There is an old adage in English saying All roads lead to Rome. In the present instance, it was a case of all roads leading to Chennai, as a group of 9 ardent railfans, consisting of 8 Admins and 1 ex-Admin from IRI, converged at the southern metropolis of Chennai for a mission extraordinaire.
If the visit to the Chittaranjan Locomotive Works by a group of 4 Admins in July 2012 was sheer ecstasy, as so appropriately characterized by Admin BG, the expedition to the Integral Coach Factory, Perambur, by a team of 9 members from the IRI Community, on 30th October, may well be described as the equivalent of a railfan's journey to paradise. To take the comparison further, if the...
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trip to CLW was like nectar for mortals, the ICF outing may be likened to ambrosia for the Gods.
Come early morning at 7 am on Tuesday the 30th October, the outlook in Chennai was gloomy and forbidding with persistent drizzles and intermittent showers. But not even the impending cyclone Neelam could dampen the indomitable spirits of Sabyasachi Ghosh, Souvik Sarkar (Wrik), Dipyaman Basu, Pramodh Kommatil and yours truly (PKV). Courtesy Pramodh, we boarded a call taxi from Pramodh's pad at Ikkunthangal, a suburb of Chennai, where we had stayed overnight, and reached Chennai Central at about 7.45 am. Mark you, the first two, Sabya and Wrik, had arrived at Egmore only the previous night, at 8 pm, by Howrah-Trichy Express, on a 26-hour visit from Kolkata, merely for the purpose of the ICF show. I cannot envisage a more lofty tribute to the enthusiasm of a railfan than this gesture of theirs.
At Central station, we were soon joined by 4 more members of the entourage viz. Dr. Nazeer from Coimbatore, Tejas and Suresh Sirvi from Bangalore and Amjad Khan from Tada. After a quick breakfast at the all-time favourite Saravana Bhawan, we dispensed with the plans to board the EMU local to Villivakam en route to ICF Perambur, in view of the heavy rains. However, the approaching cyclonic depression in the Bay of Bengal could not play spoilsport and thwart our programme. Once again, courtesy Pramodh, our local guardian, 2 call taxis were arranged and the 9 of us reached SBI, ICF Perambur branch, at 10 am, merely 30 mns behind schedule.
The role of the local branch of SBI and its branch manager, Ms. Renuka merits an explanation. She was the focal point of contact and donned the role of a facilitator for the entire ICF visit of ours. it was only because of her kind initiative that the authorities there agreed to a visit by a large group, setting a limitation of 10 persons.
The composition of the group was by invitation and finalised as early as in August. However, as D-Day approached, there were as many as 3 drop-outs. Saikat Ghosh (due to the unfortunate demise of his mother), Vijayaditya (due to work-related preoccupations) and Shashank Bhatt (a last-minute victim of dengue) were the losers. The gainers were Suresh Sirvi, Amjad Khan and Sai Jinendra, although the last-named could not ultimately make it because of the inclement weather. Consequently, the size of the group was pruned to 9.
(to be contd..........)
PS. I request the other members of the group to share their experiences in this thread even before i can post the continuing parts of my opening post.