance exam on 8th June and the plans were to return on the same day. This train, as always, served as a valuable last option for us. After encountering a scorching summer day, we arrived NZM pretty early as we had nothing else do. My brother blamed it on my new found habit of ‘collecting’ pictures of trains, but little did he knew that the heat had left me as much interested in Rail Fanning as him. We had a nice lunch at Comesum and made our way to platform 7 where Goa Express stood with pride. Soon, she glided away on her scheduled time, revealing an array of WAPs which would drop the jaws of any railfan. My only RF activity of the day was hence catalysed and I again withdrew myself to the bench.
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Around 3:20 a BRC WAP-4E 22209 quietly pulled in with the rake and all my hopes of it getting a white beast that day were dashed. Small space overhead for keeping luggage in the train only meant that there was going to be a stiff competition between those travelling with big bags to get in the train quickly and ensure that their baggage was in place. We moved inside swiftly by the virtue of our small backpacks and sat on our seats peacefully. Amidst all the chaos, two loud voices, one of a male and other of a female, were heard exchanging abuses. A little inquiry from other passengers enlightened us about it. The girl had slapped the boy believing him to be a serial eve-teaser. The haste to board the train probably gave birth to this misunderstanding. However, their prudence got better of them as they decided to abandon the issue. But there were more shocking things to follow.
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To be continued……