It was the month of March. It was raining heavily in Patiala with me having a bus departing for Delhi at 10.30 pm. The journey via NH 44 or GT Road generally takes 5 hours and 40 minutes to reach ISBT Kashmere Gate. With the bus reaching at 4.30 due to a little jam near Murthal, I immediately booked a cab for New Delhi railway station as I had the Ajmer Shatabdi to catch. By mistake I had selected the Ajmer Gate side as my destination. Devastated yet happy, I entered the station. The station was full of people as expected but short of trains. Literally nothing was there for railfanning. Then I started my long journey from PF-16 to PF-2 from where my train had to depart. During the long walk, I encountered something I had never seen. Platforms towards PF-16 were very neat and clean, equipped with escalators and...
more... lifts. Right after you cross PF-8, you feel like having entered Old Delhi. Old, shabby platforms with waste material lying here and there. And of course, dogs. Even the width of the platforms begins to shrink gradually. Not exaggerating, but the width of PF-2,3 wasn't much like expected. The only thing good about the Paharganj side was that I got to see GAYA-NDLS AC Express and CST bound Punjab Mail.