7:28 p.m. Surat, about 9 min early.
The day started at 5:00 am withthe sound of alarm i set. Tried to ignore it firsttime but the repeat alarms finally made to leave the bed.
Well got ready by 6, did the final check of luggage and locks and other necessary step before leaving the house. Reached station well in time, though the west side ticket window was not opened yet. So I had to cross the plateforms and go to east side window, not much rush. Bought ticket for 7:15 Deccan Queen to Dadar. There was a catch though, it don't stop at Thane as I planned to have a break there instead of waiting at BCT. The announcer was making announcement of Saiyadari exp arrival and scheduled departure at 7:00...
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am. My mind immediately thought a better plan, at least that I thought at the moment and decided to board SE instead of DQ. It stops at Thane. There were some upper births empty in unreserved coach and I thought, wonderfull, I can go sleeping. Well, it started at 7:13 instead of 7:00, bad omen, i realised. Well at least it started. Immediately there was stoppage at Shivaji Ngr, hmm , o.k., let people board the trainand it will start. 2 min past but it didn't moved. Ohhgreat, it is givng pass to DQ. Well Its SF so let it go. When it stoped at pimpri, I realised that I had made the mistake already. Now there is no turn around. I decided to finish my remaining sleep.
At Talegaoun, some other train passed. After some time I opened my eyes to find a lot of people standing in the isle. So I wake up and offer other guys to share the seat. One guy came up, he talked a little, asked where I am going and all then he tried to sleep sitting. After some time he gestured me that I can be at ease and strech my legs towards his back. I was thankful to him and did so, immidiately he resiprocate and went sleep. Wow! I didn't thought about this. Well all the Ghats passed this way an we reached Karzat.

A lot of hawkers started coming to sale evry thing from fruits to key chains. Apart from the regular Lonawala chikki guys. Well I am suffering from stomach infection so didn't had courage to try any thing, sply when I had to travel almost 20 hrs more. On the way i got urge get my self relieved so there comes tarzon journey over the people sitting and big size parcels kept in the asle. At least the toilet was clean, sort of. The journey continued slowly and we reached Kalyan. Still couldn't get any seat, the coushined one so had to wait till Thane. I then replaned my itinerary and droped idea of giving halt at Thane as it will take 2 hrs for to and fro and I had to start early because of Sunday. The bus and train services are less. So continued till Dadar. My roomi from...
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Mumbai gave me ticket coupens so I don't have to wait in line forticket. So one click and I have ticket to travel. Boarded a local to Church gate and got down at BCT.
The moment I deboarded the train, one guy in white dress gestured me like he is asking for help for luggage, my bad, I immidiately realised its not for my luggage, its for ticket. In time of eTicket and fare card journeies, I forgot about the fading brigade of ticket Checkers. Btw, we are about to reach Vadodara and TTe has not come yet.

I showed the ticket, said thanks and gone to 1F forgoing to waiting room.
I had to ge down back to ground, crossed the station and climbed to 1F again. The attendent said, I need to come back at 3, the waiting room is closed every sunday 8 to 3 for pest control. So I was directed to second waiting. Specious room and lot of chairs and old time fans trying to throw air as much as possible. Down in the back the rilway union office is playing bhajns loudly.
After spendin an hour and half, I decided to stroll around BCT. Outside a nice park maintained with SL as the main attraction. Lot of taxiwala came asking for airport, don't know why as I was dressed for travel in train...
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in my shorts and a loose T-shirt. Out side nothing much to see, some roadside stalls for wada paav and other food stuff, 5 minute walk from ther took me to market place. In that moderate temprature and my stomach aching for something light, I opted to go for Natural Icecreams. If you visit there, it's worth giving a try.
Came back to waiting room and it still 2:48 pm so have to wait another 10 minutes. By the time it's three, a large group of people came there and every one trying to run and get a seat in waiting room. Well, we are not used to follow queue system anywhere.
8:30 pm, dinner served. Can't say much as all i had is curd dal and parantha.
But the quality is way better then Duronto.

Finally at 8:50 , Mr. Mohan S TTE came to check the ticket.
One thing I realised that there ar mor people travelling by upper class them sleeper class or at least more people using the wIting room from upper claas. The room was full with in a minute and people were using tables as chair or simply sitting on their luggage.
Well, at 4 attendant announced arrival of Rajdhani and people started to run. Wait a minute, isn't it the all reserved train then why is th mad rush because there is good 40 minute to departure and platformis only 3 minute away. B1 will take max 8 minutes. Ohh yes, clicked my memories, the rush is for putting luggage first under the seats. The great fight for luggage space.
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Well, i started at 4:15, bought sandwitch to be ease on my stomach. Reached to B8, on the way noting rack formation. I put my luggage under the empty seat, i was lucky this time. :)
Here comes Baroda at 9:12 pm..

When I got down after putting my bags, it was heavily raining but I wanted to check the engine so after wait of few minutes, rain subsidised. The color of engine was telling me that it is from GZB and it was indeed WAP5 from Ghaziabad.
Rest of the journey is mostly uneventful with 2 kids in my compartment playing. My nice co pessanger accepted my request to exchange SU with SL as I am having problem in my hand. 3 pessangers changed at Surat and after some time our favourite topic came. IRCTC website and tatkal ticket booking.
We had 3 type of cases here.
I paid to agent who booked tatkal from some remote location,
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other people booked ticket through agent in Delhi, which actually was booked some where in U.P. courired to Dekhi and then sent by same Rajdhani in morning.
Third case looked like case of software booking. Their ticket was booked by agent at 8:01:47, which I belive is possible using those hacking softwares.

9:22 started from baroda.
Icecream served and then every one started to unroll the bed.
10:04 pm, train already turned to dark.
I m also getting signal problem more often now so this will be last post of the day, night.
Observations and comparission with duronto
Coache looks more organized. I think a good thought has been given during design phase.
Wide windows making it bright
Very less shocks, though we did got few when driver "changed the gear" ;)
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Don't know what was it but it exactly felt like gear change in old lamby or super.
Lavatary has finally overhauled in design and offcourse the sprinkle system.
Basin is well placed.
The reading lights sre missing, which is kind of strange.
Doors have elegant looks.
The food, cleanliness and service way better then Duronto.
Also, as the standard feature, Rajdhaini has PAS and they distribute news paper which is not done in Duronto.
Good night friends, will write the closing in morning.